Hydranting My Spring Semester by Jessica Z. '27

My mind has been struggling to internalize the scary fact that it’s been ~1.5 years since I came to MIT. Fall finals season helped me shove those feelings to the side, but now that spring classes have started, it feels like the clock is ticking louder than ever and choosing classes feels a lot heavier :<

All this to say, I’ve been browsing Hydrant⁠01 very helpful class planning website for MIT students that's updated for each semester and Courseroad⁠02 academic planner for MIT students to plan out their degrees, test out paths for different majors, and view class information for an abysmal amount of time post-finals⁠03 oops can u tell this has been in the drafts for a bit :') and thought I’d share my very, very, very messy process for deciding my sophomore spring classes! ⁠04 this is also a last ditch effort to force myself to pick classes lol

First, here’s some background and my preliminary thoughts for planning my classes:

Course Requirements:

• I’m planning to double major in Course 20⁠05 Biological Engineering and 15-1.⁠06 Business Management
• I planned to double in Course 20 and STS⁠07 Science, Technology, and Society last year before switching the latter to 15-1. I also toyed around with 3⁠08 Materials Science and Engineering or 2A-20⁠09 Mechanical Engineering with concentration in biomechanics and biomedical device before realizing that I didn’t like nanomaterials or physics enough to commit to either, even if I really like biomaterials and biomedical devices. I essentially went in a giant loop back to Course 20 :^)
• If you know me personally, there’s a 99% chance I’ve complained about the Course 20 requirements. I personally think it’s an atrocious amount of classes and way too difficult to schedule one of the less flexible majors,⁠10 lots of classes have pre-reqs and some of the upper-level classes/labs are only available in the fall or spring semester which makes it difficult to plan since I’m also trying to fit my HASS requirement in alongside 15-1 classes. That means there are certain technical classes I basically have to take next semester :(

HASS Concentration:

• I really, really like a lot of the HASS⁠11 as part of our general institute requirements, undergrads must complete our HASS (humanities, arts, and social sciences) requirement by taking eight subjects. also, all undergrads complete a HASS concentration of three or four subjects. fields here, and as a result, I’ve considered a lot of different concentrations: CMS,⁠12 Comparative Media Studies Education, STS⁠13 Science, Technology, and Society , and ACT.⁠14 Arts, Culture, and Technology
• I took STS.011⁠15 Engineering Life: Biotechnology and Society and CMS.100⁠16 Introduction to Media Studies last year and 17.307⁠17 Public Policy for Washington Interns this year. I’m leaning towards a concentration in STS but not super super set.
• I also need to take my second CI-H/W⁠18 Communication Intensive in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences this semester. I’d like to take a CI-H/W that counts for my HASS concentration, which makes scheduling a bit more difficult considering I’m not entirely set on what I’d like to concentrate in.

With all that in mind, let’s get started!

I start planning my semester by not looking at the class times in Hydrant. Instead, I add every class that I have to take for my course requirements next semester (sans CI-H), then some required classes I’d like to take earlier rather than later if I have the space.

Afterwards, my schedule looked like this:

yikes

I started poking around MIT’s Course Catalog⁠19 provides mit's subject listing, schedule, subject availability, professor, etc to read the class descriptions and started going down a rabbit hole of classes that also seemed interesting. So… I added a few more classes.

In the middle of my browsing, my friend pointed out that Prof. Erik Demaine is teaching an origami class this semester. In high school, my research focused on the intersections between origami and biomedical devices. I learned in college that my interests have shifted, but I still have a deep admiration for origami as a field of study. In fact, I mentioned his research in my very first high school science fair project, which helps illustrate how much I appreciate the field—needless to say, I spontaneously added his class to my schedule, too.

I spent a few minutes scrolling through Hydrant to add any class title that seemed interesting, barring they didn’t have a lot of pre-reqs and didn’t seem overly technical at first glance. Then… my friend messaged me with some other interesting classes he stumbled upon during his own Hydrant-ing, which I promptly added to my own.

Finally, ta-da! Version 1 of my spring semester schedule was done:

yikes x2

This version was just to lay out which classes were available and seemed interesting without any considerations of actual feasibility. It’s a lot to see on one page, so I broke it down into a quick list by category:

Essential Classes: These are required classes for Course 20 and 15-1 that I have to take⁠20 or at least it is strongly, strongly recommended to now to stay on track for my major requirements and future courses.

• 6.100B: Introduction to Computational Thinking and Data Science
• 7.03: Genetics
• 7.05: General Biochemistry
• 8.02: Physics II

Flexible Classes: These are required classes that I had originally planned for my junior and senior year but could hypothetically take next semester.

• 15.501: Corporate Financial Accounting
• 15.8141: Marketing Innovation
• 15.9001: Competitive Strategy
• 18.05: Introduction to Probability and Statistics

HASS Electives: These are some classes I found that fulfill HASS requirements (* = CI-H/W).

• 4.021: Design Studio: How to Design
• 4.657: Design: The History of Making Things
• 21T.232: Producing Podcasts
• 21W.035: Science Writing and New Media: Elements of Science Writing for the Public*
• 21W.031: Science Writing and New Media: Explorations in Communicating about Science and Technology*
• 21W.778: Science Journalism
• CMS.587/11.125: Introduction to Education: Understanding and Evaluating Education
• CMS.636: Extending the Museum
• STS.034: Science Communication: A Practical Guide
• STS.049: The Long War Against Cancer
• STS.055: Living Dangerously: Environmental Problems from 1900 to Today

Misc Interests: Some other assorted classes that caught my eye :)

• 6.5310: Geometric Folding Algorithms: Linkages, Origami, Polyhedra
• 7.105: Ethics for Biologists and Engineers
• 20.586: Science and Business of Biotechnology
• 20.310: Molecular, Cellular, and Tissue Biomechanics

Stage 1: Denial

Surely there is some way to make this schedule work where I can take classes I enjoy, fulfill my course requirements without stressing myself out, and miraculously still survive! Right? I’ll start by working on all of the non-HASS classes and quickly eliminating the ones that fall to the bottom of the list after a second look:

• 6.100B: Introduction to Computational Thinking and Data Science
• 7.03: Genetics
• 7.05: General Biochemistry
• 8.02: Physics II
• 15.501: Corporate Financial Accounting
• 15.8141: Marketing Innovation
• 15.9001: Competitive Strategy
• 18.05: Introduction to Probability and Statistics
• 6.5310: Geometric Folding Algorithms: Linkages, Origami, Polyhedra I never seriously considered taking this class simply because I cannot code for the life of me, BUT I’m going to listener one class
• 7.105: Ethics for Biologists and Engineers
• 20.586: Science and Business of Biotechnology
• 20.310: Molecular, Cellular, and Tissue Biomechanics

And now HASS classes…

• 4.021: Design Studio: How to Design
• 4.657: Design: The History of Making Things*
• 21T.232: Producing Podcasts* I think podcast production is very cool, and I would love to learn more about it; I just like the other classes listed more.
• 21W.035: Science Writing and New Media: Elements of Science Writing for the Public*
• 21W.031: Science Writing and New Media: Explorations in Communicating about Science and Technology*
• 21W.778: Science Journalism*
• CMS.587/11.125: Introduction to Education: Understanding and Evaluating Education*
• CMS.636: Extending the Museum
• STS.034: Science Communication: A Practical Guide*
• STS.049: The Long War Against Cancer*
• STS.055: Living Dangerously: Environmental Problems from 1900 to Today I think this was on my list because it would count for my STS concentration? Eliminated because I prefer the other STS classes though.

My five-minute run-through eliminated a grand total of 4 classes…out of the 23 originally listed.

yay for progress ..??

The delusion is always strong with Hydrant.

Stage 2: Anger

I knew STS.034 was the class I wanted to take the most. But after checking my schedule, it wouldn’t be possible to take with 6.100B. I checked if I could take the Course 20 coding alternative class, but I would have to push off until my junior year, in which case would also push back my lab classes.

That’s when the frustration kicked in. I (very unhelpfully) started thinking about how I should have tried to take 6.100B earlier or should have forced myself to do a coding class in high school. Somewhere along the lines, though, the anger got some-what productive. I didn’t solve my STS.034/6.100B scheduling conflict, but I did eliminate a bunch of other classes if they weren’t particularly urgent.

• 15.501: Corporate Financial Accounting
• 15.8141: Marketing Innovation
• 15.9001: Competitive Strategy
• 7.105: Ethics for Biologists and Engineers
• 20.586: Science and Business of Biotechnology
• 20.310: Molecular, Cellular, and Tissue Biomechanics
• 4.021: Design Studio: How to Design
• 4.657: Design: The History of Making Things* I WILL take a Course 4⁠21 Architecture (Course 4-B is Art and Design) class before leaving MIT, it just won’t be this year. The course 4 classes hurt extra to delete.

The classes still in the running:

• 6.100B: Introduction to Computational Thinking and Data Science
• 7.03: Genetics
• 7.05: General Biochemistry
• 8.02: Physics II
• 18.05: Introduction to Probability and Statistics
• 21W.035: Science Writing and New Media: Elements of Science Writing for the Public*
• 21W.031: Science Writing and New Media: Explorations in Communicating about Science and Technology*
• 21W.778: Science Journalism*
• CMS.587/11.125: Introduction to Education: Understanding and Evaluating Education*
• CMS.636: Extending the Museum
• STS.034: Science Communication: A Practical Guide*
• STS.049: The Long War Against Cancer*

Which brings our stage 2, post-anger Courseroad to… drum-roll please…

yikes x3

Stage 3: Bargaining

Some quick things I did in a desperate attempt to solve my STS.034/6.100B conflict (in varying levels of seriousness):

• Asked my advisor if pushing off my coding requirement was advisable
• Emailed my future lab classes to see if 6.100B was a strict pre-req
• Tried about 219438 different Courseroad schedules with 20.S901 in my junior year and STS.034 this semester
• Considered switching out of Course 20
• Considered signing up for both classes and only attending one lecture

Stage 4: Depression Disappointment

Depressions a bit of a strong word for this, so I changed it to strong disappointment. My bargaining didn’t get me very far, and it became pretty clear I’d have to make a decision when one of the 20.320 lab staff emailed me back kindly explaining it would be realllyyyy hard for me to take 6.100B as a co-req instead of a pre-req because all the psets involved coding :'(

In a last ditch desperate attempt to take STS.034 and 20.S901 instead of 6.100B, I spend an abysmal amount of time on Courseroad trying to make it work :’)

At the end, though, there were some other things I realized:

• I’m interning this Spring
• I’d like to blog more
• I want to dedicate more time to my classes and clubs
• I want to put a lot of energy into Ring Committee
• The last semesters have been busy, busy, busy, and I’d like to have more time for myself and new hobbies

All of this circled back to an inevitable truth that always seems to repeat itself to me, although I’m not sure when I’ll fully accept it: I need more time, and that means not doing everything I’d like to.

Stage 5: Acceptance

The last stage, acceptance, came with swallowing a few more hard truths I think I always knew:

• I simply cannot expect to do 60 units and perform as well as I’d like.⁠22 i don't mean just grades-wise; i also would like to feel less stressed during the semester lol
• A secondary to that: I would like to not drop a class, and the best way for me to reach that goal is to not over-register myself.
• I need to take 6.100B. It’s not practical to take the Course 20 Spring version, especially when the course description recommends some coding experience beforehand. I also know that pushing off 6.100B would only make me more stressed :’)

With that, I felt good enough to finalize my schedule. Presenting (finally!) my Spring Hydrant:

isn’t she beautiful :’)

Can’t wait to rinse and repeat next semester!

All jokes aside, it’s a bit daunting to think about how it’s my sophomore spring. I’m only have two more IAPs, two more fall semesters, two more CPWs left… the list goes on.

The largest hard truth: there’s simply not enough time on campus to do everything I want to do. I have a lot of ramblings about MIT, the good and bad, but I also have a loooonnggg list of things I want to do before I graduate.⁠23 pottery class, different art workshops, etc etc I’ve been away from blogging because of some personal matters, but I’m back, and I’m excited to see how this semester goes :^)