Preparing for University

[chrisbrown]

As a CS major at UW with a sad, pathetic transcript, I feel compelled to offer some advice to our potential Computer Scientists and Engineers.
This is tailored towards prospective UWaterloo students, but applies everywhere.
You've probably heard a lot of this before, but that's only because it's true (as I've found out first-hand).

- Whether you take the CS or Eng route, Math is going to be a huge part of your life. Learn and thoroughly understand everything you're being taught in math right now; these are the basic tools that you will need later on.

- That said, do not try to learn university material in advance (especially CS-related). Instructors (profs and/or lecturers, depending on the school) follow a specific curriculum so you may be wasting your time or even crippling yourself without realizing it.

- Instructors are there to teach you, and unlike high school, new material is introduced every day. Go to your lectures. All of them.

- Do all your homework, whether or not you know the material. If you don't know how to work properly now, you will not spontaneously learn and you will most certainly fail.

- On that note, don't think you are going to be the exception. Waterloo is the school of choice for many of the world's smartest minds. Those who succeed do so because they know how to devote time and effort towards their studies. Those who fail do so because they think they are smart enough to get by without doing so.

- Finally, always remember that you are there to learn. Yes, you will have fun. You will meet many (potentially lifelong) friends. You may even meet your life partner. But that is all next to worthless without a degree at the end of it. Know that there is always time for fun, but when deadlines pass, it's too late to do anything about it and you will always regret it.


I'm not trying to scare anyone, and university is not difficult if you give it the time and effort it requires. Just realize that no one is going to hold your hand, and if you don't meet the requirements, you're out.

[Brightguy]

Good, but that seems like common sense.

[Euphoracle]

Ooo, I'll add!

• Don't leave assignments until the last minute. Sure, you might be able to complete them, but it's really not worth the stress. Oh, and do your assignments too. They're only worth like 10-20% of your grade so don't get overly concerned about missing one for a legit reason but don't just write them off or you might find yourself begging your prof for the 1% to advance the course.
  
• You may have been a hotshot at your school, but you are not a hotshot here. Want proof? Go to the CSC and pretend you know something. They will shred you >8D
  
• Avoid using Windows if you can. No, I'm not trying to jump on the open source wagon without a basis but it is significantly more complicated to use windows to do and submit your CS assignments, especially when you move on to C and then the real chaos starts for windows users.
  
• SLEEP. Just fucking do it. Sleep goddamn you. If you don't sleep you're going to have pissy days. SLEEP.
  

[chrisbrown]

Brightguy @ Thu Jan 21, 2010 9:52 pm wrote:

Good, but that seems like common sense.

Something surprisingly many students lack.

[DemonWasp]

A reminder...you (or your parents) are paying a lot of money (approximate amounts):

• $800 / course attempt or
  
• $22 / hour of lecture or
  
• $80 / assignment (assuming 10 assignments to a class; more like $160 each for CS courses) or
  
• $65 every day you sleep in instead of going to class (assuming an average of 3 hours of class per day)
  

And those are just the immediate costs. I happen to be going to university on my own money (co-op is a tremendous win), so I have nobody to blame but myself when I throw away $800 by failing a course out of laziness.

[Superskull85]

Euphoracle @ Thu Jan 21, 2010 10:01 pm wrote:

Ooo, I'll add!

...

• Avoid using Windows if you can. No, I'm not trying to jump on the open source wagon without a basis but it is significantly more complicated to use windows to do and submit your CS assignments, especially when you move on to C and then the real chaos starts for windows users.
  ...
  

This point is really more university specific. For example, at McMaster all my online activities (including submitting assignments) is done via a web interface easily accessible from most browsers (though Firefox is the preferred choice here; some McMaster online services do not even accept the use of Safari, and consequently, Google Chrome, as they recognize it as Safari).

Also, if you are willing/able to do it, I would recommend trying to schedule all of your classes to be done as early as possible, and try to lump them together on your schedule. Yes you may have to wake up really early, you will most likely have to rush to some classes, but it could give 5-6 hours of continuous time that you can use to focus on the homework that you have to do. Also try to avoid one hour breaks between class if you can, there's not much you can really do in an hour without having to quit 30 minutes through to go to your next class.

You may also not want to buy your textbooks right away; wait until after the first couple of days to see which textbooks you really need, and which textbooks you don't really need (which in the end, would be a waste of money to buy). I've heard of students spending $1000+ on textbooks, only to find out that the professor rarely used a couple, and they could of found alternatives to the textbooks. Some professors even post all of the lecture notes (sometimes even everything you will need for that course) online. In which case, the need for textbook is lessoned a bit.

Don't buy software unless you expect to use it for more than a year. Most labs will most likely have all of the software you will need for your assignments, and you will most likely only need the software for that specific assignment. If you need free word processors, look into OpenOffice.org. If you need graphing software to help you visualize/check solutions, Google for one; you will most likely find one that will the do job for free.

Try to avoid talking to your friends constantly when doing homework. This will significantly shorten the time it takes to do homework, and make it seem less tedious to do. It could take you half time it would if you were constantly talking to friends. I'm not saying that you shouldn't do homework with friends (it does make it more enjoyable) but remember that your primary goal should be to get done your homework fast and effectively (meaning that you need to understand what the questions are asking of you). Homework should be your main goal for each and every day. If you get your homework done earlier than you don't have to worry about getting it done 2-3 hours before you go to bed. Don't think of yourself as a "nerd" for getting your homework done, or knowing material well, because it reality you wouldn't be at University if you were not a "nerd."

[jbking]

A few more ideas:

If possible, see if some classmates get together to work on the assignments from class. I had this in the second half of my first year and it was great. Yeah, it was doing the assignment at nearly the last minute but it worked out well.

Understand that for non-Math and CS courses there can be different strategies for handling the course material. Language courses for example, tend to require showing up and practicing what is taught more than courses where the key is to study from previous exams, assuming that is still done. My first year Biology, Economics and Math Electives courses would be examples of the latter for those wondering.

Know how you learn. Do you take in material visually? Do you prefer to be told things, so you hear it? Read the material from words? We all have our ways of absorbing things. My other tip here would be that a common way to test how well you know something is to teach it or explain it to someone else who doesn't know it.

Something that I never did resolve in my university years was the textbook conundrum. Should a student get the textbook before the first class? Here's my experiences on each side:

Don't do it:

The instructor may suggest that older editions of the textbook could be used and thus one could save some money using a previous version if the material hasn't changed a lot in recent years.
The instructor may note that the textbook would rarely be used as the course notes or other material is where a student should focus on learning the material.

Do it:

Getting a jumpstart on the material can be advantageous if one needs a lot of time to absorb new information.
Selecting the required texts wasn't done hastily or for someone else's economic benefit.
Some instructors may like to see students already with the books at the first lecture.

[Prabhakar Ragde]

Superskull85 @ Fri Jan 22, 2010 10:15 am wrote:

Euphoracle @ Thu Jan 21, 2010 10:01 pm wrote:

Avoid using Windows if you can. No, I'm not trying to jump on the open source wagon without a basis but it is significantly more complicated to use windows to do and submit your CS assignments, especially when you move on to C and then the real chaos starts for windows users.

This point is really more university specific. For example, at McMaster all my online activities (including submitting assignments) is done via a web interface easily accessible from most browsers (though Firefox is the preferred choice here; some McMaster online services do not even accept the use of Safari, and consequently, Google Chrome, as they recognize it as Safari).

The difficulty is not due to the submission mechanism; web interfaces are often used at Waterloo, too. The difficulty arises from a mismatch between the development environment (Windows, in the worst case) and the testing environment (a Unix server). It is more pronounced with a low-level language such as C, but it can show up with Java as well. Developing on Unix lessens this mismatch (though it does not eliminate it entirely). We usually tell students how they can upload and test their programs on the same server that our tests will be running on, but, this being nontrivial, some students don't bother.

[Prabhakar Ragde]

By the way, kudos to the OP for writing down these "common sense" points. Some students graduate without ever quite having realized some of them (though most who are that clueless never make it to graduation).

[Superskull85]

jbking @ Fri Jan 22, 2010 10:21 am wrote:

...
Selecting the required texts wasn't done hastily or for someone else's economic benefit.
Some instructors may like to see students already with the books at the first lecture.

Based off of my experience, non of my professors preferred to see students have the textbook on the first day. In fact one of my professors this term did not expect students have the textbook on the first day, and told where we could get the textbook for 59 cents (vs. $80+ in the on campus bookstore).

Also, unless the course is super intense, you should be able to survive the first week of that course without using the textbook. If you find that the textbooks is referenced over and over again (or essential exercises are located in the textbook) than buy it. If the course is really intense the first couple of days, and the courses references the textbook a lot, buy it once you realize this. If the textbook is barely referenced than try to look for in the school's library, or ask a fellow classmate if you could photocopy the specific pages that you need.

You don't want to buying $1000+ on course material that is rarely (or not even) used in the course. So far I've spent around $600 on course material for the entire year, and I will probably be keeping most of them because they are full of useful material/hints that will most likely be helpful to reference in latter years.

Don't buy programming books if you can avoid it. You will most likely be able to find all the resources you need just by using Google. If a textbook has exercises in it, and they are useful, consider buying the textbook. If the textbook just has explanations, and very similar explanations are given out during lectures and/or posted online, do not buy the textbook. it will most likely be a waste of money to do so.

If a course requires custom course ware, look to see if the course ware will be essential to you learning the material. I had a Psychology course last term that required a custom course ware to be used. However, majority of the book was used as a place to take notes, only the first few pages were really useful, and essential, to the course. However, there were a lot of students in this course (pretty much every first year you met had this course in their time table), and even though the professor intended students to get information about the course from the course ware, a lot of people asked questions about the information (for example how we were to evaluate our own participation in tutorials) that it was all posted online. The lectures themselves were also online.

In summary, I wouldn't wait too long to decide whether or not to buy textbooks (about a week should be good enough) as you will need to focus on the finer points of the course eventually. However, if you do find that the textbook would is essential for learning the material, than buy it. Otherwise, you may regret buying the textbook at the end of the term.

(Of course, not buying the textbook could get you in trouble half way through the term as well...)

Edit:

Prabhakar Ragde @ Fri Jan 22, 2010 11:33 am wrote:

Superskull85 @ Fri Jan 22, 2010 10:15 am wrote:

Euphoracle @ Thu Jan 21, 2010 10:01 pm wrote:

Avoid using Windows if you can. No, I'm not trying to jump on the open source wagon without a basis but it is significantly more complicated to use windows to do and submit your CS assignments, especially when you move on to C and then the real chaos starts for windows users.

This point is really more university specific. For example, at McMaster all my online activities (including submitting assignments) is done via a web interface easily accessible from most browsers (though Firefox is the preferred choice here; some McMaster online services do not even accept the use of Safari, and consequently, Google Chrome, as they recognize it as Safari).

The difficulty is not due to the submission mechanism; web interfaces are often used at Waterloo, too. The difficulty arises from a mismatch between the development environment (Windows, in the worst case) and the testing environment (a Unix server). It is more pronounced with a low-level language such as C, but it can show up with Java as well. Developing on Unix lessens this mismatch (though it does not eliminate it entirely). We usually tell students how they can upload and test their programs on the same server that our tests will be running on, but, this being nontrivial, some students don't bother.

Either way, I don't think students should irrationally buy a Unix based machine just because of the way they are to submit assignments. I personally do not like using Mac's, and would rather use Windows and an alternative solution for Linux and/or Unix tasks. In my opinion, universities should not force students to use one machine over the other. Seeing as how this is not really relevant to the current topic, I won't go into more detail.

[Euphoracle]

Ah but that's the thing, you needn't buy a unix based machine, but rather get comfortable using linux/unix on your machine. Maybe put a partition on your windows laptop's hard drive and practice with it a bit or use the Ubuntu Windows installer. The point I was making was not to chuck out windows entirely for all activities but rather to avoid using it for your CS classes if possible. I should have made that more clear.

A mac is a good compromise: it is much closer to unix than windows is but still closer to windows than linux is

Edit: Regardless of your dispositions to unix/linux/mac, you will at some point encounter them in your future, why not be comfortable with them? Crippling fear of change? CS might be the wrong field for you

[Superskull85]

I never said that I am not comfortable with those systems, I just prefer using a Windows machine as opposed to other machines/OS's. I do have an Ubuntu (and Mint) VM setup, and I have used them, I just don't use them that often. Thus I do not have a partition for them.

I'm not afraid of change. I would just rather try to do everything I am able to do with one operating system, and not have to constantly switch between operating systems on my local machine to accomplish a similar task that I was already performing on Windows.

(Although irrelevant, I also have Google's Chromium OS on a flash drive.)

[Prabhakar Ragde]

Superskull85 @ Fri Jan 22, 2010 3:09 pm wrote:

I'm not afraid of change. I would just rather try to do everything I am able to do with one operating system

Then, as the OP says, for most CS programs at university, it should be a Unix-based system. You don't need to take this advice; many do not. Just be aware of the possible frustrations in your future.

[Horus]

just wondering, what's the point of marks in university when 60 is a pass?
I know coop jobs might look for marks, but seeing that coop rate is over 50%, all you have to do is to stay above average with your marks. and just stay away from the bottom 10% in higher years when coop rates are 90%.
When you graduate, you're only going to get a degree, I've never seen a resume that puts the person's mark next to their degree. So how important is marks really?

[Euphoracle]

Your marks determine whether you graduate with honors (that appears on your degree), your scholarships (if any) and for piece-of-mind knowing that you grasp the material enough to satisfy yourself with a decent grade.

Also, Coop employers don't see "PASS" or "FAIL" they see your grades. You may need a 60% to advance in your program for some courses, but your coop employer might just decide to cull the bottom 80% if they so chose. You want to have as much to market yourself with as possible, don't limit what you can boast.

That said, you shouldn't follow those statistics blindly. You can have 99% in all your courses and be a royal pain socially and fail to get a co-op job. Likewise, you can have a 61% average, have a great resume and people skills and nail it. Your marks play a part, that's for sure, but they aren't all-determining.

On a side note, if your marks are abysmal, you are more likely than not to struggle and fail follow-up courses simply because lots of subjects culminate as years progress. If you didn't understand O notation in first year, you're going to struggle with it in upper years unless you get it down (which is more effort than trying to get it the first time around rather than dismissing it based on the notion that grades aren't important)

Grades are a diagnostic tool! They approximate your understanding in a subject, they are not all knowing however and can lie. Don't end up on the wrong side of that lie!