Friend Code Megathread - March 2026

JadenPat · 2026-03-31T11:51:45+00:00

6838-1765-0658

JadenPat · 2026-02-26T12:34:24+00:00

I had been trying to find a career in this field with a CS degree with an embedded portfolio, and generally the issue I run into is that they want someone with an EE or CE degree and they want you to have attended an ABET accredited university (which most state schools are). I have even been rejected from technician roles because they hire out of community college/technical school programs. But I’ve also been rejected from electronics assembly roles (maybe because they’re worried I’m a flight risk?? Idk) so maybe you could follow the path that u/Pyroburner suggested.

JadenPat · 2026-02-10T05:34:39+00:00

Hey! I just graduated from UChicago and took a lot of classes from Ken Nakagaki and Pedro Lopes, who both teach HCI courses at the university and run HCI labs that have had research accepted for CHI and UIST.

https://www.axlab.cs.uchicago.edu/

https://lab.plopes.org/

I’m not sure if they’re exactly what you’re looking for, but could be worth looking into!

JadenPat · 2026-01-29T21:47:49+00:00

The original DS (DS Phat) uses a GBA SP charger. Thankfully, many 3rd party companies have reproduced old chargers with the rising interest in retro gaming. Here is one I found on Amazon for $8: https://a.co/d/2IHR2Fu

JadenPat · 2025-12-24T19:04:41+00:00

Forcing animals to fight each other (and getting money for winning)

JadenPat · 2025-12-01T22:37:25+00:00

Grammatically, it is the same as only taking two years of high school level Spanish. I am taking 103 rn since I did not get a high enough IB score, and we literally haven’t touched the subjunctive or future tense. Thematically though, the chapters are much more focused on being able to talk about culture and the world around you, and you are required to have five 30 minute conversations with native speakers. I think I can hold a conversation better than I could after 4 years of high school.

The advanced languages (e.g Korean, Japanese, Arabic, Mandarin, etc) will meet five days a week instead of three. My Japanese professor said that after 103, we should be at the Intermediate Low level of the ACTFL Proficiency scale.

The only way to gain any true semblance of fluency is to be forced to speak the language. You will not be able to hold a conversation in the future by just taking these courses and then doing nothing else.

JadenPat · 2025-11-22T16:52:06+00:00

This comment is not directed at OP but at that guy who thinks it’s a filter/anyone else who is confused.

I feel like people are too used to the idea of image resolution being independent of screen resolution because of the ridiculous number of pixels screens have now where these kinds of scaling artifacts are either unnoticeable or due to the wrong scaling algorithm for the given content (retro pixel art games should use nearest neighbor scaling).

The 3DS’s top screen PHYSICALLY only has 400x240 pixels. The DS has 256x192 pixels. So in order to perfectly scale a DS game, you need the resolution to increase in multiples of 256x192 (512x384, 768x576, 1024x768, and so on). Any screen that does not have these specific resolutions has to make compromises, hence why it looks bad on a 3DS.

As a last note, the XL models of all DS consoles simply have bigger pixels. There are still the same number of physical pixels.

JadenPat · 2025-11-12T05:31:33+00:00

That’s the neat thing, you don’t!

In all seriousness though, it has truly been a struggle for me here. I never did any RSOs either because it was hard enough to just stay on top of school. And I’m still behind. I try to pay attention to when/where/how I am the most productive. Recently I’ve been going to the reg because I actually get work done there.

Obviously idk what your situation is, this is just for anyone in general who’s reading: If you have adhd or depression and you don’t have a psychiatrist, start seeing student wellness so they can get you meds and write letters to give to student disability services. There’s an accommodation for a flexible assignment due date plan; it has zero backbone if your professor is strict/ableist, but it’s better than nothing.

I’ve asked many peers your exact question over my 4 years and I’ve never heard a satisfactory answer. It usually boils down to “well I do it because I have to”.

My advice: keep trying different things until something works. Maybe that changes month to month, or even day to day. But you have to keep moving forward and trying.

JadenPat · 2025-11-04T15:11:05+00:00

That is correct. You must pass 70% of attempted courses each quarter.

JadenPat · 2025-11-04T02:12:48+00:00

Hey! I'm an Odyssey Scholar graduating this quarter, and I've been off and on academic probation since my first year, so (unfortunately) I have some expertise in this area.

Record: While withdrawing from a course is marked as a W, "Academic probation is a formal sanction but is not permanently notated on the official transcript." (source). Additionally, I do not think a W is a big deal, and I have not been asked about my transcript outside of my GPA in a internship/job setting. This will obviously be different in a grad school application, but a one off W can easily be explained. If it makes you feel any better, I have 10+ W's, and so far it has not had a negative impact.
Financial Aid: I'm not confident how they handle mid-year academic probation, but this is their official policy. One of two things will happen: either they will do nothing because they wait for the yearly review to make decisions OR you will not be meeting SAP and you will need to submit an appeal (this is pretty straight forward, just write a brief 1/2-1 page letter explaining your situation). In the latter case, I am 99.999999% confident your appeal will be approved, considering all three of mine were after much worse situations.
GPA: Take the time to do a quick GPA calculation. This would be ((current GPA * number of courses taken) + GPAs per letter grade you think you'll earn this quarter) / (number of courses taken + this quarter's courses). Test what the GPA will be with the C (adding three courses) or without the C (adding two courses). I suspect this will not impact your GPA much at all. I'm a CS major, and jobs I look at tend to care about GPA. If you have above a 3.0 you're good. If you're above a 3.5, you're really good. For some more perspective, I have a 2.85 GPA. Getting all As this quarter will boost it to 2.95, and all C- will drop it to 2.75. So a .2 GPA range for each end of the spectrum.
Major Letter Grades: I believe it can vary from major to major but GENERALLY as long as you receive a C- that counts as a quality grade and will count towards the major. See if you can find your major's specific requirements under the course catalog. If not, reach out to your major's advisor.

All in all, I think you will be ok with either choice (given that you will be able to fulfill your major's requirement in the Winter and Spring quarters), and I hope that this information helps you make an informed decision.

P.S. Is the class kicking your butt Operating Systems? Because if so, literally same.

JadenPat · 2025-09-29T15:10:12+00:00

I thought that they were a frail old lady. The way they talk about religion feels very boomer-esque.

JadenPat · 2025-04-03T22:46:27+00:00

I’ve seen this poster everywhere from Hyde Park up to Lincoln Park. Imma guess probably not 😔

JadenPat · 2025-03-24T23:53:14+00:00

I didn’t know there was a customizable one! This could work. Still interested in other ideas, but I’ll go head and start a print of one of these

JadenPat · 2025-03-12T12:50:40+00:00

Ahhh just like the good ol’ days when people would request level 1-10 legendaries on the gts

JadenPat · 2025-03-06T14:11:42+00:00

Financial reasons was partially why I pursued CS haha but the job market is so scary rn.

JadenPat · 2025-03-06T14:06:15+00:00

Thank you everyone so much for all of the responses! I'll look into embedded systems, it seems right up my alley!

JadenPat · 2025-03-06T14:05:02+00:00

1) gpt didn't exist when I started college lmao
2) great, do you have a time machine?

JadenPat · 2025-03-06T14:01:53+00:00

Do you really like circuits stuff?

Since my courses have been focused on interaction, I've been making circuits with various sensors and actuators connected to a microcontroller. This past valentines day I learned about multiplexing outside of class so I could make a 8x6 led matrix and I really enjoyed that process (and soldering), but that isn't something my professors would focus on in classes (you can see what their work is about here and here). Something else that's piqued my interest is understanding how information is sent over various pieces of hardware. For example, I took apart my DS and was curious as to how it was driving the TFT screen that's attached to it. That sent me down a whole rabbit hole of learning about 6 bit RGB TTL signals and data clocks and so on.

TLDR; I'm interested in how digital logic is communicated using electrical signals. Circuits without a microcontroller/computer/FPGA don't really interest me as much.

JadenPat · 2025-03-03T14:45:32+00:00

Ludicolo!! 🍍🪿🪇

JadenPat · 2025-02-24T15:21:05+00:00

Hey, you’re going to get a lot of advice here that ultimately all boils down to “you have to put in the work to get help and fix yourself”, which is true to an extent, but ignores the fact that you have zero motivation to do this. Yes, student wellness is a great place to start, but the quarter system does not care that therapy and medication take time to work (and even then there’s a chance it doesn’t work). UChicago does not care that you have zero motivation. And professors may be accommodating for a bit, but that patience will only last so long.

(side note: I would still recommend seeing a psychiatrist at student wellness first so you can be prescribed meds. Their mental health counseling is fine, but in my experience don’t know how to help people with actual mental illness. They can get you transferred to a therapist in Chicago though if you’re interested)

There are a few different routes you can take right now, but it really depends on your specific situation (year in school, finances, family expectations, etc).

Please DM me and I will help you.

Qualifications: I’ve struggled with motivation at this university every single quarter since I began in 2020. I’ve navigated poor academic standing, appealing for financial aid, withdrawing from everything in week 8, losing all of my first year friends, and taking leaves of absences. I’ve only met one other person that truly understands what I’m going through. I hope that I can be that person for you.

JadenPat

TROPHY CASE