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[ariya]

Is taking five courses in one term, four of them mathematical (linear algebra, differential equations, statistics, game theory) at all realistic?

Comments

[magicmirror]

If you survive differential equations, then, I think, yes. When is the last day you can drop a course?

[aphar]

forgot to mention: differential equations go down much better if you already know linear algebra.

[ariya]

:( I think I'll go cry now.

[aphar]

don't.
life is good.
years from now you will remember these days as the best time of your life.

[aphar]

yes - but you have to be prepared to work real hard and forget social life. I did something like that in grad school once and I did not like it. Note also that even if you survive the ordeal with decent grades (which is likely, given your talents), your long term knowledge of the subjects will be worse than it would have been if you studied them in a more leisurely pace.
in short - I do not think this is a good idea.

[ariya]

It's too late to change no, though! Worst comes to worst, I'll drop differential equations in favor of next term. In that case, I'll have to forget my double major, but even a single major at MIT is OK, right?

[magicmirror]

Zaj, do you want to sit down and look at your schedule for the next 3 years?

[ariya]

I have it all planned out... there's a lot of math and cog sci and all that. :(

[notestaff]

it's realistic (if earlier math courses didn't seem too hard and you like math generally).
but it's less satisfying when you do things in a rush :)
and it won't leave time for UROPs.

[ariya]

I'm done with my summer UROP, so that shouldn't be a problem...
I like math generally, but I tend to suck at all things new. Of what I've read / the first few lectures, Linear Algebra, Game Theory and Statistics are awesome and totally my thing, but differential equations scare me, because it's only been two lectures and I already don't have a clue as to what's going on. :(

[notestaff]

yes, diff. eq's are harder to get intuition for... you'll get them eventually.

you'll probably do fine grade-wise if it's just _one_ hard course, but you'll learn everything better if you don't do this. and will more have more time to be at the "top" of some courses, which helps for finding UROPs/getting references later. these matter more than # of majors... a summer student in our group just got off wait list and into mt. sinai med school because of an advisor's reference.

[ariya]

Do you advise dropping differential equations? I might have to, but I'd like to see how it goes first; there's no rush.

[notestaff]

sure -- you can try as long as it's not impacting the other courses. it's just harder to drop after you've put in much time... like climbing a mountain and turning around halfway. can you really drop things without regret for the time spent? :)

diff. eq. would also go easier after you've done more of other math stuff, esp. linear algebra.
if you want five courses maybe you could take some HASS instead, that you still have to take eventually?

[ariya]

I'm all covered in the Hass department... and I'm fine, even happy, with four courses!
Anyway, and effort put into differential equations isn't wasted; I'll /definitely/ be taking it next term if not this, and I'll have a head-start then! :)