Most dropped courses at ISU this semester

[houjix]

Chem 177 made me want to off myself, but it had nothing on Chem 332... dear god

I crushed 177 and 178, but 331 kicked me in the face, but I chalk a lot of that up to the teacher. First class I ever retook. Nailed it the second time with a much better instructor. Glad I did not need 332, though.

 

[BallSoHard4Cy]

I crushed 177 and 178, but 331 kicked me in the face, but I chalk a lot of that up to the teacher. First class I ever retook. Nailed it the second time with a much better instructor. Glad I did not need 332, though.

Chem 331 was definitely tough, but Chem 332 was the second worst class I took at ISU.

The toughest class I ever took was Bio 436 which was Neurobiology taught by an old Dutch professor. Class had about 30 students and about 23 dropped after the first exam.

 

[justincl]

Did anyone else have Stephen Harper for Math 165? He was the best prof I ever had at ISU but a real piece of work, in mostly a good way.

He thought it was BS to start class before Labor Day, so we just kinda wasted the first week of class. And then he had a heart attack over Labor Day Weekend. So we got a new TA every week until Mid-Late October when he came back. At which point he said those guys were all stupid and basically jammed all of Math 165 into a month of lectures. I did okay in it, but I learned so much that Matt 166 was a breeze. Showed up for tests and that was it!

Ended up having him for Math 267 (Diff EQ) and was really psyched. And did well and learned a lot. Which I’ve all forgotten in the last 15+ years.

Last I knew he was flipping houses in Texas. Which if you knew him, isn’t all that surprising.

Would he have been there in ‘99? I think I may have had him for 165 if I’m thinking of the same guy.
Talking about vectors and always like what’s the vector to get to the keg of beer. What change in vector to get you some smokes…

 

[BCClone]

For those AgBus majors. I loved Econ 451 ag law with Harl. Honestly.

 

[Farnsworth]

I've had students and parents over the years tell me "XX class (usually orgo chem, calc, physics) is too hard. It is just weed out classes for X major." I never bought that. If someone can't do basic physics or organic chemistry how the hell is engineering or medical school gonna work? The subject matter is hard but so are those professions. If the classes don't work for someone neither will the profession. In all honestly I never took a calculus or physics class in my life, but I recognized I would not have done well anyway. Besides, a history major is where it is at!

The problem here is "weed out class" is given a negative connotation. Like you said it's warranted and probably benefits a TON of students that this is done right out of the gate the first year or so.

I was your classic small town 4.0 student, (4.2 with taking honors and Community College classes), thought math and science were my biggest strengths, came to Iowa State to study Engineering.

Calc 1 absolutely wrecked me. I was so unprepared, tried to double down on my studies but it would have taken me the whole semester to get to the starting point I needed to be at.


It's better for students to realize this out of the gate, learn to fight through it, or move on to something else. It's a specialized degree, they aren't just supposed to hand them out like participation trophies.

 

[PickSix]

Surge??? or Surgio??

Something like that rings a bell to me. Can’t recall for sure though.

 

[JP4CY]

Come into ISU, first class Math 165 with a German professor. Failed first quiz on day 3 and completely freaked. Completely changed my ISU path and career goals.

Fritz Keinert…that class completely changed my path as well. Worst professor I ever had at Iowa State

Keinert is interesting. Bumped into him on RAGBRAI of all places (in addition to Econ's Quirmbach).

 

[JP4CY]

The key for me taking the library class was an older friend that said to take the accelerated option, and that was probably the best advice ever.

 

[bawbie]

Who the hell drops library??!

The only course I dropped in my 4 years was Raquetball

(I was injured and couldn't play the last 2 months of the semester)

 

[JP4CY]

Bar none, worst Prof I ever had:

https://engineering.unl.edu/ece/faculty/fred-choobineh/

 

[Bret44]

Econ 101 with Dermot Hayes. 2nd best professor I had in college.

 

[Cyched]

Haven’t had a good Campus Life thread in a while. Current students are slacking. Or not on CF.

 

[Spam]

Bar none, worst Prof I ever had:

https://engineering.unl.edu/ece/faculty/fred-choobineh/

The Nebraska Fred Choobineh is a different Fred Choobineh than Iowa States martini man

 

[ABECyguy]

Haven’t had a good Campus Life thread in a while. Current students are slacking. Or not on CF.

Probably busy getting drunk after finals

 

[Cyched]

Probably busy getting drunk after finals

We used to have epic finals week threads when I was in college. Miss reading those.

 

[Nader_uggghhh]

It's crazy how everyone learns different. Chem 177 and Econ 101 were the easiest courses I took at ISU by far.

 

[8bitnes]

I still suffer PTSD from DIff EQ.

One of the two easiest math classes I ever took, out of 23 at Iowa State. Finished the final before all 200ish tests were handed out. Still have no idea why that class is so feared in the EE/CprE circles.

 

[BCClone]

We used to have epic finals week threads when I was in college. Miss reading those.

Internet was barely a thing when I was in college.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

Math 165 is harder than calc 2 imo. Calc 3; integrating in polar and cylindrical coordinates.... Kill me.

 

[8bitnes]

Everybody always says that and I don't get it. That's 265 right? Basically it's just the same as 165 but with more variables. I thought DiffEq was the easiest calc class I took. But then, I screwed up and dropped Theory of Matrices (Math 145 maybe?), which everyone else said was the easy elective but just confused me to death.

For most people, the more abstract the math is, the harder. And for me, it's the opposite. Weird brain I suppose.

You are confusing DiffyQ with calc 3. You fully described and identified the course number of calc 3 (math 265). DiffyQ is 267.

I found Math 365 also to be VERY easy.