Do you think this schedule would be too much? Should I spread these classes out over two semesters instead of taking them all in one?
EECS 445 (Machine Learning)
EECS 485 (Web Database and Information Systems
IOE 310 (Intro to Optimization Methods)
STATS 485 (Capstone Seminar)
Also, I’m a bit unfamiliar with Michigan’s grading. Let’s say a class is super easy; is it possible for every single student in that class to get an A? Or are the grades distributed and thus make all students compete against each other for A’s (meaning at the end of the semester there will always be someone who will end up with an F, while another has an A, while another has a C, etc.)?
Can’t say about the difficulty of courses as those are very upper level CS.
However the policy for A’s depends on the course. In certain courses there are curves applied (IE in every Econ course, a maximum of 25% get A’s, 33% get B’s, 25% get C’s etc) but in other courses it’s possible for everyone to get an A.
AFAIK with CS courses, there aren’t curves, so it should be possible for every student to earn an A.
If it is possible to create such a schedule, then do not be afraid of it. How the professors assign grades depends solely upon them. The only person with whom you should be competing must be you. F everything else; you are there to make mistakes and learn. There is something different to learn in each and every class. You are supposed to experiment with the classes: if they are advertised as difficult, figure out if they really are. Please don’t be afraid.
In EECS, it is generally 20-30% get A’s, 30-40% get B’s, and the rest get C’s and below. It doesn’t really get better even in upper level classes. They claim that it is possible for every single student to get an A, but if too many people do well on an exam, they make the next exam harder to compensate. They won’t aim to fail anybody, but they will aim to give at least a certain number of C’s.
Generally, if you put in a good amount of effort, you shouldn’t fail to get a B of some sort, but the competition to get an A of some sort is very tough.
