I am a new CompSci graduate student too. I knew at around my senior years as undergraduate that if I wanted to do graduate studies, I would need more mathematics than whatever was required for my undergraduate program. However, it was too late for me as I need compsci courses rather than math courses for graduation requirements.
Its possible at the junior years in undergraduate, most students has no idea they would need those advanced mathematics or statistics for graduate studies. Later when they realised it, it could be too late for some of them like in my case. I tried picking up things on my own but its rather difficult if there are other commitments like course assignments, work and etc. Undergraduate programs do not prepare students for graduate program specifically. Therefore, for those who has decided to do graduate studies, it would be great if the institution to allow them to make changes to their degree on the fly to allow them to take the courses that would be useful. For example, if I decided in my 3rd year I wanted to do graduate studies in Machine Learning, I could tailor my course towards more statistics courses rather than the standard CompSci fare and still able to graduate without delays.
Learning is such a great opportunity in life, how nice it would be if its not bogged down by regulations, grades etc. Everyone probability takes different amount of time to master a skill, the goal of learning should be mastering the skills and not getting an 'A' in the course. I would support a scheme that every graduates will finally master something rather than 'know just enough' for an 'A' grade. Mastery depends on the time the student willing to afford.
Slashdot Mirror
I am a new CompSci graduate student too. I knew at around my senior years as undergraduate that if I wanted to do graduate studies, I would need more mathematics than whatever was required for my undergraduate program. However, it was too late for me as I need compsci courses rather than math courses for graduation requirements. Its possible at the junior years in undergraduate, most students has no idea they would need those advanced mathematics or statistics for graduate studies. Later when they realised it, it could be too late for some of them like in my case. I tried picking up things on my own but its rather difficult if there are other commitments like course assignments, work and etc. Undergraduate programs do not prepare students for graduate program specifically. Therefore, for those who has decided to do graduate studies, it would be great if the institution to allow them to make changes to their degree on the fly to allow them to take the courses that would be useful. For example, if I decided in my 3rd year I wanted to do graduate studies in Machine Learning, I could tailor my course towards more statistics courses rather than the standard CompSci fare and still able to graduate without delays. Learning is such a great opportunity in life, how nice it would be if its not bogged down by regulations, grades etc. Everyone probability takes different amount of time to master a skill, the goal of learning should be mastering the skills and not getting an 'A' in the course. I would support a scheme that every graduates will finally master something rather than 'know just enough' for an 'A' grade. Mastery depends on the time the student willing to afford.