u/quacaketm

Hello everynyan! I graduated this past spring from the CS BA/MS program, with a minor in music performance (classical violin). If any incoming freshmen or CS majors have any questions, you can always shoot me a message or comment under this post :3 I have truly enjoyed my time at BU, even during my all-nighters at moogie!! 🫠😭 A small note is that I got accepted into the BA/MS program before they made some changes, so I'm not sure if students can still get this degree in 4 years, but I was incredibly lucky to do it in 4.

FALL 2022

CS112 with CPK (Christine Papadakis-Kanaris): I took AP CS and I had a lot of experience with Java, so I thought this course was pretty easy for the coding portion. CPK is honestly a pretty good professor. She isn't the most engaging, but she is informative. I think the TA's carried this class heavily (back when OH was in EMA instead of CDS...). 8/10
CS131 with Golbus + Reyzin: I love the material for this class so much!! I think it formed my love for theory, and solidified the fact that I became a CS major. It is challenging in all the right ways. If you like problem solving and puzzles, this is the class for you. The exams though, were horrifying... I got a 43 on midterm 2, and then they regraded a question, and I got a 40... which I think is very cruel, since it was a mistake on the professors' side. Lecture was okay!! Golbus was lowkey kind of funny and relatable, even if he wasn't the best at explaining topics. I really liked the online textbook for this class. 7/10
WR120 with Charles Clements: Charlie was really kind with extensions and also grading. I think for all writing courses, I have had a good time with extensions and the professors are all hella chill. There wasn't too much reading either!! Wasn't too memorable but wasn't traumatic either. 10/10
PH248 with James Oldfield: I loved the reading in this class. I didn't like how rushed we had to go through everything though. Every lecture basically went over the daily reading, and then discussion had more general talks about existentialism. I got extensions and the grading was all very good. A lot of that was because of my TA though!! Truly grateful to her since I turned in my final paper like 2 weeks late and I even got a D in my transcript, which she pushed the professor to update to have my final paper's grade included. We had pop quizzes in this class, and lowkey the questions were kinda BS, but that might just be me cause my reading comprehension is ass. TLDR: Love the material + my TA, didn't really like the pacing of the class. 3/10

SPRING 2023

CS210 with Appavoo: I never touched Git before this class, nor did I touch Assembly and C, and I learned that I hate systems from this class. Exams were fair, HW was fair too, especially when I went to OH for help. Appavoo is a good lecturer too, which helped. He has good pacing, and talks in a way that doesn't make you wanna fall asleep (you don't get that in a lot of classes ngl 😭) 6/10
CS237 with Tiago +Sofya: I thought the exams and HW were pretty fair. After CS131, and failing the exams, I was pretty happy when I got a 70 on the final for this class. REMEMBER, your grade is very relative to the rest of the class, everything gets scaled out properly!! But yeah, apparently there was like a petition because the HW and exams were too difficult, but I think people were just complaining because their grades were on the lower side, and mine were too, but it truly all scales out. Also, Tiago is so so so so so so sweet, everyone loves Tiago <3 Material was lowkey fun, you get to learn how to solve riddles!!! I love clown school! 7/10
AS101 with Chuanfei Dong: I took this class for HUB and honestly hated it... I have no interest in the solar system!! I actually had to study a lot for the exams because I have never studied any of this material. It was honestly a bit difficult for me!! The night labs are fun, but a little inconvenient to find time for because they would announce them the day before. 1/10
WR152 with Blake Huggins: This was a grading contract class. I thought it was very similar to my experience with WR120: not too much reading, grading was good, extensions were given. Did like this class more though because we had more flexibility on what we got to write about. I wrote about Kiki's Delivery Service and also got to draw something and have a piece of writing go with it. 10/10

FALL 2023 (started my music minor)

CS132 with Mull: I thought the material for this class was very easy, but Mull talks in a way that makes me so so so sleepy. He isn't bad at teaching, but he talks very slowly. Thought the exam was terrible though LMAO, I remember looking through the final and laughing (like in a terrified way). I think it was Nathan's first time teaching, so he might not have known how to make exams, and tended to make them more difficult. He did end up scaling the grades, so it ended up okay. 6/10
CS330 with Erdos and Andrea Lincoln: I personally had no experience with algorithms. I thought the material was very difficult, but I loved the professors. They were not only kind and patient, but really tried to help us understand topics. I had to take thorough notes, attend OH religiously, and I still really struggled, especially with the exams. Looking back, I think it is what I needed though, because it taught me a lot about persistence and being brave/having confidence. During the class, I would have said 6/10, but now, I think it's a 10/10.
EC201 with Koskinen: Hub class, but I thought it was really fun. It is purely math, and I loved that. I think Koskinen wasn't the best at explaining what was going to be on the exams, but the TA helped a lot with the HW/discussions. I only loved this class because I met a friend who practically tutored me though. Without him, I would have had to use a lot of time to find online sources/go to OH. I did have one bad experience with Koskinen though, when I asked a question after class. Besides that, I think he is a good lecturer, but he does rush through things sometimes. 8/10
MT101 +MT211 with Weigt + Youngjin Kim: I loved Professor Weigt, he was awkward but in a cute and fun way. The textbook for this class is so expensive and I only used it for the aural portion of these classes. The actual material wasn't difficult at all, if you are a music student, but they actually start from teaching you how to just read music. I think it would be a lot to handle if you aren't comfortable with reading music though. I hated ear training and dictation, but the aural classes are so small, like <10 people, my group only had 3 people. It is super chill, but I still had to practice the rhythm and dictation portions of the exams. 9/10
MU197 / ACO: I did ACO for 4 semesters, but this was my first semester doing it. It's really late and rehearsal is 2 hours long. I won't lie, I skipped a bunch of rehearsals, but I thought it was okay. I wish I could have just done all-campus chamber music instead though. The music isn't too difficult, and everyone is super chill. Mark is funny while also staying serious. I know people who truly enjoy ACO, but I wouldn't ever take it if I didn't have to. I just don't really like orchestra. 3/10
MU190 / AC Chamber Music: I love chamber music!! I love it every semester, and it was my favorite ensemble ever. I loved my groups every semester!! The jury is super chill too. I think I took this every semester after freshmen year. 10/10

SPRING 2024 (applied for BA/MS)

CS320 with Mull: I hate systems, and refused to take CS350, so I took this class. I didn't know what to expect, especially coding in OCaml, but I actually enjoyed this class a lot. We basically wrote a programming language with an interpreter, and I thought that was pretty cool. All the HW assignments were sorta related to one another, though, so you had to stay on top of things. It was like solving a bunch of puzzles, and they weren't difficult, you just got to do them on time!! Not many people showed up for lecture, but I had two study groups and they were the sweetest people ever <3 !! 8/10
CS332 with Mark Bun: Loved this class!! The material is difficult like CS131, but in a fun and very engaging way. The HW was difficult at times, but the online TM website we used was honestly really fun to work with. Mark is super kind and he actually let us watch the solar eclipse during class. He is very understanding and helpful outside of class too! This class made me feel a lot more confident in theory. 10/10
CS411 with Golbus: I had a really good team, I think they were all seniors, so they really just led me in our project. The midterm was an online, take-home exam. I think everyone just searched the answers online ngl... but I didn't think this class was good or bad. I hated the lectures, because it was a lot of talking but it didn't feel very applicable to real life (like it wasf explained in a way that felt very textbook, not guiding us in the SWE industry). Loved loved loved my team, but class was just alright. I also think Golbus made his slides with Chat, like he would also pull it up during class too (which I think is funny and real, but some people thought it wasn't professional x.x). 5/10
MH407 with Miki Kaneda + Chaeyoung Lee: Our professor left in the middle of the semester, and it was honestly a little chaotic. I felt bad for our TA, but he was so positive and kind. Class had so much reading, the project was kind of busy work..., essays were also busy work 😭. I think this class was just okay, but it did give me a lot of hub credit. 3/10

FALL 2024

CS460 with David Sullivan: Professor Sullivan is the epitome of what an educator should strive to be. He is funny, serious about what he does, and gives a very appropriate amount of HW and guidance. Lectures were a bit boring, but that's the nature of databases... but he does do TopHat, which helped with my attention span. I thought the HW was borderline fun, and the exams were so fair. One of the only CS classes I didn't need to go to OH every week for. 10/10
CS480 with Emily Whiting: I think the programming portion of this was actually very difficult. I also never really used Python before this though. BUT, I loved the lectures. They were so fun and informative. I genuinely felt like I was learning in class (a lot of CS classes just made me feel lost 🫠) HW took a long time, but the exams were so fair. The practice exams helped so much. 9/10
CS501 with Ron Czik: I think this class was difficult to pay attention in since it was a 3-hour seminar. I learned most of my early SWE practices through this course, like how to use Git, make PRs, do merges, etc. but this wasn't learnt in class, I just had a really good group. I think this class is very good for people who just want to code and build something. With AI, I think this class is even easier!! I personally, don't really like coding, but it was still a fun class, with minimal HW and the presentations were good practice. 8/10
EN220 with John Matthews: Similar experience to WR120 and WR152, all super chill. I will say, there was slightly more reading, but it truly wasn't bad at all. I really liked how Professor Matthews gave feedback. He wrote directly in our essays and then wrote a blurb at the end. It was all very useful!! 10/10
DS280 with Matthew Carrano and Lisa Lyman: We basically just learned how to use Figma to create UI/UX wireframes and prototypes. I thought it was really fun and it was a nice break from the very technical side of tech. We got to go from doing user research, to creating lofi wireframes, to hifi, and even doing user testing. It was very fair grading, and the lectures were pretty cool and also brief. We had a lot of time to just work in class. Wish we had a group project or some form of collaboration on a project. 9/10

SPRING 2025

CS565 with Erdos: I loved the structure of this class. It almost didn't feel like an algorithms class, more like a graph theory class. BUT the lectures were paced well, and I liked how we were quizzed every week, so there wasn't one big looming exam. The quizzes were also pretty fair, as Erdos gives the questions for every lecture. The project was a little daunting but my friend was my partner and he was the GOAT!!! TLDR, I think Erdos is an amazing professor and she makes material I would usually hate, actually very digestible. 9/10
CS654 with Shanin Roozkhosh: I weirdly loved this class. It was this mash up of math, physics, and coding, and I thought it was very unique. I was confused a lot of the time, but it was fun to ask questions. It was a little annoying to go into the lab and do our coding there. Whenever my group went, the other group sharing our computer would also be there... so there's also that. There was also a lot of broken hardware. So it was not just debugging code, but also seeing if it is a hardware issue. The lectures were a bit all over the place, but I think that was because there was just so much material to go over. Overall, I recommend this course no matter what, but expect a lot of hard work and praying that things work. It was kind of funny how my group would use a google doc for our code, which is like the whole point of git.... 😅. Loved my team!!!!!!! Only bad thing about this class is the stress. 8/10
DS488 with Morgan Curran: Such a good class to get some real world experience. It is purely project based, and I got to interview real students and teachers for our user research. I will say, it was a little annoying to work with some people (not dropping names but I felt really disrespected at times), but it did teach me to bring up issues early, instead of just keeping it bottled up. Recommend this class to anyone interested in UI/UX!! You get to work with a PM, client, and team. I will say, I worked with a group of all girls, and I think we got mansplained a few times by students, and I didn't bring it up until the end of the semester. It was the first time I felt disrespected by a peer, which is an experience, so I guess I learned how to deal with it. Morgan is really nice and approachable, but the lectures are 3 hours long, and I get really hungry and tired after 6 PM 😭. 7/10
MH405 with Pamela Feo: Similar experience to MH407. A lot of reading, and at times, I felt like the discussion posts were just busy work. I did like how we did listening in class together, and analyzed music at a high level. I think these classes might be more interesting if you are a music major/really care about history. I did really appreciate how we had a rough draft due, cause it helped a lot with writing our essay. It was one of the longest papers I wrote in a while, and yet, it didn't feel daunting because Professor Feo guided us at every step. I loved all her feedback!! It wasn't just about the paper but about writing as a whole. 6/10

FALL 2025 (started getting really bad burn out...)

CS391 with Mark Bun: I took this at the same time as CS542, and I think it was very beneficial. It helped a lot when we were learning about models, and I already had a good grasp on what we were learning. It was an ethics course basically, and it had a lot of discussion during class. I personally found the topic very interesting, and I loved how Mark used real world problems. I think that the end of the semester, when we learned about transformers, made me really confused though. It was difficult to balance learning about AI and also learning about the ethics of it, at the same time, but it was rewarding and made me actually think, which doesn't happen a lot in CS classes (you kind of just learn instead of forming opinions). 7/10
CS542 with Boqing: I think Boqing is a fantastic lecturer, but there were just a lot of topics he had to cover, so it all felt a bit rushed. Homework was fair, and actually helpful to understand topics and derivations. Exams were difficult, and I had to brush up my calculus a lot. I would say if you like math, take this course. Also, if you fail the prereq quiz, just don't take the class. I got a 60 on the prereq quiz and really struggled through the math of this whole course (which you need for the exams!!!). I ended up getting 60s-70s for all the exams but ended up getting a B+ in the class. It all gets scaled, but yeah, I struggled a lot but learned a lot too. One thing that truly bugged me is how Boqing said we should all be academically proficient enough, and that was his reason for not giving us practice exam questions. It felt unfair, because the questions on the exam are very different from the HW questions. 8/10
CS599 with Byers (Network and Markets): It was like a graph and econ class, which I liked a lot. The midterms were very very fair, he even took questions from the textbook. The research project is very open ended and I ended up looking into classifying Steam reviews as nostalgic versus collectible purchases, and the buying patterns based on different steam users. Awesome class if you want something chill, but also useful for your resume. Byers is also really chill, and he is a very good lecturer. He speaks so clearly and his slides and examples are organized. Only flaw is that he would forget to post material, and the project felt a little too unguided at times. 9/10
CS611 with CPK: We had 3 hour lectures so I hated that... and the material was not that great either... but at least the programming assignments were kind of fun. Maybe the topics CPK taught will be useful, but as someone who knew they weren't going into SWE, I felt really drained going to these lectures. The exam was actually pretty fair though. The material isn't difficult, it was just memorizing stuff. The programming assignments do take a while though! It's almost all peer grading though (not sure how the TAs grade everything though), so I wouldn't get stuck on getting all the bugs figured out. But yeah, I think this is mandatory for MS students, and I truly feel terrible for them. I only took this because it was the only class to fit my schedule, I knew what I was getting myself into... 3/10
WR415 with Gavin Benke: Contract graded class, and I really liked Dr. Benke. He was really chill and also honest. I liked how we got a lot of freedom on what we could write about and the readings were all super short. Best writing class I took at BU. 10/10

SPRING 2026

CS519 with Matthew and Ricardo: I think this is a great project based class that gives you real world experience. Lowkey, this class was almost too real, and I hated it. I had a difficult time communicating with my teammates at times, and I honestly felt so stressed because of it. I think the professors were understanding and tried to help, but nonetheless, I felt greatly disrespected at times. Not saying its the professors fault though, it's just group-project things. You get to work with a real client and a PM, so it's a great experience. It's a purely project based course and you're on the same project for the whole semester, so just keep that in mind! For me, I felt like it was a 0/10, but for others, I think it was a 8/10.
CS581 with Emily Whiting: This class is actually very interesting because you learn something new every class. You do many presentations, the coding assignments aren't bad at all, and you get to work with 3D printers and laser cutters. I think it was a really cool experience. You also work on a group project, where you can vote on which project you want to be on. I think I had a difficult time communicating with my team for this project as well, although it was partially my fault. Nonetheless, I actually really enjoyed this class. 8/10
CS585 with Andrew Wood: I loved the lectures, but the coding assignments were actually so difficult. It's all in C++, and the instructions can be vague at times, so you had to fix your code based on the autograder's response. There's also a project portion of this class, which I thought was very doable, but there was very limited feedback when it came to check ins. I recommend going to OH if you have any sort of question about the material or even about logistics. Overall, I thought the coursework was very fair for a grad course. I didn't actually like the topic for this class that much, but I still found the lectures engaging and interesting. 7/10
LC116 with Huang: I loved this class... it was borderline easy, but you did have to study for the tests and do the HW. We write on the whiteboards during class and read out loud during class, which I thought was good practice. The professor is so so so so so sweet. He will let you turn in HW however late, and will also stay after class if you need to make up a quiz. I learned so much and it motivated me to keep learning Chinese. 10/10

articuno :3

happy seven tft ヾ(^▽^*)))

painted a hushtail (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)

Every Professor/Course I've had at BU (as a CS major + music minor)

[OC] drew one of my moots with her pokemon 🌠✨

kanto starters