<p>I realize UIUC in general demands more work form its students. I am planning on attending UIUC in the fall of 2014 as a Psychology/Mathematics major. High school math is so much different from college math, at least that’s what everyone tells me. How can I prepare for the change and what should I expect regarding the difficulty of the math courses, will I basically have to teach myself; I hear the professors are awful.</p>
<p>The calculus sequence (1-3) that all engineering majors take too are simple and just like high school math, you will then take a course called Math 347 - Fundamental Mathematics which is an introductory number theory course that prepares you for proof writing - it is very different from high school level math. Many of the 400 level classes after that are much more difficult (i.e Real Analysis, Abstract Algebra, etc.) save a few courses not too heavy on theory (i.e Math 415 - Applied Linear Algebra, Math 461 - Probability Theory)</p>
<p>The best way to prepare yourself is to get experience writing proofs as early as possible so you can understand what upper level college math is like. If you’re not ready to take Math 347 then I highly recommend a discrete math course, Math 213. I’m exactly actually not sure what the course is like because I took the more rigorous CS major equivalent of CS 173, but the course was the first math course I took that let me see the other side of math, the side that is full of theory and proofs - more than just computations.</p>
<p>Regarding the awful professors - this is mostly true on the lower level courses. However, as long as you can handle accents, most of the professors are pretty good at the 400 level (the classes that are not full of engineers). There is also an honors sequence of 400 level math classes that probably gives a better classroom experience.</p>