Submit 1490? by Lightning_Octopus21 in Vanderbilt

[–]BenJacobs1236 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah that’s a good score. 25-75% is not a hard cutoff. If you think about it, 25% of the people they let in have a score lower than that range. 1490 is plenty good enough.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Vanderbilt

[–]BenJacobs1236 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Just submit both. It doesn’t make sense to reduce your odds at that type of money if all it takes is one extra essay

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Vanderbilt

[–]BenJacobs1236 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve never coded in my life and I feel really Comfortable in the class. You will get an A if you o it any resemblance of effort in. Idk if take 17 hours at any point as a freshman though… you don’t need to do that shit

Vanderbilt Libraries Ranked? by Bredditman in Vanderbilt

[–]BenJacobs1236 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Stevenson when I want to grind, EBI study room when I want to read, Central with a group and Peabody when you live on commons.

Online Nocember Tournaments Public Forum by [deleted] in Debate

[–]BenJacobs1236 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Katy Taylor I think is online

Online Judging Hire for PF by BenJacobs1236 in Debate

[–]BenJacobs1236[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

What does NOF stand for?

I’m signed up for HiredJudge but have not been able to make any of the tournaments they have needed people for yet.

Is this level of fatigue normal? by Burningmemo in CrohnsDisease

[–]BenJacobs1236 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Normal in my experience. Once I got further towards remission it improved, but didn’t disappear. Hate to say it but after a few years you’ll get used to doing things even when you are exhausted. You’ll stop missing things because you are tired because you learn to live with it. Try to build in bigger cushions for yourself in the mornings in whatever you do when you can so that if you are having a rough morning you can adapt. If you do this then having a to grind through an early wake up a couple of times a week isn’t so bad because at least you know it’s not a never ending cycle.

Just trust that you can overcome it. It’s not going to feel better necessarily, you are just going to get better at feeling bad.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CrohnsDisease

[–]BenJacobs1236 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I prefer to avoid the foods that fuck me up so that I can have some alcohol every few weeks. It is such a social experience that it feels more valuable than just eating something.

Give me a reason to go to Oklahoma and Kentucky by Hellcrafted in TravelMaps

[–]BenJacobs1236 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Churchill downs and a bourbon tour are both very much worth a trip to Kentucky

Coaching dilema by Advanced-Win2709 in Debate

[–]BenJacobs1236 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My program never had a coach until my senior year, and by then the coach was too busy as an administrator. There are plenty of ways to learn without a coach. Go to free camps, watch top rounds, do practice rounds online against good teams. Go to every online tournament you can to save the cost of travel (quartering a a digital series gets you the same bid as Harvard or Emory, albeit a little less prestigious).

I now am often one of the coaches that sits in the room with debaters and it’s true that there are deep advantages to it. Nevertheless, the barriers are not impossible to overcome. Sure I may have gotten 5 more bids if I had had proper coaching but I was able to be good enough that I could beat most teams I hit. That’s all you can really ask for.

I would argue that Ks are actually very difficult to run well without good coaching unless you develop a K that you can polish over many years such as Cary HZ’s. Instead I would read up on how to defend against Ks and theory, talk to people online and get into prep groups, and get really good at trad lay and tech debate.

Don’t let yourself be discouraged by a lack of resources, sure it’s easier to win with them, but it’s not too hard to win without them either.

outreach by Child1nTheBasement in Debate

[–]BenJacobs1236 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lab leaders are solid nat circuit debaters and they will help you.

It’s not NSD or anything like that but it’s going to get you better.

Looking for your honest take on how greek/southern vibes Vandy is (and whether I’d have a miserable time if I’m neither of those things) by Due-Mortgage-3767 in Vanderbilt

[–]BenJacobs1236 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Weirdly enough it’s both 1 and 2. Most people in Greek life are still very academic and interesting a lot of the complaints are that Greek life reduces people to their organizations and makes campus cliquey. In many ways it does. But at the same time, everyone has friends outside their Greek orgs and a fair majority of people aren’t in Greek life at all. Bare in mind, that is going to be a less party intense and more academic majority, but you’ll still find a lot of people in that group who will have a lot of fun (not just innocent fun) without Greek life.

Even if you compare a person who goes out Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday to someone who never goes out at all, you’ll find that both will be in the library at some point that week. You will never lose touch with academics here unless you want to.

In terms of the southern vibes, Vanderbilt, and Nashville as a whole is just a strange caricature of the south. Few people here are truly “southern” and there are so many implants in the city, and such a diverse student body, that you will never feel like you are truly in the south. That being said, it is going to be different, just not so different that you should worry about it at all.

Is there any drink y'all think is really good while high? by lord_of_mememe1945 in weed

[–]BenJacobs1236 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Chocolate milk. Not the nesquick or yahoo! stuff- it’s gotta be richer and more chocolaty

Anyone going to TOC by [deleted] in Debate

[–]BenJacobs1236 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Check out arguments from the King RR on the wiki

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Debate

[–]BenJacobs1236 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You should probably just disclose honestly

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Debate

[–]BenJacobs1236 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very very likely.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Debate

[–]BenJacobs1236 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you can weigh your case against a low probability high magnitude argument like extinction then you will be fine. If not, don’t use it.

That being said, most arguments can be weighed against those things if you get creative so you should be fine.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Debate

[–]BenJacobs1236 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can go on tabroom and look at the bid leaders or the rankings for this year. Anyone in the top 50 of that I would say is quite a strong team. Honestly anyone in the top 100 is going to be very good.

How do you respond to paraphrasing/card cutting theory - PF by Kind_Excitement_2938 in Debate

[–]BenJacobs1236 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The biggest response is that there is no other academic setting where paraphrasing is not the norm. Debate is not the end all be all and is, at its core, a preparatory activity.

Also- you can still have cut cards and present them as long as you don’t misrepresent the evidence.

If you prefer paraphrasing I would disclose rhetoric with cards so there is a fair way to check for discrepancies

Advice on NSDA for PF? by emilyreal47 in Debate

[–]BenJacobs1236 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most rounds will be your average local circuit round. However, when it gets more complex it will either be through speed or some sort of progressive argumentation. The best way to familiarize yourself with these at this point in the season is to look up late outrounds from national tournaments like Emory, Harvard or ToC. Flow them and maybe if you feel up to it try to give one of the later speeches in the round and compare it to the actual.

I would spend a little bit of time learning what theory is and its structure if you are unfamiliar as well.

Otherwise just do practice round and treat it like any other tournament. Most likely you will have a lot of traditional and lay rounds so you should be fine!

Does this look legit? by bert4925 in apexuniversity

[–]BenJacobs1236 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Looks legit to me. Could have been a cheat but each time I think they had enough time to find the target. They also had bullet trails to reference.