[num3ric]

I also truly despise the phrasing "highly competitive". These kinds of classes, when you take a few in one semester, can eat your soul. They drown you in just enough material to kill that initial spark of interest. Gone is the pleasure of finding things out. And when these 'competitive' students succeed and graduate, they feel lost/void because their life is not dictated by the next exam anymore. (Yes, I learned a lot but I'm still resentful. Syllabi like these are not right.)

[at-fates-hands]

Most of my hardest classes like Differential Equations were monsters and I struggled mightily. I thought about giving up several times, but stuck with it for some reason. After the class, two of my engineering buds and I went for a beer. They asked me if I thought I would be a better person for struggling and succeeding, or giving up and waiting to take it again? The answer was simple.

Just because they're "competitive" isn't always a bad thing. Struggling to learn is normal. Just because the prof makes it competitive might make you work harder, put in more hours and in the end, learn more through your struggles.

There is no