Classes and Registration- Fun Facts

What you think about... (work load, fun?, which professor is best, any advice, all thoughts)

~~CS Courses~~

-CS 1050 (Proofs):

• Kathy: I'm not a personal fan of proofs. How much you like this class really depends upon the professor. I had Dana Randall. I liked the class, but I struggled at first. Dana's a fun professor. She's not easy, but she's fair. For that class, if you don't do well in the beginning, it doesnt really matter. The final pretty much determines your grade for the class.
• Laura(gtg377b): I also disliked proofs.
• Michelle: I agree with Laura. Combo & Algorithms are like proofs. (Algorithms is definitely a math class.)
• Laura R: I'm the weird one who loved proofs :-) I had Vazirani, and I thought he was great at explaining the material.
• Sabina (gtg741a): I had Ribarsky and he was pretty easy. I liked this class so I guess if u enjoy it, u'll understand it better and do better. He is a nice guy and easy to approach.
• Ashley D. (gtg991a): I really enjoyed this class... it's very logical. I had Dana Randall and really liked her. She throws in some random extra things that make class more fun/interesting.
• Katie (kcollins3): I did not enjoy proofs, but Milena Mihail was an awesome teacher. I went to her office hours and she helped me a lot!

-CS 1321 - now 1301 (Python, Intro to Computing):

• Kathy: Monica Sweat is really cool. She's great at explaining the material
• Katie (kcollins3): Monica Sweat a wonderful teacher for the regular 1301. For robots, I am not sure.

-CS 1322 - now 1331(Java, Object Oriented Programming):

• Kathy: I took 1322x. It definitely better prepared me for 2335. There are guys in that class that have programmed since the womb though and they think they know all, so it was scary at first. I had Ashwin Ram for that class. He's a bit monotone so I kinda nodded off in class quite a few times. My biggest struggle was getting used to Java. That class runs through Java so if you've never programmed before(like me!) it takes little getting used to.
• Laura: I had Monica Sweat for this class. She's great. You should probably pay attention in this class and be aware that doing to homework is going to be where you learn most stuff, and it will be easier if you learn to use the API. Also, the better you learn to work with Java in 1322, the easier 2335 will be for you.
• Laura R: I agree with the Kathy and Laura – this is a very important class to do well in, because you will be in big trouble if you get started with 2335 without being comforatble with Java. Pay especially careful attention when you learn GUI's at the end of the semester – I thought they went through it rather quickly, and it's not the most intuitive stuff. It's a good idea to learn GUI's well so that in 2335 you can crunch those out quickly and spend more time on the new stuff.
• Priyanka (gtg900r): I had Stasko and I really liked him. A great lecturer.
• Crystal (gtg682f): I had Stasko as well and I liked that he followed the book (which is an awesome resource) and explained everything out nicely.
• Katie (kcollins3): I took this class with Monica Sweat and greatly enjoyed it.

-CS 1332 (Data Structures and Algorithms):

• Katie (kcollins3): I took this class with Bob Waters. He is a nice guy, but a boring lecturer - make sure to go to recitation because the TAs condense what you need to know. The homeworks took a long time to complete. This was not a very difficult course for me.

-CS 2335 (Software Practicum):

• Kathy: As you have heard, this class is definitely time consuming. I spent many hours in the CoC. I liked it though. You don't want to take too many hard or time consuming classes while you take this class. I think Waters is the only prof for 2335. He's really nice.
• Laura: I agree with Kahty Pham, she's phamtastic. Groupmates can suck, but they also teach you a lot about working with people. This class is a good chance to learn about your style of working with people. Plus you get to stop caring about what you wear and if you have on makeup and devote your life to making super cool computer games.
• Laura R: This would be the semester to get your social sciences and humanities out of the way. Anything that won't take up all your time. You may not get much sleep this semester... I hear Waters gives easier tests (I had McCracken; he's an interesting lecturer, but kinda ruthless with grades). Don't leave checkstyle to the last minute... once, my partner and I didn't start worrying about style until an hour before the assignement was due, and we ended up with 3000 style errors – more than we had time to fix. Fix them as you go.
• Sabina (gtg741a): I agree with everything that girls before me said. Definitely a very time-consuming class and you want to be good at time-management before you take this class. Form a group with people you know something about - how they work, whether they do the work or care what grade they get, and what their schedule is like. The end of the semester is the hardest because of the major project (or at least it was for me when I took it). If you can, get your entire group to meet for a big chunk of time in the Coc and work together on the project instead of depending on other people's words that they'll finish it on their own time.
• Kristin – Take this class with Bob Waters (if you have a choice)! I TA'd this class for several semesters with different profs, and Bob is by far the nicest. The course material itself is pretty easy. If you go to lecture, you'll do fine on the tests. The tough part is the projects...try to take this class with people you know work hard, and then get in groups with them! If you ever need help with this class, you can email me and I'll do my best to help (although I may be a bit rusty).
• Priyanka (gtg900r): Undoubtedly the class I've spent the most time on at Tech but somehow, one of my favorites. You learn a lot about yourself and how you can work with people. All of the work is doable - its just about giving it a time and you'll do well. And Bob Waters is definitely great to have as a professor for that class!!
• Crystal (gtg682f): Even though people say get your humanities out of the way while taking this course, make sure they're not also project based classes, as I had 2 projects based classes along with this one and it was the first time I have ever woken up at about 10 Wednesday morning and went to bed at about 3 on Saturday morning (twice!!). Bob Waters is awesome, especially since he lets you fire lazy group members (be careful when choosing a team!).

-CS 2110 (Computer Organization & Programming):

• Kathy: If you can get Bill Leahy... do it. He's an awesome teacher. CS 2110 isn't that bad. Alot of people do it with 2335 and they survive. Some people think its alot to handle with 2335, but being in 2110 right now, I definitely think its doable. The work and time committment isn't bad. Plus (Vee's gonna roll her eyes...) its a fun class. :)
• Laura: Anytime you can take any class with Bill Leahy, you should do it.

-CS 2200 (Computer Systems and Networks):

• Laura: This class tries to explain a lot of the stuff that magically happens inside of your computer, like memory or whatever. It's not too bad, just make sure to stay on top of it, and if you don't understand, ask questions until you do. If you're a visual person, this is a clas where drawing pictures will help. Again, I recommend professor Bill.
• Laura R: Not my favorite class, but it wasn't impossible. I thought the assignment instructions didn't always explain everything well enough; go to the help sessions whenever you can. They usually give you code there, too!
• Kristin: I took this with Bill Leahy. I thought the course was hard (although I took it in 2002, so it may have changed) so you might want to try to take it along with some easier classes. If you are not familiar with the material at all, and are not at all interest in the innerworking of the computer, you probably wont like this class too much, but Bill is a really nice teacher and he tries to ease the pain with his humor :)
• Katie (kcollins3): I took this class with Kishore Ramachandran. The lectures were pretty good, be sure to read the book for the test. I mainly had a problem with the TAs and broken homework assignments.

-CS 2340 (Squeak, Objects and Design):

• Sabina (gtg741a): I liked this class. I had Ericson and she's very cool and very energetic. The milestones are not that hard and I had fun doing them. I took it during the summer with Physics I and I can't remember if it was very time-consuming b/c I know I was doing Physics all the time.
• Kristin – This class wasn't bad. Some of the material overlaps with 2335 (UML, design patterns, etc.). Learning squeak isn't too painful. There is usually a semester-long group project (with groups of 3 or 4 I think). The project is broken up into smaller deliverables (milestones), which make the project less overwhelming. I took this class with 2335 and a Psycology class over the summer...it was totally doable.
• Ashley D. (gtg991a): I have Jeff Rick right now for this class and I think it's best to avoid him for this class if possible. He's one of those professors that pretty much just spends the entire class reading the powerpoints posted online to you and offering no other additional/helpful information. Squeak is not too bad though once you get used to it. However, it does take a bit more time at the beginning of the semester because you're having to learn a new syntax, language, etc. But once you pick it up, it's fine. It's the same idea as 2335 but not nearly so time-consuming.
• Crystal (gtg682f): The problem with this class is finding ways to make all that stuff you did in 2335 much, much more simple. It's a lot easier than 2335, just with a less documented and, at times, confusing language. Summer is definetly a good time to take it, as I've been told they cut the class short instead of condensing a whole semester in. It just seemed like our project was mush more fun (Aquaurium simulations!).

-CS 3240 (Languages & Computation):

-CS 3510 (Design & Analysis of Algorithms):

• Laura R: A lot like 1050. I think I've heard that some people found this easier than 1050, but I found them about the same difficulty. I had Mihail and Ding (they co-taught). If you have Ding in a big lecture hall, sit near the front; he talks kind of quietly.
• Ashley D. (gtg991a): This class hurts my head! Don't take the X section with Randall unless you really love this kind of stuff and are good at thinking this way. It's a lot of abstract thinking/reasoning.

-CS 4001 or 4002(ethics):

• Sabina (gtg741a): I'm taking this class right now and it's not very time consuming. There are little hw's and 1 term paper. There are two books required for the course and the final is supposed to cover those so I guess reading those is a little bit time consuming.
• Ashley D. (gtg991a): Colin Potts is fun for this class. Pretty much, show up to class, turn in the occassional homeworks, pay a little bit of attention in class, and you'll do well.

-CS Projects (what do we need to know about this):

• Laura R: I haven't taken this yet, but as I understand it, you either do a research project with a professor (3901) or a project with a company (not sure the course number). I assume if you do the one with the company, they give you the project; the research one should be more flexible. You have to fill out some paperwork at least for the research, I think for the project too; talk to the advisors to get that.
• Kristin – yeah, you can do research with a professor, or do a project sponsored by a company. If you do research, you have to write-up a paper to get credit (nothing too big). In terms of a research project, either a prof can suggest on to you, or you can come up with your own (so long as you can get a prof to "sponsor"/advise you. I did a research project on collaboration with Mike McCracken – feel free to email me if you want to know more about how to take this approach (vadas[at]cc).

-CS Specializations (which are the cool ones?):

• Laura R: for those of you who have been scared off by 2200, I hear networking (3251) is a lot more interesting... I'll be taking it in the fall if anyone wants to join me!
• Kristin – CS4750 (intro to HCI) was fun. The course material was pretty easy for me to grasp. There was a semester long group project with several deliverables, all of which were manageable. If you can, take this class with Gregory Abowd. CS4600 (the old intro to AI course)...it's kind of mathematical, but the projects were cool. It is a good way to diversify your skills (you learn AI algorithms and techniques, and have to program in Lisp). Take this from Tucker Bulch or Thad Starner – they both have a lot of interesting stories related to the material. CS 4320 (software processes) was a nice follow-up to 2335. Again, take this with Waters if you can. Stuff you learn in this class is useful if you plan to do any kind of software engineering or management (you learn about managerial processes for software development, etc.).

~~Required Math Courses~~

-Math 2605 (Calc 3)

• Kathy(gtg057s): I had Professor Loss and loved the class. If you ever have the change to get Loss as a professor, take it. He's a very thorough professor and he really cares whether or not his students understand... and he understands that most students don't get it right away or don't get it in class and it takes a while for things to sink in.
• Laura R. (gtg917h): I liked this about as much as I liked Calc II (not so much). I had Carlen, and I found it hard keeping up with him in lectures (he's really fast-paced). He explained things well other than that.
• Jennifer W (gtg160x): I had Professor Garfaulidis and hated the class. He is not very good at lecturing and often gets off track. He does have a nice curve though because an 80-100 is an A.
• Priyanka (gtg900r): I had some grad student, Komendarcysk (sp?) and I hated that class. Not interesting material for me and a not good professor.
• Katie (kcollins3): I had Professor Loss, and he is a funny, nice professor. The tests were hard for me, but he allows you to do several programming projects. If you complete them all, you get extra credit. That totally saved my butt.

-Math 3012 (Combinatorics)

• Michelle I had Sam Greene. He was cool.
• Laura R. (gtg917h): My guess is that people who liked 1050 will like this class, and people who didn't like 1050 won't. It won't necessarilly have all the proofs, but it's a lot of the same discrete math.
• Ashley D. (gtg991a): Ernie Croot was really easy if you can get him. Tests were pretty straightforward and he followed the book a lot.

-Math 3215 (Prob Stats)

• Michelle I had Elton. If you take his class, you'll have to learn the material yourself & will have plenty of chances to get a higher grade. He's kind of disorganized, but fair. The tests are open note, book, calculator, etc.
• Laura R. (gtg917h): I don't think my prof for this class is still at Tech, but anyway I thought it was a really boring class (but really easy, too). Don't let the beginning of the semester throw you off – the first half is probability, the familiar stuff from high school math, pretty easy. The second half is statistics, and it seemed to me to be a lot of memorization of formulas, some involving a little bit of calculus. (Might be the case that other professors will explain where the formulas came from; my prof. just said (literally) "Memorize this.")
• Kristin – I also had Elton (his name is John Elton :) ). He is one of the nicest and fairest professors I ever had. I agree with Michelle in that his lectures are sometimes hard to follow. The best bet is to read ahead a little bit.

~~Other Required Courses~~

-LCC 3401 (Technical Communication)

• Michelle: Laughter is one of the more challenging professors, but you'll learn, a lot. It's hard to make an A in his class.
• Sabina (gtg741a): I had Jeremy Eisenberg and he was pretty easy. You do have to do the papers and come to class b/c he gives a few pop quizzes but if he sees you're trying, you'll get an A.
• Kristin – Laughter was one of the hardest profs. I had for a non-CS class. However, I learned more useful stuff from him in this class than in any other of those core requirements. I frequently use what I learned in his class when writing emails, papers, etc. (and I took this class over a year ago!).

-Chem/Bio/Physics/EAS

• Michelle Bio 1&2 are easy. 2's mainly memorization (anatomy,evolution,etc). After taking this class, I switched my major. 1's more interesting, but harder (genetics,photosynthesis,cellular respiration,etc.)
• Michelle Physics 1&2 are torture.
• Michelle Chem 1 was time consuming (I had Block), but not as bad as Physics. I recommend the Biology classes out of the three.
• Kathy: I had McKelvey for General Chem 1310 and he was super easy. If anyone wants to do Inorganic Chem as their second lab science, I took Chem 1311(Inorganic Chem) with Barefield. This class was hard for me. Barefield is a nice man, but not the best at explaining the material during lecture. He's always open to students coming to office hours though. I heard EAS and BIO were easier lab sciences. Let me know if you have more questions about chemistry.
• Sabina (gtg741a): I took EAS1601 with Dr. Chameides and although I would like to say that the class is easy, you do have to put effort into studying when it comes to the tests. Labs were pretty easy and my prof gave 10 pop quizzes throughout the semester just to make sure you would come to class so they weren't hard. I'm not sure if he's still teaching the course b/c someone mentioned he was leaving Tech.
• Kristin – For Physics 2 you should definitely try to get Bill Holm. He explained things really well, and used powerpoint so you could actually see the information (as opposed to the other physics profs who write on the board). Bill was always willing to help, and he is just overall really nice. I don't remember who I had for Physics 1, but I do remember I thought Physics 2 was easier than Physics 1.

~~Social Sciences~~

• Laura R: Take INTA 4803 (Introduction to US Intelligence) with Dr. Houska!!!! It's such an interesting class, and not all that hard to do well in. Dr. Houska is a CIA employee and Georgia Tech's Intelligence Officer in Residence. He's a great lecturer and it's a fascinating class. It fills up quickly, so sign up early! (He also teaches INTA 4803: Special Topics CIA Programs and Operations, which I haven't taken, but I imagine is also a great choice.)
• Kristin – I also took ID 2202 (Composers 1500-1800) with Joyce Medina. This class was pretty cool – you get to look at pictures of designs throughout the years (mostly furniture and houses). For the tests, you just memorize stuff from lecture (seriously, you have to memorize designer names, years, etc.). There was a final paper, but it was pretty easy and Joyce gives you plenty of time to get it done. Also, I took some Spanish classes, which turned out to be fun (and useful for my study abroad in Barcelona!).

~~Free Electives~~

• Kathy: TA! Its one of the best experiences... plus its alot of fun. It can get a bit time consuming when grading rolls around, but it really is well worth it.
• Laura: I agree, being a TA is a lot of fun, plus it gives you a group of people who think you are really smart and cool.
• Kristin – Do research for credit! It's fun and looks really great on your resume/CV! I took Music 3610 (Composers 1500-1800) with Ron Mendola. I can't remember if this class counted for a humanity or not. It was a nice change of pace – you listen to classical music in class and learn about the composers. The tests were very straightforward – they require you to memorize stuff from lecture. Be sure to take this from Mendola if you take it.

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