#with two cs classes here lol but still

[cyberstudious]

what's it like studying CS?? im pretty confused if i should choose CS as my major xx

hi there!

first, two "misconceptions" or maybe somewhat surprising things that I think are worth mentioning:

there really isn't that much "math" in the calculus/arithmetic sense*. I mostly remember doing lots of proofs. don't let not being a math wiz stop you from majoring in CS if you like CS

you can get by with surprisingly little programming - yeah you'll have programming assignments, but a degree program will teach you the theory and concepts for the most part (this is where universities will differ on the scale of theory vs. practice, but you'll always get a mix of both and it's important to learn both!)

*: there are some sub-fields where you actually do a Lot of math - machine learning and graphics programming will have you doing a lot of linear algebra, and I'm sure that there are plenty more that I don't remember at the moment. the point is that 1) if you're a bit afraid of math that's fine, you can still thrive in a CS degree but 2) if you love math or are willing to be brave there are a lot of cool things you can do!

I think the best way to get a good sense of what a major is like is to check out a sample degree plan from a university you're considering! here are some of the basic kinds of classes you'd be taking:

basic programming courses: you'll knock these out in your first year - once you know how to code and you have an in-depth understanding of the concepts, you now have a mental framework for the rest of your degree. and also once you learn one programming language, it's pretty easy to pick up another one, and you'll probably work in a handful of different languages throughout your degree.

discrete math/math for computer science courses: more courses that you'll take early on - this is mostly logic and learning to write proofs, and towards the end it just kind of becomes a bunch of semi-related math concepts that are useful in computing & problem solving. oh also I had to take a stats for CS course & a linear algebra course. oh and also calculus but that was mostly a university core requirement thing, I literally never really used it in my CS classes lol

data structures & algorithms: these are the big boys. stacks, queues, linked lists, trees, graphs, sorting algorithms, more complicated algorithms… if you're interviewing for a programming job, they will ask you data structures & algorithms questions. also this is where you learn to write smart, efficient code and solve problems. also this is where you learn which problems are proven to be unsolvable (or at least unsolvable in a reasonable amount of time) so you don't waste your time lol

courses on specific topics: operating systems, Linux/UNIX, circuits, databases, compilers, software engineering/design patterns, automata theory… some of these will be required, and then you'll get to pick some depending on what your interests are! I took cybersecurity-related courses but there really are so many different options!

In general I think CS is a really cool major that you can do a lot with. I realize this was pretty vague, so if you have any more questions feel free to send them my way! also I'm happy to talk more about specific classes/topics or if you just want an answer to "wtf is automata theory" lol

[dumbsack]

I beat the original Seiken Densetsu 3/Trials of Mana without changing my characters' classes. YouTube keeps suggesting me stupid challenge runs for other games, so I had to do my own for my very favorite. In the past, I've done the solo character run with Duran... Twice! How hard could this be?

[Inaudible screaming here]

I told my sigma reader and good buddy pop I wanted to try the challenge. I asked if he wanted to play too to make it a little easier.

He messaged me, "why? That sounds unfun. What's wrong with you?"

"My curiosity is piqued," I replied.

That's how it goes. So, I embarked SOLO without that dork LOL. Take that. 😠

As a disclaimer, there was heavy use of savestating on my, uh, very legitimate Super Famicom that I definitely own. Otherwise, I think I would have stress-grayed the rest of my hair doing this challenge.

Now, onto my character choices... Behold! The squad handpicked for this task after about two minutes of thinking about it.

I guess I should explain why I chose these three dingbats (besides two of them being my favorites... No bias in my selection process for this, I promise!)

It was imperative that this challenge was done on the Dragon Lord route due to my familiarity with it and for a few other reasons I'll explain later.

I picked Duran as the leader. He's a pretty beefy boy who can tank hits and dishes out damage pretty decently. Had I gone with Hawkeye or Riesz, I don't think my damage output would have been good enough, even with Hawkeye's cracked CS building capabilities. Also, he's explicitly told to class change in his intro. That's one of his goals. Uh, yeah... too bad for him, I guess. He also gives access to some very important items later on.

Secondly, Kevin is a given. He's similarly beefy and comes with that invaluable beastman form that can poop out damage like no other. Also, Kevin has an exploit I could use in case of an emergency... But I did my best to only save that in case I didn't think the challenge was possible.

Lastly, I chose Angela to round out the party. To more seasoned players of the original, she appears to be a counterintuitive pick, what with her slow cast times and arcane ability to piss off boss monsters and invoke their counter attacks with her spells. But! She might have been the crux of this entire team and this challenge being successful— The MVP, even!

Despite her magic being basic, it came in handy in later parts of the game and managed to dish out even better damage than Duran and Kevin in some cases, especially against normal enemies. Go figure! She was also there to throw Poto Oils to heal the party. And she tanked magic spells like a champion! You go, Angela!

In fact, here's a recreation of the Dangaard fight below with my super awesome phone drawing skills to demonstrate:

Speaking of poto oils... Wow. Doing this challenge taught me some more shit about the game I didn't know. I had no idea Mind Up/Sahagin's Scales actually decreased your casted healing magic! Yes, I would watch Angela's poto oil heals go from 130 to 100 after a Sahagin scale. Very peculiar. Then again, SD3 is a game that manages to run despite itself by being fueled by Ishii's drunken hopes and dreams.

Another thing to note is that stats cap off. Once you hit the cap, well, that's it. Angela's MT Poto Oil healing was locked in at 130 HP for the rest of the game once her spirit had been maxed. Defenses also don't scale very well, it seems. HP... Seems to, however? I found their HP at the end seemed to be pretty comparable to their class 3 counterparts. 🤷‍♀️

Also... ??? Seeds. You will always get light aligned items even if you're still in your base class. This was absolutely CRUCIAL to the late game. And, we can't forget the Black Market, purveyor of chopped off monster hands, chipped off monster scales with buffing properties, healing oils squeezed from cute little lizard monsters, and... prince slaves.

... Ew. Kill me

Thanks!

The first part of the challenge is simple. I won't detail how the journey went in the first phase of the game because we all know how that goes. Blah blah, Duran gets owned by Crimson Wizard, blah blah, he goes on a journey to get stronger, blah blah, Faerie, go to Wendel, blah blah, meets his future wife in front of a cave, beat up crab, werewolf Goku busts you out of prison, blah blah elementals, etc.

You don't technically class change until after you return from Beuca... Unless you're a crazy person (like me.).

So, the golems fight and Bil and Ben fights went fine. Nothing really remarkable. The Ludgar fight was kind of... Weird? He never used Seiryu Death Fist or Suzaku Aerial, only the janky throws I intermittently forget Kevin used to have. He also went down like a little bitch despite having no elemental weakness. Gg, Jobgar, you dumb baby.

Grapplavine wasn't too difficult, either. But, I was getting destroyed by the normal enemies. Oh, yes. The enemies just kinda... They're awful when you play like this. Towards the end of the game, I found myself simply running away from encounters whenever I could. I could not always do this and oh my God this one part might have been the hardest thing I've done in any video game ever. The reason why? Even though you get weapon upgrades even in Pedda you stop getting armor upgrades in Mintas!

Now, this is deceptive. It looks like I can buy and equip this stuff, but I can't. Believe me, I TRIED. And, Weapon/Armor seeds didn't give me jack shit. Yep. I was stuck with shitty, pre-Ludgar armor for THE REST OF THE GAME.

So, that's really what it boiled down to. Normal enemies could clap my character's cheeks like a hearty round of applause. But, bosses?

Total cinch in comparison. All I needed to do was use buffs from the Black Market, the appropriate sabers on Duran and Kevin, and go to town. Since the bosses usually focus on using spells and the occasional physical attack, my dumbasses were rarely in danger of getting killed. Magic damage actually scales with what class you are, from what I can tell. I rarely took heavy damage from any magic spells, yes, Ancient included. And, when the boys got low, Nurse Angela was there to shove candy into everyone's mouths.

All in all, I'd say the hardest Benevodon was probably Lightgazer. I didn't have access to a dark saber item equivalent for it. Oh well. Two uses of the Minor Mallet and a Poto Oil would undo the damage from Prisoner. It was just a war of attrition, but its was PLUCKED and SQUASHED eventually.

When I needed to grind in between Bendovers, I found the safest place to do so was in Gusthall. It was decent XP and enemies died pretty easily.

... But then, I found out something very strange. After you defeat every Benevodon and get the Mana Stone scholar to tell you where the darkstone is, the enemies in Benevodon dungeons just straight up disappear. I did not know this happened. Pop didn't either when I told him this discovery after scouring for safer places to level up before Crystal Desert. Thankfully, I farmed for a set of important items I needed before that happened.

So, with all eight Benenedovers defeated, it was time to tackle the penultimate dungeon.

...

God, Crystal Desert was a friggin' nightmare.

[END OF PART ONE]

[realtalk-tj]

suggestions? dna/neuro, ap chem, ap cs, calc bc, ap physics, english, and then either apush or us/va

Response from Padma:

I'm pretty sure that you're a current sophomore so here are my two cents as a current junior!

DNA & Neuro: I've only taken DNA, it's a pretty good class that's very lab-based which was the experience I was looking for when I was coming to TJ! IDK much about Neuro but I've heard it's very discussion-heavy and just reading papers, so just keep that in mind.

AP Chem: The AP Chem teachers at TJ are... not the best! (Jones who teaches well but notoriously hard tests and Taylor who does not teach well imho and has relatively easier tests) Will you be able to handle getting either of these teachers? Don't just take it because you think everyone else is taking it - it's a pretty difficult class ESPECIALLY in junior year when you're taking a gazillion other APs. If you genuinely enjoy chem/understand it well then 100% go for it! AP Chem is basically Chem 1 review lmfao.

AP Physics (vs. Physics 1): AP Physics is hard. Like, extremely hard. Don't take it unless you're either a) a physics prodigy or b) in it for the learning and NOT for the grade. If you want a class you have a better shot at getting an A/A- in, take Physics 1! You still learn all the same concepts but go at a slower pace (which works out bc AP Physics spends time reviewing for the AP exam) and it's more chill from what I've heard.

APUSH vs. US/VA: Honestly, HUM in junior year is a mixed bag. There are some pretty sice teachers (Pendleton!! Miller!!) and some harder teachers that still do improve your writing a lot (Castaldo comes to mind, as does Gilbert). US/VA is a guarantee that you'll have less HUMwork than some of your peers, and it is a lighter class, but honestly APUSH is VERY dependent on who you get - I rarely have homework unless it's to study for a test for APUSH, whereas some of my friends get hours of HW :( So just take that into consideration! All the HUMs are very good and you'll get a lot out of both US/VA and APUSH - I'd recommend making the decision based on how many APs you're taking otherwise.

Overall, this schedule looks pretty ok! My only concern would be the menace trio of AP Physics/AP Calc/AP Chem, but if you think you can handle it, then go you! 100% take a look at the AP exam schedule so all of your exams aren't in the same week, and also remember that AP classes aren't necessarily "better" than their normal counterparts (especially from a GPA standpoint LOL). Good luck anon!!!!

[kuiinncedes]

if only the fucking math department here was as good as the computer science department 😭

[mrkcore]

𝐄𝐏 𝟐: 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 𝐒𝐍𝐈𝐏𝐄𝐑 - 𝐥.𝐡𝐜

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: lee donghyuck x fem!reader

𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: college!au (cs - computer science major haechan, psychology major y/n)

𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: fluff, slight angst

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠(𝐬): profanity, awful gamer language

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 0.7k

𝐚/𝐧: the second installment of the and they were roommates! series, and probably my fav one :D send in an ask or comment here to be added to the taglist! the game they’re playing in valorant! i know hyuck plays overwatch and lol, but idk how to play those so valorant will have to suffice. (it’s very similar to overwatch and apex legends!)

𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 | 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭

“haechan PLEASE, for the love of god, fix your crosshair.” jeno says, observing the horrible sight in front of him.

“shut the fuck up jeno, stop backseating, you got killed by the sag-” haechan suddenly stops talking. did he just get killed by the same sage he was just talking about? and with a classic gun?

“and so did you, maybe if you had a better crosshair, you would have been still alive.” jeno snaps back.

“will the two of you shut up so chenle can clutch and we can win the game?” renjun says sternly. the two go quiet while haechan sits back in his chair, huffing.

“chat, did you see that sage rotating? they must have been hacking, there’s no way she made no sound while rotating.”

“awh darn it.” chenle groans. the word “defeat” on a red banner displays nicely on the top of haechan’s monitor as he swore.

“maybe if haechan kept his mouth shut, chenle would have been able to concentrate.” renjun snarled.

“hey! i didn’t know my mic wasn’t off, i’m sorry, alright.” he retorted.

“i don’t even think they had ranks, it doesn’t show on my logs.” jeno commented.

haechan rolls his eyes, and he knows renjun is too. “wow thanks jeno, that makes us feel a whole lot better.” he grumbled.

“the sage got like 3 aces during the game, that’s pretty impressive.” jaemin pointed out.

“do you think they were stream sniping me?” haechan asked. “there’s no way i wouldn’t have heard the sage rotated unless they knew i was at showers.”

“haechan, not everyone that did better than you stream sniped you, they probably don’t even know you.” jeno quipped. 

“i can’t believe that was our warm-up round.” chenle mutters, still troubled over the last game. “we need to go another round before we do ranked.”

“haechan, can you keep it down? i have a presentation in the morning and i would like some sleep please.” you suddenly peaked your head into his room.

“oh yeah, sorry i’ll keep it down.” he says, droned.

“thanks.” you turn around to go back to your room, closing his door.

haechan sighs. 

this was going to be a long stream.

they lost. every single match that night. they didn’t even play ranked.

“fuck! i even put on my intense gamer playlist and it didn’t work.” haechan cursed. “well, that’s it for today chat, i have a presentation tomorrow for class, so that’s it for today’s stream. hopefully we can play ranked next time.”

after ending the stream, he still couldn’t stop thinking about the sage. they weren’t playing ranked, had no ranks, how was it possible that they won? impossible, had to be a stream snipe.

whatever, haechan interrupted his own thoughts. i’ll figure it out tomorrow after class.

“how was your presentation this morning?” haechan asked, setting the table for lunch.

“it was alright, probably would have been better if you’d stop screaming at 2 am.” you tease as he laughs sheepishly.

“yeah, sorry. i was just raging at this sage.” he admits.

“mhm, maybe if you listened better, you would have heard me rotate off. showers is literally the first place i looked.” you said calmly, chewing your food.

haechan blinked in confusion.

me?

“you were the sage last night? that got 3 aces in one game?” he shrieks, completely utterly shocked.

“uhm, surprise?” you revealed.

“you came into my room to tell me to quiet down! what was that for?” haechan is still in disbelief.

“your reaction was so funny i had to take a peek for myself.” you giggled.

“does that mean you stream sniped me?” he grunted, still hung up on the situation.

“well, you were screaming, so maybe an indirect one?” you admitted, trying to stifle your laughter.

“sheeeeesh.” he groaned. “bro, next time when jaemin doesn’t wanna play, you’re joining us. randoms are so shit.”

“alright, bet.” you agreed. “road to radiant?”

“that’s so cringe.” 

haechan wailed as you hit him in the arm. 

“fine fine fine! i’ll carry you to radiant.”

“brooo you got sniped by me yesterday, how are you going to say you’re gonna carry me, hm?” you scoffed.

“it was an off day yesterday, i swear i’m good, i’m literally almost immortal.” he states, proudly.

“we’ll see about that.”

© mrkcore. 2021. — reposts of my work is not permitted.

[victorie552onepiecespeedrun]

Reading One Piece pt 278: To Impel Down

Chapter 225

Thoughts:

- Fpos/cs: “We will return one day” Ominous :D And did they… did they change some of marines into volleyballs? Wow, ok (I just realized that nobody in Cp9 can swim now. They have haki but it’s still a problem)

- Chapter title: “The underwater prison Impel Down” underwater? It’s first time I hear about that prison being underwater. It’s like the Raft, huh (MCU Raft. Comic Raft is in Negative Zone or something)

- still with Garp and Ace. Now hush, I’m listening

- “I wanted you and Luffy to become great Navy men. But instead you became scalawags!” what the hell does that mean, never saw that word before

- “I spoke to Luffy about his father. He was surprised to learn he even had one.” Yeah, Revolution Dad really dropped the ball on this one

- “Neither I nor Luffy care about that. In fact, we’d rather not talk about it. The fact that we both have world-class criminal blood flowing through our veins…There’s no way we could ever have been accepted into the Navy.” Excuse me, both? Both have the world-class criminal blood? Pirate dads? Damn, what are the chances, huh? Who is Ace’s dad? (Or parent. But let’s be real, it’s dad)

- I assume Ace’s not Dragon’s too here. But really, Garp just really couldn’t reign his own children in, huh? Two of his kids either became pirates or coupled with one. I’m really getting the vibes Garp isn’t a good care-giver here

- wait, shit. I just had a thought. Let’s see if they’ll confirm it, I don’t want to look stupid

- “I’d rather forget about my good-for-nothing father. I don’t owe him anything. I don’t even remember him.” Dead-beat dad, what a surprise

- “That may be, but he has his own reasons for…” “Give it up, Gramps” so it’s Garp’s son then? Seriously, what is this conversation about

- huh? Mini flashback

- “It would be a waste if you died now, sonny. Under my name, go and wreak havoc on these seas!” Whitebeard?

- “Be my son!” !!!

- GUYS GUYS GUYS WHITEBEARD ADOPTED ACE JUST LIKE SHANKS ADOPTED LUFFY

- WHITEBEARD IS GETTING BACK HIS SON AND STARTING A WAR IN THE PROCESS

- this is crazy man

- “Whitebeard is my only father!” aww

- (Garp can’t say anything to that)

- somewhere el…. Wait, is that Buggy’s flag?

- it is! what is he even doing here

- no, it’s Lady Alvida!

- wait, Buggy’s at Impel Down? When was he captured?

- They’re here to rescue him! I love me a loyal crew

- “You mean we can’t even get there? But Captain Buggy is going to be executed! And so is our friend Ace!” oh right, they did meet Ace. Goddammit, I love a loyal crew so much

- wait, if Alvida thinks it’s impossible to break Buggy out, then why did they even get here (they were next to Hancock and Luffy’s Marine Ship)

- careful Alvida, you can have a mutiny on your hands. Thought maybe not, she’s really a brain of the operation here

- “Have a painless execution, Captain!” lol, ok. They are easy to sway, but I can’t get mad at them. They’re not main protagonists, it’s actually impossible for them to break people out

- !our first look at Impel Down!

- …

- …

- I saw enough, can we go back

- “Four days later” Luffy and Hancock got to Impel Down

- I’m surprised they let Hancock see Ace

- it’s getting harder and harder. Hancock will be handcuffed with sea-prism cuffs, she won’t be able to help Luffy there

- huh, Buggy escaped from his cell

“Thirty three hours until Ace’s execution” D:

rOP 277  rOP 279

[seedleaflesssapling]

Ver 2.0? Turning Point?

I can't really identify to which point in my life that i started to doubt myself but im pretty sure that it was because of UP. Damn, that school, my uni. It do really have the ability to make you feel small; i was in a disadvantaged side when i entered it, you know. I was acquainted, no we did not really talked one-on-one, but i heard when we did introductions - Pisay, UP High, science comprehensive schools, Xavier University, who wouldn't be intimidated by that when you came from Col. Ruperto Abellon National School (who would know where that is? I was lucky enough for a teacher recognized it and my classmates be like 'ahhhhhh,' .....really?! I dont even know where xavier is, it just sounds cool). Another thing is that, i wasn't a stem shs graduate - a leverage(?) or excuse (?) that i always use for them to know that i am at disadvantaged side here, not their competitor, probably a NOBODY. They, being stem graduates, have capstone projects you never thought that they have at that age, but i would hear them saying that it was publish in this journal (whatever, idk the journals lmao, i dont even understand their studies 2nd lmao, but that was some smart shit you know, a shit that makes me feel pathetic for being too proud of my what? Correlational study from inconsistent surveys?!!! Wtf, wtf, wtf). But it was a very good peer pressure you know, i kinda turned it that way. Being left behind, being on the rock bottom, i have no other place to go but up. It wasn't the goal, like making or taking the top spot, i just need to survive.

Inevitably, the exams came. I had hard time adjusting chem but math was kind to me. Who would have thought that i would get two 1.0 at my math subjects for the first semester, the sem that i thought i would barely pass. I was even a CS for that sem. Who would have thought? Our first chemical engineering subject that involves computations was on the list the next semester and the first exam, out of 100 i got something like 20ish. WTF. THAT WAS MY FIRST FAILED EXAM. but no, never did cry but tears were flooding inside. So apparently, i have to focus more on this subject and i did. Some were still failing, but i raised my average up. We also had physics, my first ever physics. I really love physics that time or that sir rommel is just a very good professor. I got the highest score on our second LE, everybody else did fail. Small victories. Not that they lose, but i just won. But i heard one time they were talking about me re: passing the physics exam and even getting a high score. They were uhm.. a guy i really look up to cause his good, the other was a girl that idk but i think she didn't like me back then. They were friends but eventually the girl transferred uni because who cares why. i heard the guy saying something like sin.o gid na si franklin nga taas iya score man, maybe even worse than that, i still look up to the guy even until now. But wtf. I really took it in that time, like i wanted to cry but did not. With all that, i got a fair grade at physics. I still got 1.0 at maths that sem and even maintained being on the CS list. S M I L E. BECAUSE WE HAVE A MIDYEAR CLASS. VERY EXHAUSTING FOR SOMEONE WHO DONT WANT ANYTHING BUT JUST ADJUST, SURVIVE, AND FIND MEANING OF BEING A UP STUDENT. It was just one subject and it was math, but i got 2.0?!!! I have no excuse to that, i am very grateful for the family who accommodated me. After midyear class, i did got sick, it sucks, really sucks. I wanted to file an LOA for the next academic year, it is the only thing i can think of for me to go back on track (i haven't said that my parents pushed me to graduate with latin honor and i wanted to also for my resume to look good because everything else in me is effed up). I really wanted to pause and be free for a while but i also wanted to graduate on time (mostly because i want to give the bitches who dared to have expectations be put on my shoulders not the satisfaction, but the audacity to tell them 'i aint did it for ya') so i asked mama. THANK GOD, SHE DID SAY NA KUNG ANO LANG KAYA MO, AMO LANG DA IH 😭😭🤧🤧 so i enrolled, but went to school late, haven't attended the school opening but all is good. I did kind of reset, just enough for me to face school again.

Second year, it was fucked. I did really love coding on octave and doing sheets at ms excel though. On that year, we have formed the che 103 bagsak group. Together with two of my classmates on 103 and math 55, we became buddies after failing che 103 on the first LE, another 30 over 100 exam hahahahaha. We made bawi just enough for us to pass the subject hahahahahuhu. I have thermodynamics sub, i barely pass. Thank G na wala ko nag removal. If ever i did, i am so sure that i wont make it. My GWA for that sem was not enough for me to be a CS. Who cares? I still did, actually but mama was never been too pushy since then, even since after midyear, after getting that 2.0 grade from the only subject i am good at. Btw, my math 55 for first sem, second year, was 1.25. Not a 1.0 but still, it's good. Second semester that year was when pandemic hit so there's nothing much to tell. I was, sorry but i was really, glad to be away from school for a while, not until for a while became forever. Virtual university set-up was very hard. With too much from taking in whatever i see and hear on my surroundings, even just at home, everything is difficult. It is very hard to find motivation and discipline in studying when i was surrounded with people who do nothing. Even to this point i am writing, everyday is like a battle, but is mostly an internal one. Self vs self, a war no one knows who will win. So the confidence, the tower of knowledge i did build, exponentially went down. I did really well when i was in grade 10, i did my best that time and it can be seen at the achievements i had that year. Being consistently on top 1 the whole year, placing second on division MMC (even getting the highest score on the written elimination round for the whole cluster), doing well sa physics under maam andico, placings on cluster journalism competitions - it was like a record best, best record (?) Whatever. But it wasn't enough you know, i eventually came fourth like wtf. I had read from somewhere Newton saying like the two years when he did write the three laws of motion and the calculus stuff were the two best years of his life, and it kept me thinking that what if mine already passed? That it was when i was in high school?

But, back when i was in school, every time that i was belittling myself or even at random times that i would feel nervous for nothing, my classmates and close friends would say na:

Uno mo man ang Math, uno mo na na (it was a one or two time thing, what if chamba lang to???)

Ikaw man highest sa first le sa thermo (it was really an absolutely one time thing, i barely passed that sub)

Alam ka man sa physics (i was just invested on physics and maybe nachambahan lang na ang ginpractice ko solve kay parallel sa exam ni sir)

Alam ka, d ka lang confident (OKAY???!)

I was ignoring those shit cause who cares if i did really good that time. Yeah, it felt good but it wasn't fulfilling. Satisfied but not happy. But with recent events, i think i would be changing. This post will be a written contract that i will push to be better, to start trusting myself, and build that confidence glow behind me; to believe that i am bright and i can hack it, whatever it may be.

For coherence, i would itemize na lang all of the events that brought me to epiphany lol

It was Friday, 17 Sep, when Dean, in our plant design subject, gave an activity for us - to come up with solutions that would address problems he presented. 1 off grid island community (either you address the water, electricity, and phone reception/signal problem under a 100k budget) and 2 vinegar packaging with a 500 mL volume and should cost less than the cost of vinegar. The due's on Monday, 20 Sep. The challenge is that you should come up with an idea that is not the same with those who already turned in their proposed solutions. I haven't turned in mine until Sunday afternoon. We are 23 in class, hence there should be 23 proposed solutions for each problem. However, only 20 or 21 turned in their solutions and as a student who decided to do it three days after the sheet was given, i was at the second to the last of the entries hahaha. I have limited choice since a lot have been proposed. And ngl, i did entered my idea for the first problem at Sunday evening and for the second problem it was on the afternoon of the next day. Those were basic solutions cause who am I? Am just your basic guy.

Tuesday, 21 Sep (#NeverForget #NeverAgain), class again for plant design (PD). Dean discussed stuffs which im ngl, i did not listen because im bored (not until he said 'we'll have a 5-min break and we'll have a quiz after that' like wtf, how will we do our quiz???!). After the short break, I did study cause i panicked as hell, he presented the prospects of the course, that we will be divided in groups and that the leaders were chosen based on the solutions they turned in the activity previously given. So there's no quiz, i was calm the whole time after that until my name was called. Like wtf??! Your basic guy will be a leader???! Hello!!! So i chat people, asked them if it was a good thing (course it was!!!? So dumb right?!). And then, i asked another leader and she agreed to my argument that we should only be divided into six instead of seven as what dean has decided. So i chatted dean (pic below). I just accepted the role half-heartedly.

As leaders, we should be hiring people for our team and we should make pubs. I dont have a canva account to help me do pubs. I made mine at MS ppt HAHAHAHAHAHA but im good so its cute. We were assigned with projects and i get to have the 4-member team. The vacant roles were project maven and liaison officer for a 3-member team. In my pubs, i included scrummaster as position to be filled, cause who am i to lead?! So yeah, that's it. I did the pubs Wednesday and I submitted my resume Thursday (third to the last hahahaha but my resume's cute hahaha).

Thursday. So i had this invite by a classmate to join the Shell event long time ago. He was reaching out for someone to ask Dean for his approval because Dean did not replied to the email he sent. So, i volunteered. I really want this competition cause this will be my first and maybe last competition as a UP student. So i DMed dean and blah blah blah he asked for selection process. I relayed the message and apologize to them for being me because i was thinking that it was me who made him come up with the decision of having the team be selected. Like, wtf i was just asking for his approval. Getting kicked out of the team was not my intention. Those whom i chatted that night were telling me that it wasn't my fault blah blah blah. So i half-heartedly agreed to them.

Friday came, yesterday, the interview. I am very anxious for someone who will be the one asking the applicants lmao. I already have been interviewed before for college applications and somehow remember the feeling, nerve wracking, whatever. To calm my nerves, i listed questions which i never got to ask properly btw, but at least i have concrete ideas on what to ask. The first interviewee was my very closed friend and so we just laugh and laugh and laugh HAHAHAHAHA. IDK if dean saw it but who cares. And the next and next and next. 3:30 passed by fast and guess what??? YOUR BASIC GUY HAS THE MOST NUMBER OF APPLICANTS TO THE POINT THAT DEAN CUT MY LIST. IT WAS EXHAUSTING BUT VERY FLATTERING. I FEEL SO HONORED. i really thought and very scared at the thought that no one will apply to me but wtf, just wtf. Ranking my applicants was damn hard. 1 i have a dream team but one was cut by dean; 2 this could make my friends mad; 3 this will be the group for the whole year; 4 i am really exhausted. But still, i submitted the list. I was hoping for the people i chose to choose me back. Only two out of three did, i am forever grateful.

Still on Friday, the classmate who invited me to the Shell thing and Dean had a zoom call and discussed about the competition. That classmate told dean what i told him the other day that i might be the reason for the decision of having the selection process done. He told me this through a voice memo, katamad daw magtype. A voice message that i played over and over again. Dean actually find me interesting (?), Invested (?) Idk exactly but the classmate told me na 'may nakikita daw talaga sya sayo. Na grabe ka ka-practical as a person like yung ideas mo daw sa plant design napakasimple lang pero napaka practical to the point daw na madami nag apply sayo kanina. And then, you need more confidence lang daw talaga' so ig, you basic guy is a practical guy now. It's just flattering.

Now, whatever happens, i must meet those expectations right? This could be a lousy motivation but what is if there's none? I dont know why im writing this. I just thought i should get my thoughts out. Ver 2.0? Turning point? Let's just do good 😌

PS I put this on my bio on FB, guess im getting more public, and if you happened to read this because you saw the link on my bio, send me a message about you thoughts.

PPS if your initials are JTZC, these have been my week and i miss you even though you're not interested in me anymore, you are hard to forget

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #367

“i should warn you that you may fuck me, but chances are i’m gonna fuck you over”

Where was the last place you went for vacation? The beach. When was the last time you wore makeup? Halloween. Do you watch soaps or drama series? If so, which ones? Not currently. What’s your favourite tomato variety? I hate tomatoes. What was your very first pet like? Dad had a dog named Trigger when I was born, but I have no memory of her, so I'm excluding her. I consider our first family pet to be Chance, a cat my mom took in after finding her literally in the trash. She was... god, incredible. She was a loyal friend, and I can imagine no greater mother than she was (she legit fought off a rottweiler head-on to protect her kittens). She was so smart, so gentle, and just simply amazing. I'll always miss her. What was the best school project you remember doing? Looking back, despite the fact it TERRIFIED me before, that would be my senior project presentation. It was about snake misconceptions and fallacies, so I made a slideshow to present to the special ed class. I made drawings for them to color, word searches, all that kind of stuff. They were just the sweetest and seemed really into it. What’s your favourite type of fish to eat? None. What kind of an old person do you think you’ll become? I really... don't like thinking about this. Like I'm weak enough now at 25, I can't imagine how my, say, 60s would be. I hope and just about pray that my physical health will improve, but I'm just going to exclude that part entirely from this answer. Personality-wise and such, I have a feeling I'll be the quiet and sweet kind, the one that loves her (hopeful) spouse like crazy, and comes most alive on Halloween if I live in a place where children come trick-or-treating. I imagine I would LOVE that. I'd love to be the type that goes on morning jogs to help stay spry. Which well-known person’s death shocked you the most, if any? Steve Irwin and Chester Bennington might be tied. Both were so, so sudden. Steve was like, invincible to my childhood eyes, and when I heard about Chester's death, I thought it was just a sick rumor. Two amazing people that died way too soon. What’s the craziest colour you’d dye your hair? That would depend on personal opinions. I want to dye my hair LOTS of colors though, if that tells you anything. What’s the coolest hobby one of your friends has? Uhhhh. Idk. Name a video game you can play over and over again: Shadow of the Colossus. It's a pretty short game if you know what you're doing, and it's super relaxing to me and just so goddamn pretty to look at. Every time I've played it has just been a pleasant experience. Do you like meatloaf? Yeah, it's fine. How about Meatloaf? I know who he is, but I've never really listened to his music. Do you take time to do charitable work? If so, what do you do? No. ;_; Especially with all the free time I have, I really should... What is something that will make you laugh instantly? Okay, don't ask, but if I for a SECOND see that commercial of Mr. Clean dancing while he's cleaning, I will die because of memories. What is something you hope you will never inherit from a specific relative? Diabetes. It runs heavily in my family. Name a movie you wouldn’t watch solely based on its name: The Human Centipede. No. Thank you. Have you ever played in a stack of hay bales? No. What’s your dearest souvenir? The stuffed moose I got at Cabela's during a visit to Ohio. I named him Brownie, and he was my "childhood plushie" we all have. Is there a lot of graffiti around your neighbourhood? Not in the actual area I live in, but there are DEFINITELY places where it's a pigsty of distasteful shit. Have you ever made your own soda? (Soda Stream doesn’t count!) No. Do you have a hobby that forces you out of the house? If so, what is it? Nature photography. Have you ever been part of a theater group? No, that stuff doesn't interest me. What’s the most ecological thing you do? We recycle, and I also use metal straws. Would you stop eating meat, if you had to raise and slaughter it yourself? Absolutely. There is no fucking way I could do it. What’s your favourite board game? Why do you like it best? I like Clue just because of the mystery-solving factor, and I think it's kinda cool how you can think ahead and use other's findings to your own advantage to win the game pretty early. Besides English, what other languages can you speak? Some German. It's gotten pretty weak with neglect, though. Besides English, what other languages can you read? I can read German well. What thing/person/happening has made you the happiest you’ve been? This is a complicated answer that I just don't feel like elaborating on. What’s the most freeing thing you’ve ever done? Letting Jason go. Have you ever had a restaurant dish that was made with bugs? If not, would you even want to try one? No, and I'm not interested. Have you ever tasted birch sap? No. How about the young buds/shoots of spruce trees? No. Which edible flowers have you tasted? Honeysuckles. What has been your worst restaurant experience? Well, it's a fast food restaurant, but lemme tell you about my vegetarian encounter with Burger King. I ordered their veggie burger. Which they have. It's not a secret. These idiots gave me a bun with tomato and lettuce, and I think mayo on it, after sounding confused when Mom was ordering for me. Mom went back in there of course to tell them, and oh god was the manager pissed, lol. I got my veggie burger in the end. What’s the most immature, adolescent thing that still makes you laugh? Some sexually inappropriate jokes can still get me sadly, lol. Have you ever had a life-threatening condition? If so, what was it? Not literally, but boy do I think depression counts. Do you ever compare your life to somebody else’s? If so, why? Y E P. I can't tell you why, I just... do it. I look at other's successes and am just like, "Why aren't I there yet?", and beat myself up about being a failure. What is a food item or a dish you absolutely cannot stand? Brussel sprouts, asparagus, runny eggs, many other things because I'm just mega picky. Have you ever had a custom print done on a shirt? If so, what was it? Just the spray paint kind that vendors like to do at the beach and stuff. I don't remember any I got, though. What does your favourite mug look like? It's black with a Markiplier quote on it, given to me by Sara. :') Do you ever read other people’s survey answers? Yeah! Friends', anyway. I love learning all the obscure things about them. Do you like daytime or night time better? Why? Daytime, specifically early morning, because it's better for my depression. Are you more comfortable as a leader or a follower? A follower that isn't afraid to speak up when I'm really against something. What is your favourite song right now at this very moment? I've been really into "7empest" by Tool lately, and the synthwave edit of "Voices" by Motionless In White. If you watched The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, who was your favourite character? I don't remember it well, but I think I liked the butler. Was there even a butler? Who was your first online friend? Emma. :') Do you have any plants in your home? No. If you wear makeup, what’s the most outrageous colour you use? I only ever use black. What was the last photograph you took? My cat being adorable while sleeping. <3 Have you ever submitted a video to Funniest Home Videos? No. What was the first sport you learned how to play? I want to say soccer? I absolutely hated it. Do you have a headache at the moment? Yes, actually. I've really been attacked by the Covid shot side effects. Are your parents still together? No, thank god. What was the last hot food you ate? I made a chicken and I think pesto (some Italian noodles, idk) Healthy Choice bowl for dinner last night. Have you ever seen a meteor shower? No. :( Do you ever feel afraid people will question your sanity? I'm sure people have before, and back then? Rightfully so. Which X Factor audition(s) was/were your favorite? Never watched it. Were you a straight A student in spelling and grammar? Always. It's so weird how it's gotten worse with time since leaving school, even though I write... Were you a straight A student in math? Yeah, no. I usually got Bs or Cs. What is your favorite shade of yellow? Pastel. I don't really like yellow. What is something you want to accomplish before you turn 30? Have a stable job. Are you afraid of getting yelled at? YES. Do you feel a connection to the moon? It's not something I think about, so not really, but I do believe all things in the universe are connected in some way. We are simply a part of nature, as all else is. What does your heart long for? Contentment in who I am and where I am in life. I know I also miss being in love. Do you know what your purpose in life is? We have no innate purpose; we make our own, and I want mine to be to show others that there is always hope for yourself in yourself, and also to spread the message of love of all animals. Did you decorate a pumpkin this year? Last year I didn't. I really should change that this go around. Have you ever seen a fox? Yes! They're a kind of rare sight here sadly, so when I had the opportunity to photograph a fox tragically as roadkill, it was a photographic experience I won't forget. God, I wanted to pet it (I obviously didn't), but I did talk to it about how beautiful (s)he was as I got some shots. I never had a harder time leaving one of those angels I've taken pictures of. Do you find Halloween fun or scary? FUN!!!!!! Is there anything about Halloween you find offensive? Not at all. What do the trees look like where you live? I mean, there's a variety, but the staple that you see literally everywhere are pine trees. What is your dream vacation? Somewhere with mountains, clear lakes, cool weather, beautiful and various wildlife... What was the best vacation you’ve been on so far? Disney World as a kid. What is the best class trip you’ve been on? The zoo in the 5th grade. It was the one occasion I got to see meerkats. Did you like field trips when you were a kid? I lived for them. Do you find museums boring or interesting? I find science museums to be very, very fascinating. Art ones are great, too. What are three issues you are passionate about? LGBT rights, the pro-choice movement, and wildlife conservation, to name a few. Would you ever wear a shirt with your country’s flag on it? No. I'm not patriotic enough at all. What size is your bed? Queen. What’s a medicine that makes you sleepy? When we were experimenting with my Klonopin dosage, I learned that 3mg was enough to knock me on my ASS. Do you like bath bombs? I mean they're pretty, but I wouldn't waste money on 'em. Who are your favorite small YouTubers? Yikes, a looooooot. But this also depends on what you think qualifies as "small." Most of my favorite "small" YTers are tarantula keepers or sub-1M let's players. Who are your favorite big YouTubers? Markiplier obviously, Snake Discovery, Good Mythical Morning (even if I don't watch them anymore, they are veeery dear to my heart and I will always support them), Sam & Colby... Again, there's a lot. When you don't watch TV and YT instead, you really get attached to a lot of them. What was your favorite girl group when you were growing up? Would you believe me if I said Pussycat Dolls? haha Do you like Disney movies? Um, DUH. Were you ever in the popular crowd? No. Have you ever used an outhouse? UGH, at like childhood sports games, yes. I could NEVER nowadays, oh my god. Could you possibly write a successful novel? I think I have the creativity to, but not the dedication. Are there any foods that make you gag? Beans, for one. I just canNOT with them. It's a completely involuntary reaction. Have you ever had blonde highlights in your hair? I think I did? Who was the last person you video-chatted with? The lady who was seeing if I qualified for TMS therapy. Do you think sleeve tattoos look trashy? Definitely not, I love those. If you had to get a portrait tattoo, who would it be of? I don't actually want one, but if I did, I'd go to a serious professional to get THE Darkiplier smile. :') If u know u know. Do you have any stickers on any of your electronic devices? No. Do you think half blonde/half dark brown hair is attractive? It looks great on some people, but it's not my favorite combo.

[thisnerdsadventures]

I, a campaign manager

so in addition to being a CTO, a CS major, and a dorm vice president, i was also a campaign manager for 2 weeks (the exact campaign that I was managing is not entirely difficult to figure out if you really want to know, especially if you click on the links BUT i will be trying to not mention it specifically here lol). You might be wondering - (1) why and (2) how did you end up becoming a campaign manager..... you're not even a poli sci/gov/humanities/literally anything vaguely related to this major??

You're correct, yes, how did this happen? Well that's a great place to start this story:

How in the world this happened

Friends drag you into stuff. This happens to be the same friend that dragged me to New York, and then was 20% of the reason I got dragged into the negotiation class, and then was maybe 15% of the reason i got dragged into nonprofit activities? In terms of providing unique opportunities in my life, she definitely takes the cake. So one day, she says "I'm running for this position," and me and the squad says "we gotchu." What does that mean? Clearly wasn't sure in the beginning, but we were texting campaign strategies and slogans and tiktok ideas in the chat for fun. None of us had any real responsibilities, especially since the actual candidates were still weighing the playing field and figuring out their platform.

I also was a course 6, so I guess there was some expectation that I would make the website, even though I didn't actually code the website from scratch.

but anyways, it was actual campaign time.

CAMPAIGN SZN

After they figured out the campaign platform, it was game on for the campaign materials. We spent a lot of time on artwork, we photoshopped pictures from a photo shoot, we came up with campaign motto ideas, we brainstormed strategies for officially announcing the campaign. We had an actual campaign meeting to talk over things in mid-April where I met like six different people, friends from both candidates on this ticket, who were supporting this effort. We had a google drive AND a Dropbox. Look at this:

Despite this seemingly organized effort, it was not that organized because this publicity team didn't actually actively do anything for like a week. Many reasons for this: one being it was actually the semester, and it was also CPW weekend. Unfortunately for me, that weekend was literally hell for me, because I was managing this site for our nonprofit, CPW events (so like five zoom calls on a Saturday), classes (because those are still happening), and then the campaign thing finally started, about a week before voting opened. In the form, of a website.

So the tl;dr is I developed an entire Squarespace website in one night. Yes, one night. I had to model it from I think the website from a Harvard campaign site, which took me like three or four hours on a Saturday night, which is a very fast time in my opinion to learn how to use Squarespace. I also bought a domain and figured out how to connect it to Squarespace at like 1 in the morning, which was the first domain I ever bought in my life!

(It expires in a month. I am absolutely going to let it die.)

Also, if anyone from squarespace is reading this for some reason, yall made a really solid product. I actually was very happy with my experience. You all should use it, I am 100% not sponsored by them at all, but honestly it was a very good experience. If you need to develop a website in four hours and don't have a lot of webdev experience, definitely consider it. You can even see website clicks and user analytics, it's actually really put together.

The next day we spend a lot of time going through website changes and artwork changes. It's bad. We had so many discussions about color palettes and the advantages of a 3 column vs 4 column layout. Yes. I'm serious. I'm starting to go crazy.

If anyone's interested, I would say that our website definitely was better than the other campaign's website. Like objectively. Like both campaigns were great, but the website? well. Here's the link (archived because I only paid for 1 month of squarespace :D) The amount of detail that went into it is actually incredible, the amount of spacing, i even had to custom CSS the header image so that mobile headers would show up correctly.

THE CAMPAIGN VIDEO

so sometime during this week, I had this thought about making a really good campaign video. I was very inspired by some of these Google ads that started with a Google search bar. (Yes, I am aware that I am that much of a Google simp.) To be honest, rewatching this ad, I really definitely just copied this entire ad lol, it's ok we don't have to talk about that.

That Wednesday, we coincidentally talked about what makes campaign videos successful. We talked about how Trump's incendiary imagery helped stoke the flames and how it was really effective in getting people to vote, and eventually helped him beat Clinton in the presidential election. So I went and took that and grabbed news clips and campus videos and overlayed that in the video, and it went from like a solid 6 to an 8 immediately, in my honest, unbiased opinion. You can see what I mean in the video itself: [link].

We also had to put together quite a few interviews about what they wanted from the school and were looking for in their candidates, which took a million years of coordination, but we somehow got it done in three days, and everything was put together in a flurry of a weekend, unending changes and small fixes for sixteen hours straight. I could not even tell you how much I learned about premiere pro and how to use layer masks and everything. I even composed the music for the first fifteen seconds of it. Literally, composed, it.

And so on a Sunday afternoon FINALLY right before voting, the video drops. I'm sitting in my backyard absorbing the sun because I hadn't left my computer for 48 hours straight.

It gets like 1000 views or impressions or something in like two days, which is incredible for me, since I'm not a professional by any standards, but I am considering being a professional campaign manager at this point. By the way, we're also managing an Instagram page, a Facebook page, a tiktok page, a website, our individual social media pages, and we're trying to synchronize this video drop and all of our publicity efforts across every single one of these channels. It's chaotic at best.

VOTING SZN

So it's voting week, where we give everyone an entire week to vote. Across the week, it's mostly a waiting game, we make a few more tiktoks and funny videos that we publicize to get out the vote more. The last day, we're thinking about it, and we know the final vote's gonna be close, so we message every. single. person. in our Facebook friends list. I think I singlehandedly convinced like twenty people to vote (and hopefully vote for our ticket).

There's a lot of drama about different stuff. I won't really talk about it because I think it got really messy, but this week and entire couple weeks was a lot to get through honestly. As a reminder, I'm also working on my senior thesis and my nonprofit website work is peaking at this point, so everything is very, very bad and none of us have slept in a while. Also it's the pandemic.

Finally, the results come out. We lost by like 20 votes or something, out of 1500 or so total votes casted or something like that. It's one of the highest voter turnouts in school history or something, I don't quite remember. After that, we're so emotionally drained from this whole thing that we just don't talk about it for a while and that's that.

If the ticket won, I wonder how it would've turned out. I feel like things would've continued to be busy, and maybe that's not a great thing. So maybe everything happened for a reason. I don't know, but those three weeks were quite interesting, quite fun, quite odd. I'm putting those videos in my personal portfolio and am putting Adobe Premiere Pro and Squarespace on my resume and moving on.

Anyways, thought I'd just share! i haven't posted in a while, and this was definitely one of my #weird #odd stories from my time at MIT, which is quite reminiscent of #weird #odd at MIT in general.

[liam-kim-rp]

Hello friends! I’m Eddie, demigirl trash person lol most days I use she/her, but I’ll let you know if its a they/them day.Bri recommended this place to me and im honestly so excited?? idk how long or coherent this intro is gonna be but heres Liam!

Is that LIAM KIM? Wow, they do look a lot like KIM MYUNGSOO. I hear HE is a 18 year old SENIOR who originally attended CARNIFEX Academy. Word is they are an ARISTOCRAT student. You should watch out because they can be REBELLIOUS and SARCASTIC, but on the bright side they can also be CLEVER and LOYAL. Ultimately, you’ll get to see it all for yourself. 

older brother to Ian and Emma

you know how a lot of teenagers have their rebellious leather jacket smoking phase? well, that’s not a phase for Liam. It’s just who he is.

so Liam is NOT cool with the shit his father does with his business, and makes that obvious to him. They fight constantly, usually ending with Liam storming out, locking himself in his bedroom and sneaking out his window to go so someone else’s house

he constantly cuts classes, but since he always usually gets in the high ninetys on the tests, he still manages to get low B’s and high Cs. He’s smart, he just literally doesn’t give a shit about going to college

plays guitar and sings, and is really good. Hopes to be a musician some day, but needs to know how to work well with others first (spoiler alert he doesn't work well with others)

fuckboi extraordinaire, pansexual af

he honestly thinks he’d never do the relationship thing, but in all honesty its because subconsciously he feels like he doesn’t deserve love?

bad smoking habit

he’s part of the Churchill Circle. Why? Boredom mostly, but he also knows his dad wouldn’t approve, so killing two birds with one stone.

it doesn’t matter what the weather is like outside. this fucker has on his leather jacket.

usually a quiet dude, but if you initiate conversation, expect sarcastic ass remarks

so he’s a piece of shit, but if you mess with anyone he cares about, ESPECIALLY his siblings, he’ll make your life hell

SCHEDULE

Communications

Spanish

Music

Band

Choir

Creative Writing

Psychology

No extracurriculars because hes a loser XD

so go ahead and like this if u wanna plot and ill jump into ur dms eventually, or feel free to message me first! Either way please come hate him XD

[acatex]

Hey Snarklings!

  Are you surprised that I’m still alive? I know I am (lols am I even relevant anymore?) Before I get into my whole MCAT prep strategy, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for leaving you guys in the dust. I have been very stressed lately and I just felt like I was letting you guys down which was why I made a really hard (but spontaneous) decision on my academic career. Of course I cannot comment right now on what I did/planning to do, but an upcoming blog post would be up in the next couple of days to explain the whole grey area that I was stuck in. Okay, it’s time to put away the tissue boxes and dive into every pre-meds worse nightmare: The Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT)

Disclaimer: This is my method and it may or may not work for you, so please take it with a grain of salt because, the way that I learn may be different from you, but it is a good idea to see how others approach this scary test.

What is the MCAT?

In short, the MCAT is a standardized test taken on a computer program to measure a prospective medical student’s potential to succeed medical school. Think of it as foreshadow of one’s ability to do well on painstakingly long exams that are cut up into blocks: Since most of medical schools in the US and Canada require doctors in training to take many board exams that can be 8-9 hours long.

Another reason why the MCAT is administered is to see whether the applicant can use background knowledge of the subject (biochemistry, biology, chemistry, psychology/sociology, physics, critical reasoning skills, etc) and integrate with other sciences to synthesize and draw an objective answer to a novel/unknown situation. This makes the MCAT different from others standardized tests such as SAT or ACT since these tests are more on memory recall and regurgitation, while the MCAT is more on integration and application to unknown situations. Think of it like this, when a doctor walks into a patient’s room, they know some things (the knowledge they’ve been taught in med school) and there’s probably things that they don’t know about a patient’s health, but when a doctor integrates what he/she knows and connect it to the unknown they can solve problems.

  What is the MCAT tested on?

Since, one of the reasons why the MCAT is administered is to test your endurance on future medical school board exams such as: USMLE step 1, step 2 CK, step 2 CS, Step 3  if you are in the United States or the MCCEE, NAC, MCCQE part 1, MCCQE part 2 in (Canadian boards), and Comlex Level 1, Level 2CE, Level 2PE, Level 3 (Osteopathic med schools/DO). They do this by testing you on undergraduate courses and are broken down into 4 sections/blocks

Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems

Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS)

Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems

Psychological, Social and Biological Foundations of Behaviour

  Prior to Taking the MCAT

I highly recommend taking the required courses before taking the MCAT. The AAMC recommends to take the following pre-med classes:

Introductory (first year) Biology (2 semesters/1 year)

Introductory/General Chemistry (2 semesters/1 year)

Organic chemistry (2 semesters/1 year)

Biochemistry (1 semester)

Introductory Physics (2 semesters/1 year)

Psychology (1 semester)

Sociology (1 semester)

Now I never took a sociology class and I am planning on taking physics in my upcoming (and last) school year of uni. But that doesn’t really matter since you can just self study for it.

  Resources?

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So MCAT prep cannot be MCAT prep without a good set of MCAT books for you to review on. Now, there are many MCAT companies out there and a lot of people are confused on which one they would get to the point that everyone keeps on asking the same question: What books are YOU using? Hey, are those books good? Listen, your success on the MCAT does not depend on what company that you choose to get your books from. Why? Because it is you and how well you reviewed and practice those questions on a DAILY BASIS. I know people who got into med school by using Kaplan, I know people who got rejected who used Kaplan, and the same goes for other prep companies such as The Princeton Review, Examkrackers, The Berkely Review, etc. It doesn’t matter. Just pick one and stick with one. Do not. I repeat. DO NOT BUY TWO BOOKS OF THE SAME SUBJECT BECAUSE YOU THINK THAT ONE COMPANY DOES A BETTER “JOB.’ Again, It is you who will determine your own success, not a book.

Now, for me, I was about to buy the Kaplan MCAT series but, my mother surpised me on my 21st birthday with the NextStep MCAT Content Review and Practice Passages. At first, I was bummed out but as I went along, I realized that the books are doing its job: Helping me review what I learned in undergrad (wipes tears away; literally every time I turn a page I get flashbacks). And the best part is: It was free since it was my birthday gift so I did not have to spend a dime.

When I found something that I did not fully understand or the book did not give me a detailed answer I usually used Khan Academy videos (There’s a whole section just for the MCAT with practice problems). Other videos/channels worth mentioning:

AK Lectures for biochemistry and general chemistry (his explanations for thermodynamics is so straight to the point, they’re super clutch)

The Organic Chemistry Tutor: MCAT Test Prep General Chemistry Review Study Guide Part 1 and MCAT General Chemistry Lectures Review Prep Part 2 – Equations & Practice Questions

Leah4SciMCAT for doing MCAT Math Without a Calculator and Amino Acids for MCAT/Biochem students. I also looked at Fischer Projections for MCAT Orgo and Biochemistry which helped so much since she sues fun mnemonics and straight to the point concepts that just makes the learning fun and easy.

Bozeman science for their anatomy and physiology sections for every organ system mentioned in the biology MCAT book. I also looked at a video or two from the AP chemistry, AP biology, and AP physics (which I remembered fondly back in high school and so I’m familiar with them thus, I didn’t look at every video but just ones that I had trouble with, ex: transcription vs translation.)

  My method for studying: I tend to study in rotations or two chapters of the same subject a day until completion. The image below is how that looks like in my mini day planner:

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Since I do not have a job nor am I in school during the summer I was able to study for 8 hours a day and found myself going through rotations quicker than I expected. Before I go to bed I reviewed what I learned and anything that I do not finished I would have to finish in the morning before starting a new rotation.

  Active Learning

So when I start a new chapter I use my metacognitive abilities: What do I know vs what do I don’t know.

Let’s take the endocrine system as an example. I know that the endocrine is invovled in hormone secretion and regulation of the metabolic oathways that maintains homeostasis. I know an example of this would be aldosterone (a steroid hormone) and vasopressin (a peptide) hormone helps regulate homeostasis by repsonding to low fluid levels and by increasing fluid retention. But what I do not know is how exactly they achieve this: thus when I’m studying that’s my goal or my purpose. I am learning to apply and find answers to my questions.

Every time a paragraph says something about a hormone I would turn it into a question and write the answer in my own words. Here’s an example on tropic versus non tropic hormones:

In orange I wrote the section of the chapter: Regulation

I wrote a capital Q for question and A for answer.

And sometimes I write a little flow chart for easy summary of what I learned

The reason why I used this system was for 3 reasons: (1) By writing out the section in a different colour, it acts as a study guide (you know with all the topics/questions pertaining to one part of the chapter for a test). (2) Turning the info in a paragraph into a question and answers makes it interactive and makes you think about what you are learning; sort of like flashcards. I would cover the answer portion with another piece of paper and just talk/aggressively whisper out the answer (the answer doesn’t have to be word by word but just similar to what it is). (3) When it is time for revision: Your notes are in a Q/A format or like test which is better than writing a bunch of notes and just passively looking over.

Here’s another one on the hypothalamus-anterior pituitary-adrenal cortex axis (HPA)

As you can see I love flow charts for sequential pathways and showing the cause and effects of each step (what increases or decreases, which hormone is involved, etc)

I will write a more detailed post on what I put into my MCAT notebooks and what I look for when reading or extracting information from the review books. So just hold on and be patient.

  Practice, Practice, Practice

Knowledge is power but practice makes perfect. Remember that the MCAT will not really test your ability to recall facts straight from the book; this is not a trivia show. It is your ability to apply known information (your MCAT content review) and integrate them with other information in an unknown situation (the MCAT passages). That’s why I like that my MCAT books have practice passages at the end of each chapter. I also bought extra practice passages from NextStep because they really do help me understand the content and the timing. If you do not have practice passages right now, go to the Khan academy MCAT section and there’s loads of them (but they are really easy though).

Also, I really enjoyed watching videos on YouTube on how to approach passages and seeing what other people’s strategies and methods are. I tend to integrate what others do with my own method, but everyone is different so just take it with a grain of salt. Here are a couple of my favorite Youtubers, one of which is actually my best friend.

Amanda and Rich Show: MCAT Biology Passage Breakdown

CurveSetter: MCAT 2015 Biochemistry Tutorial 1 (Amino Acids) – CurveSetter Tutoring

CurveSetter: MCAT Biology/Biochemistry Passage Analysis (Acetylcholine) – CurveSetter MCAT Prep

CurveSetter: MCAT 2015 Chemistry Tutorial 3 (Titration Passage) – CurveSetter Tutoring

CurveSetter: MCAT 2015 Chemistry/Physics Selected MC 1 – CurveSetter Tutoring

CurveSetter: Electricity and Magnetism MCAT Physics Passage – CurveSetter MCAT Prep

CurveSetter: MCAT 2015 Biology Tutorial 1 (Neuron Passage) – CurveSetter Tutoring

CurveSetter: MCAT 2015 CARS Tutorial 1 (Passage) – CurveSetter Tutoring

CurveSetter: MCAT 2015 CARS Tutorial 1 (Questions) – CurveSetter Tutoring

SecondChance MCAT: MCAT Science Passage Breakdown #1

SecondChance MCAT: Full MCAT CARS Passage Breakdown (98% CARS Scorer)

Bless her Health: CARS WORKSHOP 08/24

Bless her Health: CARS WORKSHOP 08/28

  After going through a few passages or so, review your mistakes! Then again look up your Q/A notes and see where you went wrong. When you do this, you’re allocating your attention areas that need it. This really helped me retain information whilst, practicing applying concepts with other concepts. Another reason why, is that the questions on the MCAT are really different from your college classes. Again, you’re not regurgitating facts out, you’re applying what you know with what you don’t know by looking at superficial similarities and coming up with the best answer. Since this is a new skill, the only way to learn it is through practice.

I am planning on making a post about how I breakdown science and CARS passages as well so stay tuned.

Spaced Repetition Is Key

One of the keys to success for the MCAT is repetition for retention. If you do not review, you will forget it. That’s why I always made sure that after a section of a chapter I would look over what I had so far and really try to understand what I just learned and see how it relates to other chapters or to the other subjects in one way or another to get the BIG PICTURE. Then, before I go to sleep I will look over at the chapter again as a whole and annotate anything that I think needs more detail. Then the next day before starting a new chapter, I quickly look at all the previous chapters by talking aloud (or aggressively whispering if you’re around people, sorry to the girl at Starbucks who has to put up with my) and just make connections to it. Over time, I looked at all the previous chapters so much that I can recall many concepts.

Review while making your Q/A notes

review after making your Q/A notes

Look at your Q/A notes before you go to bed

Before starting a new chapter, look at all the previous Q/A notes to refresh your memory

1 day later look at your old Q/A notes then maybe 3 days later do it again

Congratulations, all the info you’ve mastered are now stored in your long term memory. It is permanent until you die (unless if you get amnesia).

  I hope this helps make up for my absence and don’t worry, I will post more on MCAT prep. So ciao for now, and stay flossy everyone.

  How I Prepare for the MCAT Part 1 Hey Snarklings! Are you surprised that I'm still alive? I know I am (lols am I even relevant anymore?) Before I get into my whole MCAT prep strategy, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for leaving you guys in the dust.

[etudias]

(Edit: I am aware of the typo in the title, it should be experience)

Hi there, my name is Alessandra and I am going to tell y’all about how the whole college application process went for me. I think my experience ended a little differently than most, or at least most that people will share. It honestly took a lot for me to feel comfortable posting this so I really hope that it will help someone out there. It is however a very long post, so I am going to break it up into sections, feel free to read only what you need/want.

1. Researching Schools

I got excited for college. I was excited to go to college for as long as I can remember and was looking up different schools on site’s like the college board one, bigfuture, which by the way, I recommend, since probably 10th grade. So come Junior year I had a bunch of schools I was interested in. I ended up visiting a few in Boston over spring break that year. I visited Harvard, MIT, and Boston University (clearly my sights were set high). I did not really think it was that important to visit colleges, and that I should just visit the ones I got into to help decide (I now know that college visits can actually really help you get into a top school). The summer before senior year I worked hard to narrow down my list. I ended up with 12 schools that I applied to. This may seem like a lot to some, or not many at all to others. Most people I know applied to more like 5-8, but I know some people who applied to 20+, you gotta do what’s right for you. I wanted to apply to more honestly, but based on costs that is the number my mother and I agreed upon.

2. The Schools

Okay so in alphabetical order here are the schools I applied to:

Barnard College

Brown University

Carnegie Mellon University

Case Western Reserve University

Duke University

Georgia Institute of Technology

Harvard University

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

Stanford

University of California - Berkeley

University of Georgia

University of Pennsylvania

So, some reasoning on my choices. I heard someone say something that I fully agreed with, and after everything still do. That you should apply to as many reach schools as you can because it raises the chances of getting into just one. So with that I applied to a bunch of reaches, a few meets, and 1 safety. The one safety school I decided on was because it was in state and in my state if you have a 3.75+ GPA and some other requirements, you get full tuition to in state schools and I knew that given the money, there was really no other school that I could consider a safety school that I would choose over it. I still stand by this choice.

3. My Stats 

You are probably going to ask this and I’ve decided to be upfront and tell you because why the heck not. I sent in ACT scores, not SAT (although I did take it). I got a 32 (33 English, 33 Reading, 35 Science, 28 Math), I should have spent more time studying for the math as that score never changed, but it was my 3rd time taking the test and I was over it, my goal had been a 33, but to me that was close enough because I was tired. My GPA was a 3.875 unweighted and a 4.063 weighted. My school did not offer many AP courses, I took all that I could with the exception of 2 history courses that I had strong reasons for not taking and when I had my Harvard interview and I talked with the lady about it, she wholeheartedly agreed and said that as the counselor of her private school she even made her school stop offering those courses, so yeah I feel pretty valid about that. (Ended up taking 7 AP’s if you are curious about which ones, they are on my about page) I basically got all A’s in my academics, my B’s came from some arts classes and health, I know, I know. I’m going to briefly mention my school in this section because it is sort of related. I went to a public arts high school that is ranked number 2 in the state for academics and 75th in the nation. It was extremely rigorous.

4. Extracurricular’s and other application stuff

I was very involved. I participated in theater for all 5 years (my school was 8-12). I did technical theater and by 10th grade was crew head for shows and in 11th grade I worked every show (which at my school was a lot). Senior year I became a stage manager which is a big responsibility and sort of like being a president of a club, but even more responsibility. I calculated the hours I spent with theater junior year alone, 300 hrs. I was also very involved in orchestra, all 5 years. My school has 4 orchestra levels, the first two comprising the lower orchestra, 3&4 comprising the higher level orchestra, based on skill level, not age. I was in orchestra 2 for 8th and 9th grade, orchestra 3 for 10th and 11th grade, and orchestra 4 for senior year, orchestra 4 was a big deal, with only 11 members and you played not only in the higher level orchestra but also the touring orchestra. Lots of hours. I also played in my county’s honor’s orchestra for 2 years. I was on the executive board (basically president) of my schools National Honor Society (our school only opens it to seniors, so I was only in it for 1 year). I was part of Beta Club for 4 years. I was a math tutor. I founded a Girls Who Code club at my school and taught it. I was in our award winning mock trial for 2 years. I was a member of my schools Gay Straight Alliance. I babysat all throughout high school. I did more than that but this is already long enough and you can tell that basically, I was a try hard.

   Let’s talk about summers. The summer after 10th grade I went to a 7 week long summer immersion program for coding called Girls Who Code. The summer after junior year I went to a week long orchestra camp, then my states Governor’s Honor’s program, which in my state is very prestigious and hard to get into (I think its like a 10% acceptance rate). I was a software engineering major and a math minor there. (Those are really the summers that count, but all other summers I went to orchestra camp)

   More application stuff, I had a fair amount of school awards as well as the aforementioned Governor’s Honor’s. I got recommendations from my pre calculus teacher, who I founded a Girls Who Code club with, and my world history/ap psych teacher. They both loved me and I’m sure wrote great recommendations (with the exception of UGA where I did not send any). All the schools I had interviews with went extremely well. I was a legacy for Duke. I had an alumni friend write an AMAZING letter of rec for CMU. I felt my essays were strong (and checked by 3 or so people).

   My major: I basically applied everywhere as a computer science major. I felt good about this with the way I spent my summers, some of my extracurricular, and classes I chose to take. I wrote a fair amount of essays about this and I feel as though my applications demonstrated the work I had put into bringing more people (especially women) into STEM, specifically cs, and my interests and knowledge of cs.

5. The Decisions

Finally the good part right? Well at least for you readers. I’ll go in order of the decisions (although towards the end I forget the order a bit because it was tech week and show weeks for my schools biggest production, I was busy) and add some commentary on some. (All regular decision unless otherwise noted)

MIT (Early Action) - rejected, it hurt a little being my first, but not unexpected

Case Western (Early Action) - deferred, then waitlisted, then rejected, everyone from my school got the exact same decisions from them and there were people from the bottom of my class to the very top lol

University of Georgia - accepted, oh boy I cried because finally thank goodness somewhere at least

Georgia Tech - waitlisted, then rejected, this one still stings, people with all around weaker applications from my school got in that applied early. the acceptance rate dropped from 40% to 8% between early and regular, biggest regret is not applying here early, once I was waitlisted here I felt for sure I wouldn’t get in anywhere else

Barnard College - waitlisted, still waiting to hear. at this point i just felt like I was getting waitlisted everywhere

Harvard - rejected, expected as are basically the rest of these

U Penn - rejected 

Brown - rejected

UC Berkeley - rejected

Duke - rejected, but damn that letter I’m still mad about, like the fact the I got rejected was unsurprising at that point, but they sent me 3 long paragraphs of rejection bc I was a legacy saying how sorry they were and how many times they reconsidered my application. One sentence would have been better.

Stanford - rejected

CMU - rejected, and man I knew it was coming but it was the last school I heard from, my last hope, and it was closing day for my last school musical, this was a bad day, not so much for this one school but just the process in general

6. Reflections

So I got into 1 school, yup just 1. My safety school that’s it. Let me tell you I was devastated, not over any particular school, but that I didn’t get into any others. I ate 4 donuts and cried a whole lot the day of that last rejection. I got really REALLY stuck on the fact that I would only ever read that one acceptance letter, that one congratulations. I moped around and was sad and upset with my self and full of regrets like why did I not apply to more schools, it was a bad time. But let me tell you that time really showed my what good some friends could be, friends really helped me through that. Even though I had only one school I waited till the last minute to commit. So yes, fall 2018 UGA here I come, go dawgs! (and really its not a bad school, especially the honors program) I worked really hard to get myself excited for this school and as much as I am, with the major I want to go into, I know it is in my best interests to transfer, no matter how much I do not like the idea of transferring (its a good school don’t get me wrong, just not the best for my major). I am still trying to come to terms with the idea of transferring and honestly this whole process in general. I do not think I would have done things much differently, I put my best into my applications, honestly if I changed anything I would have just applied to more schools and probably only more reaches or meet/reaches at that. I have come to accept the decisions (mostly, I still get quite down about it from time to time). It was an odd year for decisions at my school in general. We usually send a good amount of students to top top schools like ivies and the equivalent, but this year no one got into any, heck our valedictorian is going to UGA too. (I think it has something to do with our class being super strong overall, 50% had a 4.0+ weighted, so therefore none of us really stood out) So yeah it really freaking hurts only getting into one school, I’m pretty sure I went through all the stages of grief, but now I am in acceptance and just getting excited for college!! and I am SO EXCITED

   If anyone has any questions about this process, my inbox is open.

[realtalk-princeton]

Hey Maybach. Your long response was great. Thank you for putting thought and time into this blog. Could you elaborate on the problems unique to Princeton mentioned in the following section?“Are there problems that are unique to Princeton even if it’s only 10% of its total problems? Yes. And pre-frosh should be aware of them and I’m happy to talk about them.”-a different 2023 prefrosh

Thanks for stopping by. Sorry, it took me a week to get to this, I just had a lot of other things I also needed to take care of in addition to answering the questions before you.

As I’ve stated previously, most of the concerns students have at this school are largely similar to the concerns students have at all other elite schools (whether they know it or not).  However, one issue that I think Princeton has that is uniquely “strong” is a cultural preoccupation with prestige primarily through the lens of exclusivity and image. By this, I mean that the campus seems to foster this idea within students that they need to be constantly in the most visible and public elite and selective positions. This somehow permeates all throughout almost all aspects of student life whether it be in performing groups, clubs, work experience, academics, etc. I’ve talked to ivy league students from pretty much all the schools and this last point of this obsession with prestige in almost all facets of the student experience is what is uniquely problematic. For example, while people contemplating self-harm due to not gaining entrance to a social club is not unique (frats and sororities at Dartmouth and Vanderbilt have the analogous issue), what is unique is that this idea of NEEDING to be in these exclusive circles outside of just one particular area is what I find particularly troubling. I can’t tell you how many people come here and they have a passion. Just to give you an easy story, I know a person who was good at playing their instrument and tried out for “performing group x” (avoiding specifics here), but she didn’t get in (they accepted like 3 out of 100 applicants). Now because group x is the most “prestigious” and special group on campus this person lost motivation to practice their instrument because performing group y (the second best group) is not “good enough” to warrant spending time on when Princeton already makes us so busy. As a result, this horrible recursive loop happens where people no longer want to put effort into their passions and the next time they apply they do even worse because of this. There’s a culture of not being able to let go and just do things for the sake of fun or enjoyment. Same thing with internships. “I’m only making $15,000 next summer, but someone I know is making $20k at a company with better name recognition.” People just can’t stop comparing themselves to each other and constantly forming a culture and system of exclusivity based on trying to define as many of our interactions in this sense (whether consciously or unconsciously). Even more ridiculous is that people often base comparisons off of faulty data sources such as social media, which only strengthens feelings of inferiority. I actually read a really good article in the Daily Prince a while ago that was something like “you won the Princeton lottery, now play again to get into exclusive clubs” or something like that. Pretty much it was just talking about just this issue in a better way than I’m describing and how people who just want to do say “good” stand-up comedy vie for like 2 spots with 100 people applying and it creates this terrible binary huge win or huge loss, nothing in-between culture. However, I would like to state 2 big notes about this issue. While it is a problem, luckily it is not competitive between students, only from within. In other words, it’s not like people will go out of their way to denigrate people in less “prestigious” groups and people aren’t cutthroat about it generally. Secondly, there are still a number of people who literally give NO attention to any of this nonsense. They are the minority, but it’s certainly possible to ignore all of this and just be part of casual stuff. For example, there are now numerous clubs on campus that are non-audition based and allow people to put in as much effort as they want.

Another unique problem, I think we have is an excessive academic system at times. However, I think this issue is becoming less and less a problem year after year and certainly was not big enough of a factor to make my experience here bad. As previously stated, grade deflation was quite a bad system, but grades are now reaching all-time highs and the average GPA of each new class is significantly higher than the last. Another old systematic problem was the calendar, which I loathed, which put breaks before finals. This encouraged people to work super hard during the time for family in order to “beat” the kids who didn’t study on Christmas Day to do well in intro classes. It was horrendous and hearing stories of CS kids spending 80 hours on an assignment over the break and still not finishing was just terrible. Luckily, you will not have to deal with this though lol. Our academics were also too rushed with the old calendar and material moved SUPER fast. It’s still pretty fast, but that is expected. However, overall, I would say that Princeton is probably harder and more rigorous than most of our peers. I’ve taken courses abroad and at NYU, and for sure the standard was noticeably lower. I will say though that I learned more at Princeton as a result though. However, for some people, it’s too much and they feel overburdened by our system’s rigor and of course the independent research process. If you hate the idea of research and don’t change this perspective by your second year of college here, I can imagine that your academic life would be quite stressful.

The last major unique issue I think Princeton is a little bit too uptight at times. What do I mean by this? It’s probably a combination of the academic system, modern age, and students’ own egos, but the culture is sometimes not chill enough for my liking. For me, I’ve had to make my experience chill and more relaxed at times and it can suck when friends around you are just stressed out and don’t want to also make time to just you know… have fun. Have people forgotten about that concept? (joke) This is a bubble and at times that is problematic because like I said before, everyone has no sense of comparable reality and thinks they need to be overloaded with work. Obviously, it doesn’t apply to everyone (case and point me), but it’s still worse than most of our peers I think (except Columbia and University of Chicago and a few others that are totally insane). It’s shocking for me sometimes how “in the zone” people are and totally overfocused on their classes, a particular club, and getting an internship. I remember I told someone “did you hear the big news?” in reference to North Korea last year and the person replied “Yeah I know! It’s crazy! my math exam got rescheduled.” People seem to have commitment problems as a result of being super busy. LDR’s are rarer than leprechauns compared to other universities and people just seem to not prioritize things like maintaining familiar and friend relationships enough. This is not to say this isn’t a problem at other universities, but just a little worse here.

Anyway, so I hope you got something out of my candid answers. To be honest, it was hard coming up with unique problems. Only the first one I listed is REALLY unique. The other two are just noticeably a little worse than at the “average” elite school. So don’t think that by going to say Columbia over us is going to make your academic life way easier. Trust me, it won’t.

Edit. I forgot to add one more thing because I personally don’t consider it a “problem” lol. But I thought I’d be fair and put it in. Princeton is uniquely anti-drug compared to other universities. I’ve pretty much never seen weed here (except at Terrace after 2am when all the other clubs close) and hard drugs are extraordinarily rare. Compare this to say Berkeley or Brown and it’s like comparing night and day. We also actually punish students who openly use things like marijuana in their dorms and students have been turned over to the police and/or expelled for infractions such as this. Simple and to the point, we don’t have a very heavy drug culture. People still do them, but generally in more secret and secluded places like a private eating club, Poe field, etc. Now, I don’t consider this a “problem”, but if in the spirit of total transparency, those of you pre-frosh who like the kush ought to know this haha.

[lifviakaza]

To Deserve Something

"Aku ga masalah di bayar berapa aja. Gapernah mikirin malah, serius."

A friend said that to me today and it reminded me of myself years ago when I was still pursuing my bachelor's. I just thought "It'd be cool if I could work there/here." Next thing I know was that I sent my CV and got an interview and passed the exam then I was in. I remember my first part time job was a teaching job to students' houses. I just followed my two best friends lol My first paycheck was 60.000 IDR hahah Then my second job I got because a friend of mine wanted to take an English course in a place and we were asking the boss/manager about the prices yet he ended up interviewing me in English and asked me Grammar questions which fortunately I could answer correctly (ofc, I was and I am still a grammar freak wkwk)

Then he eventually said this, "Nah, kamu ngapain les lagi? Udah pinter kamu. Jadi asisten saya mau ga? Kebetulan sy memang sdg nyari asisten. Saya gaji 500 ribu sebulan. Gimana?"

Mr. J, almarhum, a smart and casual guy, my first real boss, very adventurous and full of freedom. So yeah, my friend paid on the spot for her course, I got the job😆 I loved this job so so so very much. That was my first time being exposed to Bule, most of them are native speakers of English. My job description was mostly driving the Bules around, feeding them local food, well, talking and assisting them with teaching equipment they needed. I even cleaned the office, like literally sweeping, mopping, all of those. Again, it was fun.

And then at the same time, I was doing my teaching internship in a boarding school and again, I took over some of the "real" teachers classes because she was busy with some other things. Sometimes she asked me to check hundreds of students' tasks and input the grades etc and she'd pay me weekly even though I always said, "But this is my internship, it's not paid." And every time she'd answer, "You've done more than the PPL syllabus."

Next thing, I vaguely remember how it happened but obviously someone offered me a girl's dormitory supervisor job, "You can live here for free, we pay you almost 6 million every 3 months. And the job is simple, just watch the girls in dormitory. Wdys?"

Yeah, I bought a bike and moved to the school the following day. And starting that month, with my 5 part time jobs (manager's assistant at Mr. J's, translation project, private teaching, this dormitory supervisor job + I wrote 2 articles per day for a fresh website at that time) I earned 5-7 million per month and still asked my parents and sister for my monthly allowance, what a bish right? :) I know, I know, you can and must judge me cz seriously, ever since all that, I always think that money is my goal in life. Every day money, money, moneyyyy wkwk. I work so freaking hard to get it, I can spend it on whatever I want (mostly food, food, and food + a bunch of entertainment fees🙃).

That's why after graduating from uni, it was hard for me to find a job with minimum standard pay of 7 million, bcz now, yeah, it's all about money cz apparently your parents and neighbors expect you to be an adult. And an adult, he takes care of himself in all aspects of life including financial one. But nah, I was a fresh graduate who graduated from a C-accredited university in Sumatra, and I expected to be paid that much for this job: teaching. That didn't work out ofc! Wkkw This is Indonesia, most teachers are underpaid! Well, I could've worked in Jakarta, I was offered a bit more of 7 million at that time, but I hate Jakarta, no offence but big  and crowded cities are just not places for me:)

Long story short, I worked in Russia as a CS and definitely was paid even triple of my expectation. When I came back to Indonesia and started to teach English again in a well-known English course, I got not even Monica's standard and the boss said, "that's the rate for Indonesian, in this city, it's considered super high already fyi"

2 years kinda well spent in Lombok, I came back to Russia, same city, same country and here, I'm paid equal to even higher that real native English speakers. Why? Here's what I've been observing: - I don't have any accents, and here, it's more than enough to be considered "international teacher". - I have the knowledge of course lol - But the most important thing is that, all of these 10+ years of teaching, managing, supervising etc, and obviously so so many learnings and making mistakes kinda events, I have been trained to be able to teach in the most fun and communicative way possible. That's why teachers with TEFL, TESOL certification, they are paid higher. Even really really high if you have passed CELTA exam. Well, I have TEFL, it was a piece of cake lol Planning to take CELTA but even to take the exam you've gotta pay seharga umroh paket GOLD😂 So yeah, I need to go umroh first lah. Aamiin😆

So I know, I know how hard it is to be a teacher in Indonesia. "Pahlawan tanpa tanda jasa", that's totally true! It doesn't matter how much we r paid, it won't be able to pay each and every effort we make to educate hundreds even thousands of students. Teachers are the second parents of every group of children, sometimes we are their only home. Coba deh ngajar di pedalaman atau low income districts, you will feel how it is to be a real teacher. You either truly do your best or do nothing at all, because it's difficult. Difficult to explain to the students how important it is for them to pay attention, how essential education is. It's hard to convince the parents not to let their children work and send them to school instead. It's challenging to teach them because most of them don't really know how to behave. It's not comfortable to sleep on the floor and not to be able to see cars every day and so on, many more. So yeah, hats off to these people who dedicate themselves to educate the less fortunate, they are true teachers, may God grant them what they deserve in this life and afterlife.

-Mong

[drawlfoy]

Yeah lmao, we have 8 subjects in total, 2 papers for each of our 3 core subjects, and 2 composite papers :') I have atleast a day or two between each paper so that's kinda a relief(?). Literally my only focus rn is scoring in my core papers idc about the rest😭😭😭😭😭😭

I have Pol.Sci on 4th lol I haven't started it though. Yeah this sem ends a bit early as next sem it's grad year and the whole focus will be on our Majors selection/placement so I'll be pretty much done by this time next month

Whoa second week of May!! So you'll still have another 2 years until you graduate right? As a comp.sci major? idk, one of my friends is doing comp.sci and she graduates a year after all us other friends do lmao. How is comp.sci otherwise? Easier than pol?

i’m literally sweating reading this. 2 papers a class??? are they at least short??

also how long have you been at uni?? are you in a 4 year program? this is v exciting that you’re graduating soon hehe congratulations!!! you’re almost done!

yes 😭😭 at least next sem i’ll be in paris so i can have a bit of a break!! cs classes are very very fun and high key easier than polisci. idk the content is less intuitive but the department is more lenient as a result (and also it’s just basically solving puzzles all day rn which is fun). never thot i’d be a stem major but here i am 😭😭

[valeriemperez]

In last night episode of TF Iris again said “we are the flash” and now I’m beginning to wonder if there is more meaning to that than simply being a loving, inclusive sentiment between these two. Maybe this setting the stage for something they will have to do together? What do you think about this statement being made again?

I like the idea that it’s setting the stage for something bigger, and that makes sense because otherwise it’s kind of an odd line to repeat. Much like the Thinker is “nothing without” the Mechanic, I’m sure he will come to view The Flash the same way.

During the Westallen Wedding trend next week can we also add positive things about Iris b/c after last nights episode I see all the fanboys are coming after Iris & Candice again?

Of course!

I feel really confused about the Devoes’ dynamic. The last episode framed them as an epic, equal power couple a la Westallen, but then looking at scenes from previous episodes she always looked so subservient when they’re in supervillain mode. It’s a little gross tbh. Are they trying to course correct or something?

I read it more as him being really cranky all the time, lol. She would snipe back at him and say her piece about what they should do, but let it go when he went all smart-ass on her. I don’t know if it’s course-correction because no one complained about it publicly before, but it might be opening the door to other layers of their dynamic. We were supposed to think she was his assistant until the reveal that they’re actually husband and wife.

Tati! Did you see the spoilers? Do you really think it’s Dawn or possibly Jenni? I don’t think Tv guide would point this out if it was just some random girl. They probably know something. If it is Dawn why do you think she’s there? Do you think there could be a storyline in S5 with her, Don and/or Bart? I have a hard time believing the writers would actually show Dawn just for a cute Easter egg. There has to be a reason behind it.

I think it’s Dawn because of all the baby hints, and I hope it’s her because Jenni should be darker-skinned. I think she’s literally just there to see her parents get married, but I do expect her to return at some point before the season ends. Jessica Parker Kennedy may not be a household name, but she’s not being cast for a one-off cameo either. I still expect her first or middle name to be “Nora,” and for her presence to eventually tie back to the “Nora shouldn’t be here” line.

@eboniangelvibez said:

Have you seen the TV Guide article about the x-over: Keep your eye out for an adorably awkward caterer who approaches Barry to help calm any pre-wedding Jitters…Could it be WA’s daughter Nora? Or dare I hope Jenni Ognats

I did, and I think she’ll be Dawn!

Love your parallel gifs of WestAllen and DeMachine. This is going to be a battle of the minds! Do you think the writers remember that Iris has a Master’s Degree in Criminal Psychology? Because, now is the time to put it to use. Social Science is needed first before the team could use science to build the cerebral inhibitor.

Cool choice for a ship name! I wish they would remember she has a Master’s of any kind, but I’m not gonna hold my breath. I would love her to use her skills to learn and understand more about the Thinker and Mechanic, though.

Rewatching the opening scene where DeVoe was trying to teach and my God! Can students be THAT inattentive? When I was in college, only like ¼ of students in all of my classes were on their phones and tablets. DeVoe should have failed all of them right there, because why bother show up to class? 😄

Sadly they can. Totally understand why he turned to villainy, lol.

After watching last night’s episode and reading the synopsis for 4x09, I feel that DeVoe would capture Barry and see if Iris is willing to go far to save him. But we also have a kidnapped CS. So if Iris were to get CS first, DeVoe would be like “Looks like your love isn’t strong enough after all”.

His plan probably involves trying to sever WA’s bond, yeah. I hope Iris surprises him.

So many parallels with Marvoe and Westallen. This could get interesting.

Can’t wait!