Sunday, January 10, 2010

The Impending Semester

My schedule for next semester (starting Tuesday Jan 19) is as follows:

MW 7:00-8:15PM - Advanced Calc II
TR 5:30-6:45PM - Abstract Algebra I
F 10:00-10:50AM - Math Senior Seminar

It is going to suck a bit having to go to school every day of the week, and that Friday time is a killer as far as work goes. But at least my weeknight classes are 75 minutes instead of 110 like last semester; that should make those a lot easier as far as attendance goes.

I'm really looking forward to the second half of advanced calculus. I enjoyed the first half a lot, both the material and the professor, who is one of the best I've had. I'm looking forward to seeing all of the familiar people from last semester. Also, Ed is taking the class with me this time, so that will be fun too.

Abstract algebra is a great topic - I listed algebra as an interest in most of my grad school statements of purpose - but I'm a bit concerned that I already know so much of it from my other classes (especially Proofs and the geometry class I took a year ago). It's not always fun when a lot of a class is a review. But it should be proofs-intensive, and that is always exciting. I hope there is a lot of homework. (I always feel this way before and after the semester, but never during.) The professor scheduled to teach it has excellent reviews, so I have high hopes for her.

I'm not sure exactly what to expect from the Friday seminar. There are only six students enrolled, which is fun for any class, but especially good for a seminar, assuming the class actually has that type of format. I'm not sure how a seminar works in math, but that's probably just ignorance on my part. The topic is wavelets. We'll see.

Anyway, I'm pretty ready. I just need to clean my room (I try to do this between semesters so it's not chaotic for homework) and clean out my school binder.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

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Sally said...

One cool thing about a math class that has a textbook - you really have as much homework as you want because nobody is stopping you from working every single problem in the book. You are free to seek out additional problems from other sources, too. You should be in good shape.

Of course, assigned homework that is graded helps with motivation and if the prof provides feedback on your answers, all the better.