I’ve taken a lot of classes at ucsd. Some were incredible, some… not so much! I decided to plot them all out on a few different dimensions to visualize them.

Below is a

1. table
2. chronological heat matrix
3. an interactive radar visualizer
4. cse vs math dept comparison
5. quarter averages for the five metrics
6. weighted sum for each metric.

of all classes I’ve taken.

I should explain the criteria.

1. Usefulness: How useful the class was to me in terms of skills, career (software focused), and general knowledge. 5 = useful, 1 = not useful at all.
2. Enjoyment: How much I enjoyed the class. 5 = I loved it, 1 = I hated it.
3. Workload: How much work the class was. A 5 means the class was very time consuming and a 1 means it was very light.
4. Difficulty: How difficult the class was for me. It’s important to note that this is distinct form workload because some classes are difficult but don’t require a lot of work (like MATH 154), and some classes are easy but require a lot of work (MATH 20D). A 5 means the class was very difficult for me and a 1 means it was very easy.
5. Skipability: How much I would recommend skipping the class if you had the option. Obviously, this is also very subjective and somewhat professor dependent. A 5 means you should skip the class. A 1 means you should attend all lectures.

I don’t think I need to say this, but these ratings are all very subjective and based on my own experience. Some of these are very professor dependent YMMV!

Since it’s unfair to judge a class I took early on the same scale as a class I took later, I rated classes based on the quarter I took them. So for example, my rating of MATH 18 is based on my experience taking it in FA22, despite it being significantly easier and more useful than MATH 140A which I took in WI25.

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specific reviews

CSE 95

This is actually the CSE PACE class. Not really a class, but more of a program to help first years adjust to college. I met a lot of friends and would recommend every first year to take it!

CSE 110

This is a very hated class. I personally think the class is good if you’ve never done group projects before (in that case, what are you doing??). For most people it’s the first time where you have to work in a group where there are consequences for not doing work.

Some of the content is useful, like dependency injection or the builder pattern.

One piece of data I can provide is that CSE 197 students who took CSE 110 mentioned it was one of the most useful classes they took at UCSD, and that it prepared them for working in industry.

I also think the class is very enjoyable if you have a good group. I had a great group and we had a lot of fun working on the project together. It’s very team dependent (just like the real world!).

CSE 197

This is just the internship class. See here.

CSE 230

I took this when it was taught in Lean4. Any students taking this class should do some research on what the material is because Lean4 is not a widely used language and the material is very different from other programming classes.

At the time, this was my research focus, so it made sense.

MATH 109

This is the intro to proofs class. It it extremely professor dependent; they’ll spend some time on a topic that somewhat adjacent to their research and then give you a problem set on it. You really want to aim for a professor who has good pedagogical skills.

MATH 180A

Useful class in understanding modeling statistics. Unfortunately, the textbook we used was very poor. However, the 180B textbook is phenomenal.

There was a large difficulty spike in the last three weeks. I don’t think I’ve hard a harder difficulty impulse in any other class.

MATH 140AB

Hardest classes I’ve taken at UCSD. Highly recommend for discplined students who are

1. want to do math research
2. considering a PhD in math
3. want a challenge
4. meet other hard working and talented students!

You can take a preview of the material here!

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Thank you to those who helped make this possible.