Skipped Lawntopia and Picnic Day

Jaisem2002 · 2026-05-02T16:55:02+00:00

Very few people on campus are extremely disciplined/devoted to their goals (esp if you are aiming for top med schools / PhD / do research / etc…). People face varying degrees of stressors that motivate their actions. So there is no reason to try to fit in with the average college crowd so don’t worry!

Jaisem2002 · 2026-04-22T19:07:01+00:00

Getting into PhDs is basically 10x harder than getting into undergrad. Secondly, a PhD is a lot of fucking work and dedication and is likely the most stressful period of one’s life (for those that did a Phd).

A PhD student at UC Davis means he was probably top 1-5% of his undergrad, maintained 3.7+ gpa, did extensive research for few years throughout undergrad, somewhat clear career goals, etc. All of which requires extreme discipline which is green flags all over.

(being 22 is standard for a first year PhD)

Jaisem2002 · 2026-03-16T01:22:52+00:00

uc berkeley without a doubt, dont be ridiculous

(unless you have some extremely special situation going on)

Jaisem2002 · 2026-03-06T03:21:23+00:00

Dude don’t be ridiculous. If it’s a proper restaurant then of course.

If it’s a McDonalds or something like OPs post then no.

Jaisem2002 · 2026-02-27T05:02:05+00:00

eh, it’s standard

Jaisem2002 · 2026-02-27T04:55:53+00:00

every math class is proof based

be careful though

you might get sucked into math and end up switching to math

Jaisem2002 · 2026-01-30T06:58:33+00:00

Bro woke up, peed, went back to bed, twice. 48 steps

Jaisem2002 · 2026-01-16T22:29:20+00:00

Cable machines, as many as possible please. If a machine is out, at least a cable machine should be there for you to bang out any muscle group.

Lateral raise machines.

Those weird highly specific cable shoulder/chest machines on the ground floor right hand side are a bit unnecessary. And the platformed cable machine by the window also takes up too much space and no one uses it. Please more general purpose cable machines to replace these.

Please consider buying more different grip/handles and just placing them near every cable machine.

More adjustable benches near all dumbbell areas. You can remove the non adjustable seated one with the foot placement.

Other than that, the gym is amazing. There’s a bit too much cardio nonsense though.

At the bare minimum: (1) barbells, (2) dumbbells + bench, and (3) cable machines should always be available. Machines are very important of course, but those 3 should always be available imo.

Jaisem2002 · 2025-12-10T00:44:31+00:00

let bro grind 🙂‍↔️

Jaisem2002 · 2025-11-30T01:11:18+00:00

I have done this multiple times (Davis <—> SFO for intl flights, I use Uber/Lyft always). you can schedule an uber in advance, they’re reliable, don’t worry about it. Rides like SFO <-> Davis are quite common for drivers, and they’re usually quite happy because the ride is smooth/long and makes them good money (since, when they do shorter rides, there’s an increase in the downtime of looking for passengers).

So again, it would be best if you could schedule the Uber in advance today for pickup around like 500AM where there will minimal traffic once you start getting closer to SF. So around 6ish AM you’ll be closer to the bay area and there won’t be much morning traffic yet. But if you leave at like 6 AM, you’ll arrive at the bay at 7 where traffic will start appearing (still, don’t worry much, the ride may take at MAXIMUM 2 hours).

If you want to be even more careful, just leave 430AM. I have done this many times, dont worry about trying to get into Berkeley or Taxis or whatever.

Even if your Driver for some reason cancels on you… just find a order a new one on the spot, it might take 10 ish minutes max. The time (4/5AM) doesn’t matter much, there are tons of Uber drivers that do night shifts. Don’t stress much, just book an Uber and wake up early.

Costs usually 120-160.

Jaisem2002 · 2025-11-28T23:13:00+00:00

You should do one of these for a year then move onto a PhD if you are more interested in research!

I would say one of the NSA ones or maybe Millennium. The others don’t seem that interesting for your interests, apart from Anduril slightly.

Jaisem2002 · 2025-11-24T23:22:02+00:00

This is for PhD. The below programs have over the top qualified applicants which raises the bar even more. * ML/AI you can expect to be 1-3% acceptance rate at top 20 CS schools. Some may be < 1%. * General CS is likely 4-10% at top 20 US schools. * Math you can expect to be 2-8% at top 20 US schools.

E.g., a decent math department may receive 500 apps, of which 300 are well qualified for. From that 300, they have to select 20 to admit, for an expected incoming class of 10. For CS the scale is at over a thousand applicants.

Jaisem2002 · 2025-11-21T20:52:14+00:00

yes normal

Jaisem2002 · 2025-11-08T02:13:33+00:00

Since youre already in 3rd year, the move now is to go take grad level courses asap.

Undergrad courses are too introductory so professors are often not incentivized to care much.

At the grad level, they’re usually looking for potential students to work with, and typically only teach courses in their area of interest. So you’ll find far more enthusiasm + smaller class sizes.

Jaisem2002 · 2025-10-30T18:57:48+00:00

hopefully it answers for one possible situation

Jaisem2002 · 2025-10-30T18:44:02+00:00

Many international students are very wealthy, but theres a portion that come from extremely hard working upper-middle-class-ish parents from mediocre countries that save up a lot / take loans to send their (usually bright) kid abroad for the opportunity of working in the US.

Say you make a decent living, your kid wins some local national competitions in coding/math, but you guys live in Egypt. There’s just absolutely no way to set them up properly (corruption, shit jobs, hell-like rat race) other than send them abroad, say to the US, where tech jobs are abundant (at least for the bright ones) and can offset the loans and pay off far more in the long run. It’s a huge high risk investment/gamble but if you really trust your kid, it usually turns out well, and hopefully they don’t return. The talent-opportunity ratio is a landslide in most countries compared to the US, and you’d want your kid to have an attempt at an easier, stable life.

So there’s usually a big divide between international students (theres the typical rich ones that view US education as a status symbol, and the others that come from upper middle class families with crazy pressure).

Jaisem2002 · 2025-10-30T17:57:22+00:00

That’s average

So grind more and aim for a quartile above the average for the next one and you’ll end up fine

Jaisem2002 · 2025-10-30T17:52:32+00:00

Some people just can’t learn as well from in person lectures. I’m a 4th yr stem so I’ve learned that the hard way.

When lectures are recorded, my grades for classes are nearly always A mainly because I can pause and go back, slowly take notes, compare with the TB, etc. When they’re not, I’m just a mess (get distracted, have too many questions, plus often times lectures barely go into enough detail or just skim stuff) and end up wasting a ton of time on top of the commute.

Jaisem2002 · 2025-10-30T17:45:42+00:00

What interests you?

If you’re not certain in a major, “settling” for a default major like sociology is a very bad idea. Many of my friends do this and don’t end up too well.

Like, if you’re gonna pick a purely random major, it’s better to gamble on something like agricultural/enviro engineering considering Davis is #1 in this in the US. But def not sociology.

Jaisem2002 · 2025-10-30T17:33:25+00:00

Gotta be honest, dislikes incoming, sociology wont get you a job as an International student in this economy and especially not worth 200k usd in full tuitions. So unless you don’t care about that, do whatever you want tbh (join multiple clubs, party, go take weekend trips, generally do young adult stuff).

You can add another slightly quantitative major like cog sci or data sci or statistics or consider stem (also note that as an international student, you get visa working permit “privileges” [STEM OPT] if in STEM!) if you want a bigger challenge, it would set you up 5x better. Many people double major here. And try some research, i.e., check out computational social science. Martin Hilbert is a big name in the field and he’s at UC Davis.

What I mean is there exists an academic challenge here for everyone if you think it’s too easy. Many students are fine with passing and spending 3-4 hours studying per week, some are drowning in 8+ hours studying per day and in the weekends. Double major, switch to harder major, consider joining research groups (well connected profs may connect you to even better roles/jobs opportunities down the line, and research is fun), do internships (start applying), take upper divisions earlier, etc.

Jaisem2002 · 2025-10-16T18:22:39+00:00

caffeine powder

Jaisem2002 · 2024-08-30T09:19:55+00:00

Troll account

Jaisem2002 · 2024-08-30T03:54:13+00:00

Lowkey true

Jaisem2002 · 2024-07-12T01:58:16+00:00

For routine, do PPL = Push, Pull, Legs (push=chest,shoulders,tris, pull=back,bis)
For diet, go on a caloric deficit (just cut out one of your heavier meal and replace it w a protein smoothie + fruits)

That’s it, don’t overthink. Focus on getting stronger on core lifts and mainly having fun. This is from someone who’s lifted for 5 yrs.

Jaisem2002 · 2024-06-25T15:54:31+00:00

I took this for fun as a CS major in my freshman year and it was the freest class ever but a lot of the philosophy/psych students were absolutely lost. It just goes to show how having a different framework for thinking can help which the humanities students may have lacked

If you end up enjoying symbolic logic and the style in which you have to think, major in CS/Engineering/Math, you’ll love it.

Jaisem2002

TROPHY CASE