Hey ryjm, thanks for taking the time to give me advice. I found it helpful. I appreciate when older students take the time to send some words of advice down the ladder. These are my thoughts, in no particular order.
There are some subjects that I find it easy to excel in. But math certainly isn’t one of them. For me, math takes some serious work to understand and master. And it’s only been recently that I’ve gained an interest in really understanding it. In high school, I was definitely not in the top of my class when it came to math, never mind anything like Gauss.
While I think my OP gives off a different vibe, I fear precisely what you described: that I’ll get in over my head, that I’m just not cut out for a math major, or that I’ll have no fucking clue what’s going on. A part of my brain says to just do a philosophy degree. Because philosophy is something I’ve been studying almost non-stop since I was 11. It’s something I won’t struggle at. At least for me, a philosophy major would be orders of magnitude less difficult than a math major. Heck, I don’t think I really comprehend at a gut level how hard a math major will be. All of that scares me.
But while I think I’d enjoy taking a philosophy of science class than Linear Algebra, I think I have very good instrumental reasons for taking the math route. Rather than seeing math as something I value in and of itself, I see math as a gateway to other things I want to do in life. Don’t get me wrong, I do find a lot of math fascinating. But I’m more attracted to it because it allows me more financial opportunities than, say, philosophy. I’m making an investment with my college education. I want an optimal rate of return.
So while I really do want to understand the mathematics of linear algebra, I am more so concerned about keeping a high GPA. I need the scholarships, the internships, and the job opportunities for when I get out of school. But I don’t quite see where the two goals diverge. My line of think is this: if I really work hard to understand and internalize the knowledge, wouldn’t that lead me to have higher grades than if I didn’t?
At least in far-mode, I am determined to work hard. But I also want to work smart. I know that if I approached a math class with a brute force approach, then I won’t succeed. I could do that in high school history classes, but not now. So I’m trying to compile a strategy beforehand so I can work smarter. Here are some of the ideas that come to mind.
First, what you said about limiting the rate at which I want to speed ahead. One of my biggest concerns is that I’ll be unprepared for some of my math classes. I took that placement test the other day and placed into calculus, but there was some material which I really didn’t know. Particularly some higher level trigonometry and logarithms. I need to make sure I have that down before this fall.
But I’m also over qualified for the precalculus course. Beyond that material, I have a really pretty great grasp of precalculus. As of now, this is my tentative plan for my math course-load during my freshman and sophmore years. This fall I’ll take Calculus I. That will let me take Calculus II in the spring. During that spring, I’ll also take Statistics Honors, which is a combination of stats I & II. Fall of next year I’ll take Differential Equations and Linear Algebra. The spring after I’ll take Calculus III and Discrete Math. (Differential Eq. and Calc III can be swapped if chosen.) Would you say this is an okay rate, or is it still too fast? I’m trying to pretty evenly distribute my course work so that I don’t have to take three math’s in one semester.
Another strategy is to use SRS. I’m pretty awful at programming with LaTeX, which is necessary for using math with Anki. But if I could master it, I think it could reap some benefits.
And I plan to use my summers to study for upcoming math classes. This summer I’m preparing for Calc I and Calc II.
Lastly, I’m told I should take notes of the material before I come to class. That way I can just absorb the lecture and make adjustments as needed. Then do all the homework.
If you have any comments or other advice, I’d love to hear them. That goes for any other math majors, too. Heck, might as well let the scientists join in on the fun, as well.
If you understand that you have to work very hard and you are able to judge how much you can handle, you’ll probably be okay. I’ve just seen a lot of people doing a math degree because they were always good at math and they thought they could breeze through it. That won’t happen.
I use SRS daily for math stuff, and the best thing you can do is get one of those cheap graphics tablets. I think mine was about $60. Then you can just write out all your question answer pairs. I did the LaTeX route for a while, but the amount of time you have to spend inputting everything is not worth it. If you really want to get into this kind of studying, you can try this incremental learning technique. And definitely read ahead before each lecture.
Your course selection looks pretty good, but I would swap Differential Eq. and Calc III. I took Differential Eq. freshman year (stupid) while taking Calc III, and it was heavy on both linear algebra and calc III material. Your class may be different, but I would recommend a full semester of linear algebra before. Try to find some fellow students to ask though; professors can be either too strict or too lenient when it comes to what they require before taking a course.
You might want to consider throwing in some computer science courses too. Even a minor will increase your opportunities immensely after college.
Wow, I hadn’t thought of using a graphics tablet before. I’ll definitely look into that, as well as the incremental learning technique you linked to.
I had tentatively placed Differential Eq. before Calc III on a whim. I had no idea it drew on LA and Calc III. According to a prereq. flow chart I have, the only requirement for Calc III, Differential Eq., Discrete Math, and LA is Calc II. This very well may be a case of prerequisites being too lenient. I’ve penciled in the appropriate swap.
I’m looking to take some computer science courses. If nothing else, at least Foundations of Computer Science. Hopefully this summer. I’ll have to look into precisely what the major/minor requirements are for CS. In the mean time, I’m trying to navigate the minefields of general education requirements.
The gen eds are tricky to deal with. You can’t usually get out of them, but some schools are pretty good with what classes satisfy them. I would suggest ignoring the recommended gen ed courses (though try to get specific advice from fellow students and listen to them if it contradicts this) and going straight to the department which is related to the requirement. Look around and see what courses they offer, and then ask if it will satisfy a gen ed. I’ve found that taking department specific introductory courses is WAY more interesting than trying to slog through the default ones, which are usually filled with the same people you had to deal with in high school. It’s also been my experience that most of the default courses are actually harder (I think this might be because they want to push freshmen into college mode). Again, this varies with the school, so take it with a grain of salt.
One more thing that I wish people had told me: find all the problem solving strategies you can, and use the hell out of them. You might think you are good at this and you don’t need anyone’s advice on how to think (actually you probably don’t, since you are on this site...), but the falseness of this statement will become increasingly clear when you attempt problem sets. I thought I knew this, but looking back I would spend hours on one problem just trying the same method over and over, thinking I was doing something new.
If you don’t see a solution or the path to the solution within 5 or 10 minutes, try something completely new no matter how close you think you are. Keep prodding your brain like this, and eventually one of those stubborn folds of tissue will spill its guts for you. But if you keep hitting the same part over and over again, you’re just gonna have a pissed off commander in chief. Yeah, it does sound obvious… but if you don’t check to make sure you’re doing it, most of the time you’re just going to keep hacking your way to nowhere.
Also, find or make a study group. I was too damn stubborn to do this—biggest mistake of my college career. It might be annoying when you know all the answers and everyone else doesn’t, but that won’t happen often.
Hey ryjm, thanks for taking the time to give me advice. I found it helpful. I appreciate when older students take the time to send some words of advice down the ladder. These are my thoughts, in no particular order.
There are some subjects that I find it easy to excel in. But math certainly isn’t one of them. For me, math takes some serious work to understand and master. And it’s only been recently that I’ve gained an interest in really understanding it. In high school, I was definitely not in the top of my class when it came to math, never mind anything like Gauss.
While I think my OP gives off a different vibe, I fear precisely what you described: that I’ll get in over my head, that I’m just not cut out for a math major, or that I’ll have no fucking clue what’s going on. A part of my brain says to just do a philosophy degree. Because philosophy is something I’ve been studying almost non-stop since I was 11. It’s something I won’t struggle at. At least for me, a philosophy major would be orders of magnitude less difficult than a math major. Heck, I don’t think I really comprehend at a gut level how hard a math major will be. All of that scares me.
But while I think I’d enjoy taking a philosophy of science class than Linear Algebra, I think I have very good instrumental reasons for taking the math route. Rather than seeing math as something I value in and of itself, I see math as a gateway to other things I want to do in life. Don’t get me wrong, I do find a lot of math fascinating. But I’m more attracted to it because it allows me more financial opportunities than, say, philosophy. I’m making an investment with my college education. I want an optimal rate of return.
So while I really do want to understand the mathematics of linear algebra, I am more so concerned about keeping a high GPA. I need the scholarships, the internships, and the job opportunities for when I get out of school. But I don’t quite see where the two goals diverge. My line of think is this: if I really work hard to understand and internalize the knowledge, wouldn’t that lead me to have higher grades than if I didn’t?
At least in far-mode, I am determined to work hard. But I also want to work smart. I know that if I approached a math class with a brute force approach, then I won’t succeed. I could do that in high school history classes, but not now. So I’m trying to compile a strategy beforehand so I can work smarter. Here are some of the ideas that come to mind.
First, what you said about limiting the rate at which I want to speed ahead. One of my biggest concerns is that I’ll be unprepared for some of my math classes. I took that placement test the other day and placed into calculus, but there was some material which I really didn’t know. Particularly some higher level trigonometry and logarithms. I need to make sure I have that down before this fall.
But I’m also over qualified for the precalculus course. Beyond that material, I have a really pretty great grasp of precalculus. As of now, this is my tentative plan for my math course-load during my freshman and sophmore years. This fall I’ll take Calculus I. That will let me take Calculus II in the spring. During that spring, I’ll also take Statistics Honors, which is a combination of stats I & II. Fall of next year I’ll take Differential Equations and Linear Algebra. The spring after I’ll take Calculus III and Discrete Math. (Differential Eq. and Calc III can be swapped if chosen.) Would you say this is an okay rate, or is it still too fast? I’m trying to pretty evenly distribute my course work so that I don’t have to take three math’s in one semester.
Another strategy is to use SRS. I’m pretty awful at programming with LaTeX, which is necessary for using math with Anki. But if I could master it, I think it could reap some benefits.
And I plan to use my summers to study for upcoming math classes. This summer I’m preparing for Calc I and Calc II.
Lastly, I’m told I should take notes of the material before I come to class. That way I can just absorb the lecture and make adjustments as needed. Then do all the homework.
If you have any comments or other advice, I’d love to hear them. That goes for any other math majors, too. Heck, might as well let the scientists join in on the fun, as well.
If you understand that you have to work very hard and you are able to judge how much you can handle, you’ll probably be okay. I’ve just seen a lot of people doing a math degree because they were always good at math and they thought they could breeze through it. That won’t happen.
I use SRS daily for math stuff, and the best thing you can do is get one of those cheap graphics tablets. I think mine was about $60. Then you can just write out all your question answer pairs. I did the LaTeX route for a while, but the amount of time you have to spend inputting everything is not worth it. If you really want to get into this kind of studying, you can try this incremental learning technique. And definitely read ahead before each lecture.
Your course selection looks pretty good, but I would swap Differential Eq. and Calc III. I took Differential Eq. freshman year (stupid) while taking Calc III, and it was heavy on both linear algebra and calc III material. Your class may be different, but I would recommend a full semester of linear algebra before. Try to find some fellow students to ask though; professors can be either too strict or too lenient when it comes to what they require before taking a course.
You might want to consider throwing in some computer science courses too. Even a minor will increase your opportunities immensely after college.
Wow, I hadn’t thought of using a graphics tablet before. I’ll definitely look into that, as well as the incremental learning technique you linked to.
I had tentatively placed Differential Eq. before Calc III on a whim. I had no idea it drew on LA and Calc III. According to a prereq. flow chart I have, the only requirement for Calc III, Differential Eq., Discrete Math, and LA is Calc II. This very well may be a case of prerequisites being too lenient. I’ve penciled in the appropriate swap.
I’m looking to take some computer science courses. If nothing else, at least Foundations of Computer Science. Hopefully this summer. I’ll have to look into precisely what the major/minor requirements are for CS. In the mean time, I’m trying to navigate the minefields of general education requirements.
The gen eds are tricky to deal with. You can’t usually get out of them, but some schools are pretty good with what classes satisfy them. I would suggest ignoring the recommended gen ed courses (though try to get specific advice from fellow students and listen to them if it contradicts this) and going straight to the department which is related to the requirement. Look around and see what courses they offer, and then ask if it will satisfy a gen ed. I’ve found that taking department specific introductory courses is WAY more interesting than trying to slog through the default ones, which are usually filled with the same people you had to deal with in high school. It’s also been my experience that most of the default courses are actually harder (I think this might be because they want to push freshmen into college mode). Again, this varies with the school, so take it with a grain of salt.
One more thing that I wish people had told me: find all the problem solving strategies you can, and use the hell out of them. You might think you are good at this and you don’t need anyone’s advice on how to think (actually you probably don’t, since you are on this site...), but the falseness of this statement will become increasingly clear when you attempt problem sets. I thought I knew this, but looking back I would spend hours on one problem just trying the same method over and over, thinking I was doing something new.
If you don’t see a solution or the path to the solution within 5 or 10 minutes, try something completely new no matter how close you think you are. Keep prodding your brain like this, and eventually one of those stubborn folds of tissue will spill its guts for you. But if you keep hitting the same part over and over again, you’re just gonna have a pissed off commander in chief. Yeah, it does sound obvious… but if you don’t check to make sure you’re doing it, most of the time you’re just going to keep hacking your way to nowhere.
Also, find or make a study group. I was too damn stubborn to do this—biggest mistake of my college career. It might be annoying when you know all the answers and everyone else doesn’t, but that won’t happen often.