This email is being sent to all students taking ICS-21/-22/-23 in
the Fall quarter (see the PS for information about a Welcome Week
Activity for these courses). I am one of the instructors in ICS-90.

Rich Pattis


     Why ICS 90: A Letter from the Instructors

Welcome to UCI and the Donald Bren School of Information
and Computer Sciences!  We hope you're having a great
summer and are looking forward to an exciting year here. 

We're writing to bring a special opportunity to your
attention:  ICS 90, the First Year Seminar, is offered
every Fall Quarter for incoming students in the School of
ICS. We're sending this note because students often 
overlook this course or underestimate how useful it is.

Even if you've already registered for classes, we hope
you'll take a few minutes to read about ICS 90 and
consider enrolling. ICS 90 is a 1 unit, Pass/No Pass
course (attendance is the only requirement) that meets
Fridays from 9:00am to 10:50am in Bren Hall 1423; its
course code is 36670.

The university is different from secondary school (and
even community colleges) in many ways. You'll need to 
supplement the strategies that got you here with new ones
for working with faculty and TAs, finding research
opportunities and internships, and more. ICS 90 helps you
hit the ground running by collecting this information for
you in your first quarter, saving you from having to pick
it up piecemeal or missing it entirely.

Each week in ICS 90, an ICS professor will come to talk
about their research area and the work they do. This is a
unique opportunity to learn what's going on in ICS and to
chat informally with faculty; this experience will also
make you feel much more comfortable approaching faculty
in the future about coursework, research opportunities,
reference letters, and so on. Hearing from faculty about
core computing topics and the newest frontiers is also a
valuable broadening counterpoint to your more tightly
focused first-year ICS courses.

We also devote time each week to discussing issues of
college work, college life, and successful progress
through our programs. Guided in part by whatever
questions or concerns you have, we'll cover a wide range
of issues including time management, grading, academic
integrity, mental and physical well-being, available majors
and minors, prerequisite structures, choosing elective
classes, and getting an education outside the classroom.
ICS 90 is a comfortable place for you to discuss whatever
issues or problems are on your mind.

Why should you enroll in a course that doesn't satisfy a
degree requirement?  First of all, your main goal should be
to get the most out of your education. Degree requirements
are one way the university makes sure you do that, but
they're not the only way. ICS 90 helps you get the most out
of your time in ICS by distilling for you in your first 
quarter some perspectives and practices that it's best to
know up front. Second, ICS 90 hardly costs you anything: Of
course you don't pay more to enroll; the time commitment is
limited to the two hours a week that ICS 90 meets (and we
think those two hours will help you do the rest of your work
more efficiently); the grading is a pressure-free Pass/No Pass.

The two of us are vice chairs for student affairs in the
departments of Informatics and Computer Science. From our many
years working with students, we have a pretty good idea of what
will help you succeed in college and in ICS. Join us in ICS 90
this fall for some tips, some laughs, some stimulating
perspectives on computing, and even some snacks.

For more information see the following url:

 http://www.ics.uci.edu/~pattis/ICS-90/flyer.pdf

We'd also be happy to hear from you by e-mail with any comments
or questions.

Best wishes for a successful year,

David G. Kay      (kay@uci.edu)
Richard E. Pattis (pattis@uci.edu)

PS: You may also be interested in attending the Welcome Week
event "Getting the Most from Your First-Year Courses in ICS
(ICS/CSE 21/22/23 and INF 41/42/45)" given Wednesday, 9/21
from 2:30-3:30 in Donald Bren Hall 6011. For details see
http://search.dos.uci.edu/welcomeweek/calendar.php?day=wednesday