Monopsony Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 I was wondering if it is a good idea to take real analysis over the summer? I know that UCLA offers a summer course, but I am concerned that fitting a 10 week class into a 6 week summer session might be difficult (given that the class is analysis). I have taken the calc sequence, differential equations, and proof based linear algebra and gotten all A’s, but I know that analysis will be far more challenging than these classes. Has anyone taken the UCLA summer analysis class or a similar summer analysis class, and if so is it doable? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HungryGriot Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 What other course(s) would you take during that session? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monopsony Posted February 17, 2015 Author Share Posted February 17, 2015 The upside is that the analysis class is the only class that I would be taking during the session, but I would be working around 20-25 hours a week. I have read other posts about people taking multiple classes during the summer including analysis and feeling that they could handle them, but I have never taken a summer math course so I do not know much about the pace. Given my math background and the fact that I will be working during the session, is taking this class a good idea? I do not want to risk a bad grade, but at the same time this option looks pretty appealing if people can generally handle the pace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HungryGriot Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 Disclosure- My experience is at a state school ranked 70s-80s in the math dept, UCLA is top 10. I took Analysis 1 and Intermediate Micro in a 5-6 week term, while working as a researcher (10-15 hrs/week) and had no problems. IMO w your penchant for strong math performance you can handle it...really depends on how comfortable you are w real proofs, and set notation. The HW is time-consuming and rough, no getting around that..but with the proper motivation (getting into a top PhD) you should be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Econhead Posted February 17, 2015 Share Posted February 17, 2015 More than anything else I would speak with the professor who is slated to teach the course during he summer, and find out anything you can about the professor before making a decision. A 6 week course in analysis is intense, but summer classes seem to have just as much variability (sometimes more?) than regular semester courses in terms of their rigor and the professors that teach it. At times the one stuck teaching it during the summer is not the normal professor, not the one that always wants to teach it. This can lead to to a divergent experience (more or less positive). Similarly, because the course is intense you may end up with a professor that is more lenient. Finally, although the course may be set up to cover the same amount as in the normal semester long course, there is a reasonable chance that they actually cover less. How much less can only be determined by speaking with the professor and/or someone whom has taken it during the summer in the past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monopsony Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 HungryGriot it's good to know that someone's already accomplished this (with the Intermediate Micro class and the research hours I'm even more impressed!) and Econhead I will definitely contact the professor once he/she is listed. Thank you both for your help, this can be a difficult process so I really appreciate your insights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbulka22 Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 I took Real Analysis over Summer at my university (very similar ranking to UCLA). It was certainly intense, and I definitely would not take any other classes at the same time. That being said, I studied hard and was literally one question away on any of the exams from receiving a straight up A in the class. So as long as you focus your time and energy into that, you should be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deekdeekerson Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 I took Real Analysis at UCLA over the summer while doing research ~30 hours a week. It was a pretty easy class if you've taken other proof-based courses. I think Weisbart taught it when I took it and he was fantastic. We used his book and Rudin, if I remember correctly. Definitely doable in a summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monopsony Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 Thanks for the posts, what math classes had you guys taken before the summer class? Is there anything that you recommend self-studying before the class starts that would be particularly helpful to get a jump start? (Deekdeekerson: they haven’t posted who’s teaching the classes yet for the summer but thanks so much for the professor recommendation! It looks like there will be more than one analysis class offered so I’ll keep an eye out for Weisbart). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deekdeekerson Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 I had taken math econ (matching theory-esque), all of calc, discrete math, linear algebra, differential equations, advanced lin, and a few probability courses. I think most students had either taken linear algebra (with proofs) or at least discrete math. If you want to get a jump start, I'd suggest reading about how the real numbers are constructed and get a feel for basic delta-epsilon proofs, as that is a large part of the course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Econhead Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 I had taken math econ (matching theory-esque), all of calc, discrete math, linear algebra, differential equations, advanced lin, and a few probability courses. I think most students had either taken linear algebra (with proofs) or at least discrete math. If you want to get a jump start, I'd suggest reading about how the real numbers are constructed and get a feel for basic delta-epsilon proofs, as that is a large part of the course. Out of curiosity, given that the course is offered during the summer (and more than one section is offered), are the students taking RA during the summer mostly Math Majors/CS majors/minors, or mostly tangential discipline students (such as Econ students). As a follow up this question, have you had a sense for (at your particular school) whether the grading was more intense or less intense than during the 'regular' school year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deekdeekerson Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Out of curiosity, given that the course is offered during the summer (and more than one section is offered), are the students taking RA during the summer mostly Math Majors/CS majors/minors, or mostly tangential discipline students (such as Econ students). As a follow up this question, have you had a sense for (at your particular school) whether the grading was more intense or less intense than during the 'regular' school year? I think most students taking RA are math/physics/cs/econ regardless of when you take it. I think I was the only Econ student in the course and there did seem to be a lot of pure math majors, but that might have been coincidence. As to whether the grading was more intense, I attended Berkeley as an undergraduate and the grading is far far harsher at Berkeley, in my experience. It was much more difficult to get an A in linear algebra than it was getting an A+ in RA at UCLA. Of course, 1 course is a small sample size so I wouldn't put too much weight on my experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rejectioncity Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 As long as you will get the same information over the summer then I say go for it. That class wouldn't exist if the department didn't believe that students can handle it. So, if you're not sacrificing quality and breadth of information and instead are just moving at a bit of a quicker pace - I say go for it. I am a pure mathematics major at a school that isn't comparable in ranking to UCLA - but, I took linear algebra, multivariable calc. and micro together over a summer session and finished with three As. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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