A few weeks ago, when I was helping the advisors out with a Turing recruitment event, I noticed something slightly concerning -- that all of the people asking questions about professors and finding out whether or not CS 311 or CS 311H should be taken weren’t the students, but rather their (far more engaged) parents.
A few years ago, at the very beginning of summer 2012, back when Skyrim had just started to hit the peak of its popularity, I decided to build a computer.
I’d like the start this semester with a clarification. In one of my last articles, I explained the importance of choosing a schedule wisely to set up your future success. I still believe that this is important, but with the start of a new and not-yet-stressful semester, I’m thinking a little bit differently.
There’s a lot of really amazing stuff out there, and without taking advantage of it, I can imaging that you might end up with some regrets in the future.
This semester I elected to take a writing flag course outside of the computer science department. Out of the numerous writing courses here at the university that intrigued me the most was a course by the name of "The Cowboy Mystique in American Culture." At the time it appeared to be a breather course with topics that differ from the hard sciences. Through the course of semester, I learned everything from the antics of Teddy Roosevelt to the stardom of John Wayne and more.
The weather last Saturday (the one before the Thanksgiving holiday) presented a perfect day to stay inside. With severe thunderstorms giving the Austin area the much needed rain it deserved, I took the liberty of enjoying my new found hobby: coffee roasting. So I roasted some beans, ground them up, and sat down to read the Wall Street Journal with a fresh cup in hand (It really does produce a smooth cup, you should try it if your interested).
I know it’s the end of the semester and we have finals and projects to finish up. I know stress levels are crazy. I know next semester is literally the last thing people want to think about right now. Fair enough.
I used to wake up every morning at 8 AM.
I would get up, shower, get breakfast (and coffee) from the LPC, read The Economist on my phone as I munched on a breakfast taco, and then read my real analysis textbook for a while until my first class. I would also stay up late working on OS or computer vision assignments, preparing activities for my FIG, building out a side project I had been working on, or writing articles for this blog. I’d get 3-4 hours of sleep a night, rinse, and repeat.
Most people who know me would agree that I’m not very spontaneous. I like to go to sleep at the same time every night, write my blog on the same day every week, and when the grocery store is out of the brand of shampoo I like, I’m a sad, sad person.
In some ways this is good. I get my homework done on time, I’m almost always pretty well rested, and my hair is usually the same level of frizzy.
Being a student in UTCS sometimes feels like being at a giant, never-ending career fair. There’s a different company in the atrium almost every day, and it’s hard to walk through the lab and not hear anybody talking about the next interview they have.
While it’s great to have opportunities, I think that it’s also important to realize that this sort of environment isn’t normal, and it can have some strange effects on how we view ourselves.