1st semester (Fall 2024)
Courses
I only took 14 credit hours (4 classes + some mandatory seminars), to experiment with my time management/moving into college and whatnot. 2 of these were M325K: Discrete Math, and ARC308: Architecture and Society. The other 2 were required classes for Plan II that proved to be more eye-opening than expected:
- E303C: World Literature
- TC302: Art, Sport, and the Meaning of Life
These Plan II classes were very different compared to my normal STEM classes. The reading and writing workload amounted to about 15 hours a week, which kept me pretty busy. In E303C, we read some foundational texts of world literature, including the Rig Veda, Theogony, The Qur'an, and more. The focus was on how gods and demons have been represented in literary texts throughout history. In TC302, we explored the value of art and sport in human history, and analyzed them from the broader perspective of how humans should live their lives. I spent a lot of time writing the final essay for this class, which earned me an A:
Extracurriculars
I got involved in UT's Chess Club from the start. They would meet on Monday evenings inside the Dobie Mall food court, set up some boards, and play chess for a few hours. I met lots of cool people and soon found myself playing on the B team for the Collegiate Chess League (CCL), an online competition where we could compete against other colleges' teams every week.
I explored many other campus clubs as well, going to various org fairs, general meetings, coffee chats, and just generally putting myself out there as much as possible. Admittedly, this semester I slacked on the quality of my club applications; next semester I had better success.
Personal Health & Fitness
One of the things I'm most proud about this semester was my progress in the gym and my physique. (Note: By this point, I had already been working out for over a year now, so this is not a guide for starting the gym.)
I started in August right after a summer cut, where I committed to a serious bulk for the first time ever in my life, diligently tracked every single one of my workouts using the Hevy app, and made sure to push myself as hard as I could with progressive overload.
Looking back, I probably spent a little too much time. I was working out on average 5 days a week, ~1.5 hours a day, from September through early December (when finals season began).
But by the end of the semester, I had successfully reached my goal weight. My bench press increased quite significantly from 170 to 200lbs, and my squat went from 150 to 210lbs (I've always been a squat skipper 😔... any tips appreciated). Overall, a very successful semester of gains.
Those were probably my most memorable experiences for that semester, but I'm likely forgetting a few. Anyhow, I had a 1-month winter break after that, where I went to China and Japan.
2nd semester (Spring 2025)
Courses
My courseload this semester was definitely more rigorous than last semester's. I was taking 5 classes, which were M362K: Probability, M427J-Honors: Differential Equations, M341: Linear Algebra, CS313E: Software Design in Python, and E303D: the 2nd-semester of my Plan II World Literature class.
Problem sets, for my 3 math classes alone, would take me about 12-15 hours per week. There was also a substantial amount of required reading and essay writing for E303D, which I estimate took me about another 10 hours a week. I am quite proud of the many 500-word philosophy essays I wrote in that class. Here are a couple of my best ones:
Extracurriculars
I became an officer for the chess club at the start of this semester, because of my performances in the CCL and active involvement in the club last semester. One cool thing I did as officer was organizing a club-wide Bughouse (basically 2v2 chess) tournament, which I unfortunately did not end up winning as I am washed.
One thing I do regret was becoming less involved during the later half of the semester, due to time conflicts with my other club involvement, Texas Undergraduate Computational Finance (UCF)...
During mid-late January, orgs at UT were recruiting again, as they typically do twice a year. I decided that I'd shoot my shot at UCF, which is essentially UT's quant finance club, because I thought my interests were pretty aligned with what people in the club specialized in (math, CS, chess, poker, strategy games, etc). I spent a lot of time in late January preparing my application to UCF, which consisted of 3 rounds - a written assessment, trading games, and an interview.
After getting in, I was spending 12-15 hours a week for UCF-related activities, like attending weekly meetings, Sunday lectures, writing market watches and stock analyses, working on pitches for quant- or computational-related topics, and attending org socials. Our end-of-year barge was especially fun.
Being surrounded by upperclassmen, many of whom had offers at well-known companies this summer, I often felt like I did not belong in the same room. However, I've definitely been inspired by the work I see in this club - it's motivated me to study CS and finance this summer more in-depth. I hope that next semester I can contribute even more, by being more knowledgeable as a whole. Overall I am relatively satisfied with the work I did; one of the 10 market watches I wrote this semester is attached below.
Personal Health & Fitness
I tried out for UT's Table Tennis team at the start of the semester, having played lots of table tennis as a kid and getting a brand-new paddle from my trip in China. I made it onto the B Team, but regrettably ended up not going to any tournaments with the team due to UCF-related time commitments.
In the gym, I was definitely less consistent this semester, mostly due to having a lot less free time. My bench only increased from 200 to 210lbs, and my squat stayed relatively similar (never tried testing my 1-rep max this semester). I'm aiming to get back into my old workout habits during this summer, as I'll have a lot more free time. A 225lb bench @ <155lb bodyweight is my goal before school starts in the Fall. I also want to start swimming and running again, both this summer and next year.
Final Thoughts
All in all I'd say I had a successful first-year. I could have been more productive at times, but I achieved most of the goals I set out for myself at the beginning - having a 4.0 GPA, being consistent in the gym for my physical health, joining a preprofessional org, and making some good friends.
Next year, I want to allocate more time to reading books and working on personal side projects. It will be a grind though, as I'll be focused on summer internship recruiting, on top of having to balance everything else. In fact, that pretty much sums up my goals for sophomore year: achieve everything I did freshman year, plus reading more books, working on side projects, and job recruiting. To do that, I'll have to somehow squeeze out ~2-3 hours more every day, which means less doomscrolling 😦.