Failing a technical course as a CS Major

[asdfghjkl]

I'm currently a 3rd year CS major at UC Berkeley. So right now I'm taking 2 upper division technicals: Probability/Stochastic Process and Computer Algorithms, and it's not looking so good. I have troubling juggling 2 difficult problem set based courses and for the past 3 weeks, I'm turning in only one of those 2 classes' homework. We get to drop our 2 lowest homework scores for each class so my homework grades aren't suffering yet, but of course, this isn't sustainable and is harming my ability to learn the material. I feel incredibly screwed right now for my Algorithms midterm in a few days given how behind I am right now, and I'm preparing for the worst. If the situation gets worse I feel like the best course of action is to just take a Not Pass for my Probability class, since Algorithms is much more important for a CS major, and I can focus more effort on that. Basically a Not Pass comes from changing the grading option from letter grade to Pass/Not Pass. It won't affect my gpa but a Not Pass for the class will show up on my transcript. I had a pretty successful internship last summer and my gpa right now is a 3.6, so all seems ok elsewhere. Will a Not Pass on my transcript for a technical course hurt me that career wise, in getting a summer internship next year and for full time employment in the future? Thanks!

 

[Ns1]

seppuku bro

 

[KLin]

Definitely seppuku

 

[PenguinPower]

If it has yet to be mentioned, ritualistic suicide in the Japanese-style would be a recommended solution.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

The only place grades matter is in school. Oh and, seppuku.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Depends on the GPA at the end of it all. 3.8 or higher and I would consider skipping the seppuku and go to the graduation first, then seppuku.

 

[Printer Bandit]

Dude, you go to Berkeley. You'll get a six figure job upon graduating, a corner office, and a cute assistant that will suck your dick under your desk at least once a day.

 

[John Connor]

Do you not have access to tutors?

 

[John Connor]

Dude, you go to Berkeley. You'll get a six figure job upon graduating, a corner office, and a cute assistant that will suck your dick under your desk at least once a day.

LOL I shouldn't say this but, I worked in a warehouse dealing with computers and had that with the HR lady. Nice blonde, but skinny as a damn rail.

 

[angminas]

These days I'm sure you could hire some Japanese dude to commit seppuku for you for like fifty bucks an hour. Now that's money well spent.

 

[postmortemIA]

Giving up after month or so? Gotta look nice to prospective employers

 

[Red Squirrel]

On serious note, just take your time, and have courage. School is always going to be harder than real life, because it's mostly all based on theory stuff while real life is based on actual application, and you have every possible resource at your disposal.

 

[Lonyo]

Do you not have access to tutors?

Yeah. Random internet forums or... the people at the place you are at who are supposed to help you.

 

[sdifox]

There is always the option of dropping the course and take it in the summer.

You haven't lived until you see your prof pick up 5% of the midterm test and said the rest failed.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

There is always the option of dropping the course and take it in the summer.

You haven't lived until you see your prof pick up 5% of the midterm test and said the rest failed.

Haha, reminds me of my algorithms class. We had a four question midterm and the prof told us question #1 was really hard and that most of us wouldn't get it. Then he said maybe 5 or 6 of us would get question #2. Then he said he didn't think anyone would get question #3. Then he said question #4 was even worse. Nice pep talk as he's handing out the midterm.

 

[CraKaJaX]

As an EE, I had some pretty shitty classes. I can safely say that the hardest class I took was Probability though - not a core EE class. I just couldn't think the way that you should be thinking in that class - it was brutal. Made it through with a C I believe. Just stick with it, read the book, use the Internet, visit the prof.... If he sees you're really trying you'll get through it.

 

[sdifox]

Haha, reminds me of my algorithms class. We had a four question midterm and the prof told us question #1 was really hard and that most of us wouldn't get it. Then he said maybe 5 or 6 of us would get question #2. Then he said he didn't think anyone would get question #3. Then he said question #4 was even worse. Nice pep talk as he's handing out the midterm.

There was a Prof that failed his entire fourth year course class. And the course is only offered in the spring term.

 

[zinfamous]

Dude, you go to Berkeley. You'll get a six figure job upon graduating, a corner office, and a cute assistant that will suck your dick under your desk at least once a day.

in my experience, this is what nearly every UCB undergrad that I have worked with (far too many of them), feels entitled to as soon as they leave school....and many of them while in school.

OP: no one cares about your grades. Do the pass/not pass and move on with your life. All that matters, in the end, is that you can demonstrate that you aren't a drooling moron.

 

[lxskllr]

It's not too late to change your major to Women's Studies.

 

[purbeast0]

as someone who nearly dropped out of college as a CS major after failing a required course my freshman year and getting a 2.0 my second semester, i can tell you that there are CS classes that will just make you feel like a fucking retarded and make you second guess your career decision. it is just a tough major, and considering how easy highschool was for me, it was like HOLY SHIT once i reached college.

i got an F in my second c++ class and i had to retake it my sophomore year. between my freshman and sophomore year i was very close to dropping out of school. but then i just thought about how disappointed my parents would be and i just had to buckle down and not be lazy.

10 years out of college, i sometimes think about how stupid it would have been had i dropped out. hell i even think how stupid it would have been had i switched majors. i really enjoy doing software engineer now a days and i don't dread work at all. oh and i'm also making a pretty nice salary to top it off.

so stick with it and just deal with the rough patches. in the end it will all be worth it. looking back if there was anything i could do differently, it would be getting internships or jobs that actually dealt with CS, so that when i hit the real world i would have been a little more prepared because it's completely different than the classes you're taking right now.

 

[brainhulk]

This may not apply but this how i dealt with my first roadblock in college.
I had major difficulty with 1st semester organic chemistry. Just couldn't do the synthesis correctly. I bit the bullet and went to the free student tutoring. This was difficult for me because i was cocky and was used to aceing everything. Man, the tutor helped me so much. It turned out i wasn't doing the synthesis step by step. Instead i was going through it all at once in my head. It caused problems with getting the proper final product to missing points for missed steps. Once she showed me the proper way, i aced all three semester of o chem

So maybe it's just the way you are visualizing the material.

Or not, then holy seppuku

 

[Newell Steamer]

Is tutoring an option?

 

[IEC]

Failure isn't a problem. Failing to learn from failure is.

P.S. Tutoring is a big help.

 

[zinfamous]

as someone who nearly dropped out of college as a CS major after failing a required course my freshman year and getting a 2.0 my second semester, i can tell you that there are CS classes that will just make you feel like a fucking retarded and make you second guess your career decision. it is just a tough major, and considering how easy highschool was for me, it was like HOLY SHIT once i reached college.

i got an F in my second c++ class and i had to retake it my sophomore year. between my freshman and sophomore year i was very close to dropping out of school. but then i just thought about how disappointed my parents would be and i just had to buckle down and not be lazy.

10 years out of college, i sometimes think about how stupid it would have been had i dropped out. hell i even think how stupid it would have been had i switched majors. i really enjoy doing software engineer now a days and i don't dread work at all. oh and i'm also making a pretty nice salary to top it off.

so stick with it and just deal with the rough patches. in the end it will all be worth it. looking back if there was anything i could do differently, it would be getting internships or jobs that actually dealt with CS, so that when i hit the real world i would have been a little more prepared because it's completely different than the classes you're taking right now.

:thumbsup:

University/college should be hard. I feel that if the first semester or two of school aren't kicking your ass, (especially if you are the type that just coasted through High School) then that school is failing you.

No first-off potential employer really cares about the first semesters of your education; doubtful they even spend much time looking over that. Finishing strong means that you demonstrated an ability to adapt and learn from challenges. Though, OP is in his 3rd year and should have learned to tackle college courses by now....that being said, you should still put yourself through challenging courses throughout. "Jackass professor" or whatever silly excuse is given, a good student should know by now how to work their way through these difficult courses: engage the professor is the first step.

 

[Belegost]

I would say your problem is a time management issue, not a hard classes issue (seriously two upper division major courses in a semester should be very normal, and nothing particularly hard about stochastic processes and comp algs)

You have to adjust your normal schedule to make time to do the work. You also need to work on intelligently doing the work for both classes, start by completing all the homework portions in both classes that you can do without a huge effort. From that make up a list of questions to take into office hours or TA review sessions which help you through the portions of the homework that are more difficult. If you haven't already, find people in the courses to get together a small study group, many times just talking about a problem with others helps everyone find the solution quicker, and can improve ability to remember the material.

As for taking an NP - if you want to go to grad school, that's a scarlet letter. If all you care about is finishing a BS and going into industry to be the grunt programmer, then it probably doesn't matter. However, if your attitude already is to not do assignments and then ask people online to help decide if you should effectively choose to fail a course; I would worry about your long-term viability in the tech industry.