Spring 2025 Semester Review

Created in June 18, 2025

2025   ·   course review   ·   academic

  • 15-362 Computer Graphics 💡

    My favorite 15-XXX class so far! Materials cover the fundamental graphics pipeline. The programming assignment (there are 4 phases throughout the semester) is to build a 3D modelling software called Scotty 3D. Sometimes debugging can be really tedious, since the provided testcases are easy to pass but GUI is still broken. The writeups were a bit unclear and outdated, and I was really confused at some moments by that. Grading in general was pretty lenient. Based on the CS courses I’ve taken (there aren’t too many of them), core courses tend to be harsh on grading and have more explicit policies, rubrics and such, while electives are less strict on those.

    Other than the logistic stuff, this is my favorite cs class due to my background in architecture. I used 3D modelling software a lot back in high school to build my art portfolio. At that time, most commands in the software like Rhino, SketchUp remains a black-box process for me, even though I know how to use them to manipulate geometry and render the scene at the application-level. Material in this course somehow explains the confusion I had for years from a technical perspective.

  • 21-325 Probability

    Took this to fulfill graduation requirement. I am not a math person since elementary school (I used to sketch anime characters in math classes), but it turned out to be not that bad. It’s indeed very proof-heavy, but the workload is reasonable for a 9 units course. Nearly half of the materials were covered by other cs classes I’ve taken in previous semesters (Expectations, Markov’s inequality, etc.). Martin is a really nice guy.

  • 85-419 Introduction to Parallel Distributed Processing

    A required course for my second degree in Cognitive Science, this class was both engaging and interdisciplinary. Much of the material was drawn from the professor’s own research, with a strong emphasis on neural networks. Surprisingly, there were no coding assignments. Instead of exams, the coursework focused on analyzing visualizations of different network models and explaining the underlying patterns and mechanisms.

  • 33-121 Physics I for Science Students

    Another required science course, with content that largely overlapped with high school physics.

  • 36-200 Reasoning with Data

    I took this course to fulfill a Dietrich GenEd requirement. It was probably the easiest class I’ve taken at CMU—more comparable to a high school-level statistics course. I wish there were a placement option to waive it, but the only way to do so is by transferring an AP Statistics score, which isn’t feasible in my case since I earned an IB diploma.

  • 52-392 Seminar III:Deconstructing Disciplines

    BXA seminar. Very chill.