- #1
Fanger
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Hey, I'm a senior in a high school in Canada and I'm thinking of pursuing mathematics and philosophy in university. I'm quite interested in mathematics and philosophy but I am also interested in lots of other topics. The main reasons that I want to study math and philosophy at university is that:
1. I want to acquire better skills in analytical and logical thinking so that it would be easier for me to learn about any other scientific discipline in the future and
2. I want to enrich my personal experience by challenging myself to hardships and difficulties that I have never put myself into for the past 12 years of my school life
Why I'm asking the question:
A few days ago I was talking to a friend of mine who majored in mechanical engineering at University of Toronto and also have a masters in Artificial Intelligence at a good school in the States(smart guy, didn't have to work really hard during uni to get through), and since I want to study math I asked him about it and he said he couldn't really understand any math he learned after sophomore year. He said he could still do the problems and do good in tests but he just doesn't understand them. This scared me a lot because I don't want to spend four years just learning how to solve some problems without understanding what I've learned.
More info about me:
- I have good grades(95s) in all subjects at school (other than English, it's my second language :(((() with minimal effort(I hardly do any homework or pay attention during class because I find things boring. The only reason that I'm getting high grades is because I'm good at analyzing what the test taker wants and making out answers from the test).
- I take all the sciences(physics, chemistry, and biology) and find them extremely easy. (I'm not taking any IB or AP courses)
- I'm a very lazy person with really bad work ethics (I don't like memorization. I find the easiest way possible to do things. I usually procrastinate to the last moments to do something and finish it with high efficiency only to find that I have more time...)
- Sometimes I'm a little slow to process information because they just don't seem to register in my mind when I'm not in the mode, but once I grasp things I grasp them really thorough
- I have great short term memorization when I try(like before tests), able to cram lots of things in a short amount of time however also forget really fast. My mind seems to automatically delete things that I find unimportant.
- I have depression which makes it kinda hard to be very passionate about anything. I find it hard to convince myself to face difficulties because nothing is that meaningful to me.
- I do enjoy thinking, introspection, and somewhat abstract thoughts a lot but doing that too much aggravates my depression :(((((
I'm really scared and insecure now because I think all I'm good at is taking tests, I'm just really good at finding out test maker's pattern and preferences. I'm also really afraid that as much as I want to challenge myself to some vigorous thinking I don't want to put myself in the position of trying to climb an unreachable hill. Any opinion? Sorry this thread is really incoherent and hard to read...
1. I want to acquire better skills in analytical and logical thinking so that it would be easier for me to learn about any other scientific discipline in the future and
2. I want to enrich my personal experience by challenging myself to hardships and difficulties that I have never put myself into for the past 12 years of my school life
Why I'm asking the question:
A few days ago I was talking to a friend of mine who majored in mechanical engineering at University of Toronto and also have a masters in Artificial Intelligence at a good school in the States(smart guy, didn't have to work really hard during uni to get through), and since I want to study math I asked him about it and he said he couldn't really understand any math he learned after sophomore year. He said he could still do the problems and do good in tests but he just doesn't understand them. This scared me a lot because I don't want to spend four years just learning how to solve some problems without understanding what I've learned.
More info about me:
- I have good grades(95s) in all subjects at school (other than English, it's my second language :(((() with minimal effort(I hardly do any homework or pay attention during class because I find things boring. The only reason that I'm getting high grades is because I'm good at analyzing what the test taker wants and making out answers from the test).
- I take all the sciences(physics, chemistry, and biology) and find them extremely easy. (I'm not taking any IB or AP courses)
- I'm a very lazy person with really bad work ethics (I don't like memorization. I find the easiest way possible to do things. I usually procrastinate to the last moments to do something and finish it with high efficiency only to find that I have more time...)
- Sometimes I'm a little slow to process information because they just don't seem to register in my mind when I'm not in the mode, but once I grasp things I grasp them really thorough
- I have great short term memorization when I try(like before tests), able to cram lots of things in a short amount of time however also forget really fast. My mind seems to automatically delete things that I find unimportant.
- I have depression which makes it kinda hard to be very passionate about anything. I find it hard to convince myself to face difficulties because nothing is that meaningful to me.
- I do enjoy thinking, introspection, and somewhat abstract thoughts a lot but doing that too much aggravates my depression :(((((
I'm really scared and insecure now because I think all I'm good at is taking tests, I'm just really good at finding out test maker's pattern and preferences. I'm also really afraid that as much as I want to challenge myself to some vigorous thinking I don't want to put myself in the position of trying to climb an unreachable hill. Any opinion? Sorry this thread is really incoherent and hard to read...
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