Computer Science

Machine learning with Phil was fantastic. Recently reworked from the previous year. Started really foundational with theory and math heavy problem sets. You will probably need to do a little off camera mining for some concepts such as partial differentiation and brush up on linear algebra, but nothing crazy and it is absolutely chill if you put in some modest effort. Eventually worked up to using Numpy and Pytorch to implement concepts from psets into mini-projects where we made data pipelines to train/test/evaluate several different ML models. Final project is very broad in scope and allows for lots of creativity and complexity. Can work in groups or solo dolo for the final project. Syllabus and coursework can be found here if you want to take a peek: go/cs-451

Machine learning with Phil was fantastic. Recently reworked from the previous year. Started really foundational with theory and math heavy problem sets. You will probably need to do a little off camera mining for some concepts such as partial differentiation and brush up on linear algebra, but nothing crazy and it is absolutely chill …Read more

I loved how enthusiastic Professor Vaccari came to class everyday, it made me more excited to come to class. I also really appreciated how consistent the homework was because we knew what to expect of every week. Some of the concepts can be quite challenging for first-time computer science students, but all of the professors and TAs are so helpful. Expect that some labs go overtime or you might need to do lab work outside of class to finish the assignment. Weekly homework and mini quizzes on Mondays. Tests every other Friday and two exams.

I loved how enthusiastic Professor Vaccari came to class everyday, it made me more excited to come to class. I also really appreciated how consistent the homework was because we knew what to expect of every week. Some of the concepts can be quite challenging for first-time computer science students, but all of the professors and TAs …Read more

This is already a very difficult course, and in my experience, the way it was taught made it significantly harder than it needed to be. I often felt that I learned more efficiently by teaching myself the material outside of class than by listening to the lectures. The biggest issue is the lack of clear and concise explanations. Relatively simple concepts can take an unnecessarily long time to explain, and the explanation often becomes more confusing instead of more helpful. In a course where the material is already challenging, this makes the learning experience extremely frustrating. The professor clearly puts effort into the course, but effort alone does not make the teaching effective. Strong subject knowledge and strong teaching ability are not the same thing, and I do not think the lectures consistently demonstrate the ability to communicate difficult ideas in a clear, structured, and understandable way. If you are considering taking this course, be prepared to do a large amount of independent learning. This is not a class where I would recommend relying primarily on the lectures to understand the material.

This is already a very difficult course, and in my experience, the way it was taught made it significantly harder than it needed to be. I often felt that I learned more efficiently by teaching myself the material outside of class than by listening to the lectures. The biggest issue is the lack of clear and concise explanations. Relat …Read more