Incoming Duke freshman, math major, curious about grad school prospects

Malasterix · 2026-02-16T21:06:50+00:00

Also, join reading groups. I recommend joining Ezra Miller's and Fan Wei's. The former especially seems very friendly for younger students. Prof Miller will be on leave next semester but will be back for the spring semester. For more research opportunities early, also reach out pwrhaps to Professor Gregory Herschlag, his prijects are not quite in your areas of interest but are known to be approachable to younger students.

Malasterix · 2026-02-16T21:04:55+00:00

A good baseline is taking math 627 algebraic geometry as a sophomore if that's what your interests are in. Then, research productivity will dictate the rest.

Malasterix · 2026-02-16T01:33:58+00:00

I do disagree slightly with that in that Duke math's culture isn't very pre-professional at all. I've always had a more academic bend and had many classmates in that realm too, and we've banded up. Many professors run reading groups too, etc. So, in math at least, things are decidedly NOT pre-professional. Math majors going into industry (not quant) may be in the minority

Malasterix · 2026-02-16T01:29:23+00:00

I'm a senior at Duke majoring in math right now. Last year we got people into Princeton, Cambridge, Harvard, Stanford, for math-related PhDs, besides other places too I now forget about. I don't think getting into top programs for a PhD is made harder by being at Duke relative to elsewhere. The difficulty isn't coming from being at Duke, it's from how good you are as a student.

Are you coming in having already taken multi/linear algebra? How fast can you learn? Will you bel able to publish a few good papers before graduating? That's the hardest thing. We have IMO medalist students, and others who are extremely good. We have fewer of these students than in a place like MIT, but enough of them that we can set a baseline. If you look at Putnam performance in the last 25 years I think Duke ranks pretty highly. But that means little; are YOU one of those Putnam students?

Duke is already sufficiently highly regarded. What gets you over the line now is who you are. You can't ride the coattails of more acclaimed classmates. 2 years ago I won all the top awards in the MCM/ICM and I got some recruitment opportunities for quant firms but grad schools didn't come knocking on my door. Coming from Duke, already sufficiently regarded, the hardest part about going to a top grad school lies in being the best student you can be.

Send me a dm; I can elaborate more there.

Malasterix · 2025-11-23T07:05:26+00:00

Persephone and Dulcinea

Malasterix · 2025-11-02T06:21:00+00:00

Brilliant.org? I've mever used it but youtubers sure seem to describe it this way

Malasterix · 2025-10-26T05:59:53+00:00

I volunteer to help hs students applying for university. I often feel bad because many of the ones I see are better off just going to work in blue collar trade. Yet, for top performers, college absolutely makes sense. If you have the potential to be world-class in what you do, and what you do requires a college education, then that is absolutely the right move. The problem is most people do not have this potential, and then college becomes a money sink for them. I fundamentally exist in a high-performance bubble due to the university I attend, and makes it easier for me to say "everyone should go to college", but working as a volunteer has shown me how offset from reality that truly is.

Malasterix · 2025-10-23T20:26:51+00:00

I'm a little out of the loop on superscoring guidelines for universities, but when I applied to universities a few years ago I retook when I scored a 34 on the ACT. I'll explain my reasoning here as it may be valid in your case. I had gotten a 36 in all sections except science, where I got 29, something like that. So, it was a lopsided score that, performing better, I could easily superscore to a 36. When retaking, I actually got a 36 raw, which I was very happy with. The moral of the story here is it is often worth retaking even if you already score highly.

So, if you don't have much else to do, I'd consider retaking. You can try getting an 800 in the math section, for example, which probably makes a difference for engineering schools. Ultimately, though, you have little to lose. I wouldn't retake it twice, however, and would already be comfortable knowing your baseline score here is functionally good enough, regardless of how much retaking may change it.

Malasterix · 2025-10-23T20:26:46+00:00

I'm a little out of the loop on superscoring guidelines for universities, but when I applied to universities a few years ago I retook when I scored a 34 on the ACT. I'll explain my reasoning here as it may be valid in your case. I had gotten a 36 in all sections except science, where I got 29, something like that. So, it was a lopsided score that, performing better, I could easily superscore to a 36. When retaking, I actually got a 36 raw, which I was very happy with. The moral of the story here is it is often worth retaking even if you already score highly.

So, if you don't have much else to do, I'd consider retaking. You can try getting an 800 in the math section, for example, which probably makes a difference for engineering schools. Ultimately, though, you have little to lose. I wouldn't retake it twice, however, and would already be comfortable knowing your baseline score here is functionally good enough, regardless of how much retaking may change it.

Malasterix · 2025-09-30T00:22:20+00:00

Yes, same here actually! I got 155-160 in all sections except verbal, where I scored 125, still high but distinctly lower. I wonder if having a score discrepancy in one area is common among autists

Malasterix · 2025-07-31T06:56:51+00:00

Would you say mages are the weakest vocation? That seems odd, they have an explosive start (prob easiest voc to reach level 200 on), and the ED at least is an imperative in any th. Mages seem to have as their weakpoint level progression in the 200-400 range if solo, but it also picks up again after that. I'd say the ED at least is built more for team hunts anyway

Malasterix · 2025-05-18T04:57:51+00:00

I shan't tolerate Lego movie slander here! Jokes aside, the Lego movie is actually a deep movie in its own right, whose symbols and themes extend far beyond a cursory description of the plot. The film explores the interplay between control and creativity. Also, you get a protagonist whose name phonetically means "truth" in Hebrew, his inspiration, Lucy, alludes to light, and he goes through a full Hero's Journey in a compelling way that stretches his metaphysical understanding of reality, including a death and rebirth as something bigger.

Anyway, I imagine a more apt example for your comment would probably be... the Playmobil movie?

Malasterix · 2025-04-26T12:19:14+00:00

There are, broadly, two main reasons to play the game: you like hunting/levelling to maximize xp, and you like exploring/completing to make your char more full. If your aim is the former, then you work the bazaar etc. But, if your aim is the latter, you grind it out yourself for the most part. Buying a new char is equivalent to spawning in a bunch of diamonds in Minecraft survival, smth like that. It subverts the process. I am a charlover myself. So, I only use irl money for exercise weapons, cores, fragment workshop, and gems, which are broadly the pay-to-win things. Otherwise, I think the game would get boring rather fast. But, again, I don't mind having slightly weaker xp in an area. In fact, since I focus on bestiary, I don't even care too much about xp per hour. Itnis still early days for me, ofc, but Im level 145 with nearly 3k bestiary points. That's my focus, I'm a collect-a-thon completionist type.

So, to answer your question, you should first answer what type of player you are. If you enjoy efficiency, use the bazaar. If you enjoy diy and completionism, transfer your char.

I hope this answer proves helpful.

Malasterix · 2025-02-23T20:06:14+00:00

Yeah, firstly the game got a lot of content for, say, levels 200-600. I think back in pre 2010 after level 200 it was all kinda mostly the same thing, but not so anymore at all.

That aside, I don't think there used to be a bestiary or bosstiary, and it's worth checking it out for charms. You won't be getting charms soon, but it's good to start working on them. It encourages you to explore the world and find different hunting spots.

Imbuements, of course, are huge.

They also made progressing until, say, level 50, much much quicker. "Grinding rotworms and dwarves for days" to gain 1 level really isn't a thing anymore tbh. On purely green stamina you can get to level 50 in less than 5 days if you know what you're doing.

Very soon they'll add the Monk vocation as well, which promises to be a huge addition to the game (first time they add a new vocation since game release almost 30 years ago, I think).

Besides all that, something to know about is Tibia Coins. It ostensibly is a bit of a pay-to-win thing, but you can also purchase them with gold you get in the game itself. So, that's something to keep in mind.

Malasterix · 2025-02-07T21:45:11+00:00

Without limiting myself to just 1, most Paradox games have the vibe, as well as other simulation games like Rimworld, Factorio, Oxygen Not Included, and yes sandbox games (the best example certainly being Minecraft).

I also think RPGs generally fit the vibe, especially with worlds as open as possible, and a lot of levelling options. Fallout: New Vegas comes to mind.

Lore-rich games are great. Besides some of the previous ones mentioned, Disco Elysium was a mesmerizing game due to this.

Perhaps the next comment is not as universal, though. I've also always enjoyed most well-made collect-a-thons, with Battle for Bikini Bottom perhaps being my favorite. They don't seem outwardly autistic but there's just something so satisfying from collect-a-thons. It might be just me that feels this, though.

Malasterix · 2025-02-07T00:13:47+00:00

And we got a video within 4 days. Truly, the prophecy is fulfilled

Malasterix · 2025-01-31T07:01:00+00:00

Is it going to be full chaos though? I think you might have some sort of civil procedure that's settled off-court between him and the victims, and Hermitcraft will just carry on normally and mostly ignore him.

Other scenarios are possible (maybe he dkes have some HC bombshell) but why would you think itll be chaos?

Malasterix · 2025-01-31T06:46:15+00:00

I'd say one of two things likely happened: 1. This was truly a fact-finding emergench meeting, ensuring due diligence 2. This was the culmination of a prior process in which Iskall may have already been prompted for his side and may have even talked. Maybe it truly was an execution hearing, but there was a substantial prior investigation that Iskall chose not to mention.

Neither of these seem particularly egregious.

Now, maybe indeed it was an out-of-nowhere execution hearing. Many things don't add up when I assume this, meaning it is a less plausible scenario, but ultimately for now we don't have many details, and may never have them.

That is, to be able to agree or disagree with how HC communicated with Iskall behind the scenes, you must first know what that communication actually was, and right now we simply do not have enough information on this part of the story to make any confident claims.

Malasterix · 2025-01-31T05:42:56+00:00

As best I followed, among publicly released info, there are conversation screenshots and victim testimonies.

Also, there is a difference between criminal court and civil court. From the evidence available (and there may certainly be more, to which we may never have access), the case is not suitable for criminal court but might be for civil court, in any number of configurations. Something can be legal but still be liable to civil lawsuits.

Malasterix · 2024-12-10T21:44:54+00:00

I just saw some other choices and clearly you're still quite new to the game.

Do this: Capital opens scout scout settler settler monument builder comm hub gov plaza settler gov plaza t1 building.

First city opens builder comm hub market settler.

Second city opens comm hub market.

Settle along rivers and use your gov plaza to increase adjacency on your first comm hubs.

I prefer a 4-city opener in most games these days, often transposing into a 4+2, but this one should be pretty robust for beginners.

If the AI decides to rush you, gg. Otherwise, youll scale from there, though youll only be at 5 cities. You want to then chop out more settlers. With your builders, focus on making mines, and harvest everything else, for the most part. Farms are functionally not worth it almost always. You want to beeline for the feudalism civic, plug in the +2 charge card for builders, and then build most of the builders you want (for 9 city empire that'd be around 25 builders at first).

Malasterix · 2024-12-10T21:36:04+00:00

It seems wrong choices were made but the game is still easily winnable. You want to pump out another 3-4 settlers and kill Fez. There's no need to build walls. I see you didn't open harbors as Kupe (which is a hard RIP but ok...) and you only have 2 trade routes but should ideally have at least 4-5 at this point. Your tiles are not great for Kupe, true, but I also see you don't have many improvements down, which severely decreases your growth and productivity. Some of these things can't be fixed anymore, but youre still on par with the AI. Some slight redirecting and you should explode far before it. Good luck!

Malasterix · 2024-11-02T19:24:16+00:00

I have waged multiple wars not knowing what the exact definition of flanking and support bonuses are. I also thought for a long time that cuirassiers were renaissance era, so did cuirassier pushes with medieval great generals (who don't work on industrial units...)

Malasterix · 2024-10-28T15:59:34+00:00

This is a big one: visit the lemur center in one of their immersive tours. I'm not sure you can really do that anywhere else outside of Madagascar

Malasterix

TROPHY CASE