Finally one more term is gone!

@ 2009-07-20 by João Paulo Pizani Flor

Please don’t get me wrong: I didn’t mean to say I don’t like studying Computer Science. Far from that, this is the field of study I chose to dedicate my life to, and, after some 2 years and a half, it still seems a pretty good choice.

But, after a semester in which I took 6 courses (2 of them legendary for their difficulty) with a total 26 hours of study time per week, two questions are floating on my mind:

  1. What the hell did the faculty think when formulating our curriculum? Despite the fact that all courses which were elective are now required, they still think it’s sensible to establish 8 semesters as the appropriate time until graduation…

  2. Do our professors talk to each other when writing syllabuses? My guess: No. At least not sufficiently. If they interacted a bit more, coursework and exams would be more distributed over time and less stressful.

But after these daunting 4 months not only question were raised. Amidst headaches and sleepless nights two things became certain:

  1. From now on, I won’t take more than 20h/week of coursework. The conclusion I came to is that I am a person that is kinda perfectionist, and don’t work all too well under pressure.

  2. My graduation will surely take more than 8 semesters. In January, this was a big possibilty, now it’s a certainty. It might even take 10 semester for me to graduate, and despite my wish to do it in 9, it wouldn’t be all too bad.

Now there are 2 weeks to rest, ride my bike and try to solve the puzzle that my curriculum for the next 4 semesters has become. I must also try to cope with the tasks delayed in these last 4 months. Wish me luck!