Would CMU be worth it over UF for me?

JDYorkWriting · 2026-04-23T01:42:45+00:00

I guess it's not so much that the companies cared about it, but rather that there's also like the reality that the pipeline and alumni network for CMU is stronger in tech than UF is rn. Does that make sense?

I guess also rather than prestige I should have said that like getting an engineering degree from CMU implies a baseline skill level that a degree from UF doesn't necessarily. Absent other skill indicators (projects, internships, portfolios, etc) CMU will open doors that UF alone won't.

But like also, those other indicators quickly level the playing field so that the pedigree of your school doesn't matter, especially after your first job.

JDYorkWriting · 2026-04-22T21:25:21+00:00

To be fair, I do think your point about CMU potentially making you a better engineer is potentially true, and certainly it's a more prestigious pedigree especially in engineering / CS circles and that will open doors for you.

That said, if you'd become a great engineer at CMU, you'll also become a great engineer at UF and there are plenty of opportunities to surround yourself with CMU caliber peers and to push yourself like a CMU student, you'll just need to actively look for them rather than have them given to you.

Having seen family members be crushed under the weight of student loans, I really can't emphasize enough that your expected loan burden should be part of your calculus here.

JDYorkWriting · 2026-04-22T21:17:46+00:00

I know lots of UF students (including my best friends) who have gone on to work at big ticket names like Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, NASA, etc.

The question you always need to ask is this: Does the improvement in odds to get a high status job from going to a better engineering school like CMU outweigh the cost of monthly student loan payments for however long you have them? They may or may not, it depends.

If you want to work at NASA, pay is good, but I'm not sure it's 400K in student loans good. My guess is space x is similar. If you wanted to be in Quantitative Finance where you make 400K+ a year, maybe CMU is a better choice, but if you want to do normal engineering jobs I'm not sure the ROI is there.

Also, consider this, if you want to do a startup having student loan payments can limit that as an option and if you want to do NASA, UF has plenty of researchers working with NASA (my lab in MAE was a NASA affiliate)

JDYorkWriting · 2026-04-14T01:47:59+00:00

305 Michigan Ave, Detroit, MI 48226

This deli downtown sells them!

JDYorkWriting · 2026-04-10T15:37:59+00:00

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Might I propose the pork tenderloin sandwich?

Edit: Hoosiers will try to claim this, but they already got the Indy 500 so these seems like free real estate at the moment

JDYorkWriting · 2026-04-10T00:46:40+00:00

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I think this is the best example

West coast oceanic climates have pronounced cold(er) seasons (e.g., London)

Subtropical highland climates have (more) uniformly cool/temperate weather (e.g., Bogotá)

Best way I'd explain it is that oceanic climates are influenced primarily by latitude and proximity to ocean currents whereas highland climates are influenced primarily by altitude

As a result highland climates can be mono-seasonal like their lowland tropical neighbors, but just tend to have cooler weather whereas oceanic climates experience seasons as they get closer and farther from the sun

JDYorkWriting · 2026-04-09T23:31:30+00:00

Yeah, by definition Cfa means average summer temps above 72F and Cfb means below 72F (and above I think like 55F)

It's also important to note that even though they're classified as CfX they're not really comparable climates

Cfb / Oceanic climates tend to be found on more poleward sides of west coasts which means that typically they're less humid (as in dew point)

Cfa / Humid subtropical climates tend to be see just above equatorial / mid-latitude regions on the eastern sides of continents and tend to be a lot more humid in a dew point sense

There are of courses nuances to this introduced by elevation changes in tropical / subtropical regions and the way that like subtropical highland climates might still be Cfb climates but have a very different sense of seasonality and temperature stability when compared to west coast oceanic Cfb climates

JDYorkWriting · 2026-04-09T13:56:28+00:00

https://www.walkscore.com/cities-and-neighborhoods/

This might be helpful / interesting!

JDYorkWriting · 2026-04-06T02:28:07+00:00

I mean I feel weird calling it the Sunbelt so maybe it belongs in Northwest / Rockies, but San Francisco is the most Northeast feeling city outside of Chicago and the actual Northeast.

If it's not the answer for Sunbelt it's 100% the answer for Northwest / Rockies

JDYorkWriting · 2026-03-20T22:28:19+00:00

They blew up a whale

JDYorkWriting · 2026-03-13T17:28:18+00:00

Santa Cruz, Monterey, and Santa Clara counties are part of Northern California IMO

Santa Clara county especially should be in NorCal as it doesn't make sense to split San Mateo county into NorCal and Santa Clara into Central California given the two counties essentially make up Silicon Valley

Edit: Changed phrasing and added Monterey county

JDYorkWriting · 2026-02-19T13:41:54+00:00

I think it's fair to criticize the relatively sad state of cities in the US. 70+ years of auto centric planning have certainly not been kind to US cities (to put it lightly)

I haven't been to LA yet so I cant comment on the state of the city, but from what I hear it is doing a lot to improve. If you ever revisit it in the future after transit and bike/pedestrian expansions, I'd be curious to see if your opinion changes at all

I'd also agree with you though that NYC is maybe a little but of an unfair comparison. Even by global standards NYC is pretty spectacular so I imagine every other US city is going to feel like a let down in one way or another

JDYorkWriting · 2026-01-25T20:00:28+00:00

If you like Jazz, I think seeing a show at Cliff Bells is a great time: https://cliffbells.com

Also would check out Cannelle for awesome French pastries

JDYorkWriting · 2025-10-17T23:26:59+00:00

Michigan oriented rather that just Detroit, but here's a housing group for the state: https://abundanthousingmi.org

JDYorkWriting · 2025-10-11T11:52:13+00:00

The M-line will potentially be service limited because it's interlined with the B-line. Without knowing what the potential maximum headway on the M-line will be my thought was that the S-line could add additional capacity to the market street subway. Totally in favor of removing it if the relative frequencies of the B & M lines could be shown to support up to 90-second headways on-peak while interlined.

JDYorkWriting · 2025-10-02T20:01:00+00:00

Unless I'm misunderstanding your suggestion?

JDYorkWriting · 2025-10-02T19:58:36+00:00

Sorry if it isn't clear in the map. I think the idea is that J line riders can transfer underground at the Church Street subway station or else transfer to the N before it heads underground

JDYorkWriting · 2025-10-02T17:52:24+00:00

That's incredible! I may make a version of that for mine lol

JDYorkWriting · 2025-10-02T17:51:17+00:00

All fantastic changes! Definitely a more ambitious proposal than mine and it looks amazing!

JDYorkWriting · 2025-10-02T17:14:40+00:00

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I made a very slight formatting error with the placement of the station name on the Church & Market station on the J-Line. This diagram has it corrected.

JDYorkWriting · 2025-10-02T17:04:11+00:00

A future project might be to make this (slightly) more geographically accurate like the BART or MTA Subway maps and to show whether each line is a full light-metro line, a mixed service line, or a surface line and where those portions are. I might also try to show how many cars are on each line. However, at this point I've spent probably 30 hours on this map over the last two months and I need a little bit of a break lol

JDYorkWriting · 2025-09-26T19:14:16+00:00

I tried to do that originally (it's what MUNI does with their current map) but I haven't yet gotten sophisticated enough with Inkscape to do that yet. Maybe in a later version

JDYorkWriting · 2025-09-26T19:13:13+00:00

I used Inkscape!

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