For a complete list of the my works during the bachelor, visit Index of Bachelor Works, in this page I collect general considerations on my first two years of study.
In the first two years of university I got a B.A. Philosophy (LMU) at the LMU Munich and almost finish the B.Sc. Mathematics (LMU). I see two features of my early studies, which are distinguished from the average passionate student in my field: The Amount of ECTS in Brief Time and The Variety of Competence Acquired. Here I will briefly examine these two aspects after reporting the presenting some datas on my studies
The Amount of ECTS in Brief Time
Let’s begin with a couple of numbers. I divide the ECTS in those that have been necessary to obtain the B.A. Philosophy (LMU) or the B.Sc. Mathematics (LMU) and those which I followed for my own pleasure, for clarity I kept the three columns disjoint. While the B.A. Philosophy (LMU) has been completed by the end of the 4th Semester, I need some time more (varying depending on external conditions) for the B.Sc. Mathematics (LMU) which I will complete while I will be starting the M.Sc. Logic (UvA) in Amsterdam. A way more detailed table with marks, ECTS and graphics is available here: Sheet: Academic Performance (note that there I used ECTS count from university where I followed the course, hence also the University of Constance, while here of the LMU Munich only, so data of the first year do not coincide).
| Semester | Phil. | Math. | Pleas. | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Semester | 24 | 24 | 6 | 54 |
| 2nd Semester | 42 | 33 | 0 | 75 |
| 3rd Semester | 21 | 21 | 18 | 60 |
| 4th Semester | 27 | 24 | 6 | 57 |
| Total | 114 | 102 | 30 | 246 |
How was that possible?
The combination of the two studies, allowed me to have a the load of work distributed during the semester: most of the seminars in Philosophy require an essay which can be either completed long time before the deadline, i.e. in the first half of the semester, or one can start working on it in the last month before the deadline, which at the LMU (contrary to the Uni Konstanz) is about two months after the end of the semester. Both of these times are sufficiently far from the period of the Mathematics exams, which take place one to three weeks after the end of the lectures.
Why this hurry?
On one hand I am driven by the passion in the field and am willing to spend considerable part of my time to discover it. On the other hand I have been used, from my years in the high school (see School Years), to study different things than what was required, I believe that this taught me to calibrate the workload on my own limits rather than what is suggested. I also like to experiment with myself and testing my limits, this also drove me to constantly increase the workload each semester.
The Variety of Competence Acquired
During my bachelors I came in contact with Analysts, Historians of Philosophy, Algebraists, Metaphysicians, Computer Scientists, etc… who taught me something of their fields, while I cannot say to have appreciated each of these in the same manner, I believe I got a decent education in a very broad variety of fields. This wide background allowed me to see how one may connect Ancient Philosophers to issues in Computer Science or in Contemporary Physics and discuss these subjects with people competent in each of these areas. But what I value most with my Bachelor is the competence acquired in the very tiny cavity of Mathematical Philosophy, which inevitably requires a similar background.