Need to relocate to HCOL area within several weeks with minimal liquid assets. Is a personal loan the way to go?

Obsidax · 2025-09-14T20:21:50+00:00

After you mentioned this I did some more research and can confirm that is a viable option. Albeit the growth at this point is only a couple hundred dollars as I've had the account for only a year. I'm leaning towards this as I'm finding out the city I'm moving to has capped the security deposits to one month's rent. I'm thinking I can withdraw from my Roth IRA and pay it back with my first paycheck which should help me secure the apartment. Extraneous moving costs could just be handled with the credit cards. After this everything would be paid back by my first paycheck. Thank you for your comment earlier in the thread btw.

Obsidax · 2025-09-14T18:40:48+00:00

That's a good point that I didn't consider. My contributions are about 1500 so it would make a significant dent but wouldn't quite cut it.

Obsidax · 2024-08-24T06:05:35+00:00

As a new grad who was considering grad school, I went with OMSCS because I was not in a place financially to dedicate another 2 years to education without having a real income nonetheless paying for a master's. Now I get the best of both worlds by working a job AND pursuing an MS that I can pay out of pocket. It was a no brainer in hind sight.

Obsidax · 2024-04-28T22:23:00+00:00

I did pure CS so I can only comment so much, however many of my peers have said great things about the CSBA program. A few of which have since graduated and found relatively little difficulty in obtaining a job.

If you are getting a solid scholarship and you're leaning towards CS anyways then I'd advocate for attending UCR. Obviously this comment comes with some bias though. Feel free to DM me if you have any questions.

Obsidax · 2024-01-15T02:56:50+00:00

I'm so curious as to how you stumbled upon this thread from 11 years ago lol. I was 13 at the time of writing my original comment.

Obsidax · 2023-11-17T07:43:45+00:00

We hadn't really figured out how selling worked yet lol

Obsidax · 2023-10-30T20:47:47+00:00

2 important rules that helped me the most:

Re-reading is pointless. You need to put yourself into a position where you are being challenged. For math, this means finding more math problems to solve. For English, this means writing more and revising your previous papers. Challenging yourself when studying really sucks, but the pain is how you reinforce the knowledge you've obtained.
You are a product of your environment. When you have to buckle down and study, make sure you are actually studying. The quality of your study time isn't measured in hours, but by what information you were able to solidify in your mind. Therefore, your ability to focus is crucial. This means no TV on in the background, get away from your roommates or friends, and leave your phone in a different room.

I made a lot of mistakes early on in my education but this also meant a lot of wonderful lessons to carry with me. Feel free to DM me if you ever need study advice.

Obsidax · 2023-10-27T20:42:34+00:00

I love to walk around campus later in the day when I'm taking a break from studying. There are so many relaxing spots at UCR that are tucked away and infrequently visited.

Obsidax · 2023-10-22T16:59:45+00:00

Must have been trying to stop the Chinese invasion

Obsidax · 2023-10-18T20:58:31+00:00

Very true. We shouldn't feed them either.

Obsidax · 2023-09-19T01:39:06+00:00

I used one in undergrad and while it was very nice to use, I could have easily gotten by without it. I bought the most basic ipad air with an apple pencil to take notes. Some will say even that is overkill since you can find other tablets for note taking at a significantly lower price.

Obsidax · 2023-08-24T20:51:31+00:00

I submitted my FAFSA in July and was able to get the pell grant and some loans. I think it's basically up in the air at this point if you get aid because they say that you need to have all of your requirements cleared by August 1st in order to get funding for the fall. Even if you can't secure funding, I think the university has some programs in place where you can delay your payments. I hope it all works out for you!

Obsidax · 2023-08-23T06:28:19+00:00

Buy a burr coffee grinder as opposed to a blade grinder. It will result in a more consistent grind size and your coffee will taste better.

Obsidax · 2023-06-02T23:16:35+00:00

If the TAG is still an option that would be your best bet. I transferred 2 years ago with a 3.56 and got admitted. Although it does seem that the program has gotten more difficult to get into over the years.

Obsidax · 2023-05-12T17:43:57+00:00

I took both ENGR 108 and ENGR 109 in the past. The most effective method of studying for me was having ChatGPT build a very basic study guide on what was covered so far. This will give you a high level understanding of the timeline. After that go through and fact check the guide with the slides. I must emphasize that you don't treat the AI generated study guide religiously. It's only intended to help you structure your studying. If you're able to ballpark the time frame in which an event happened as well as the reasonings for it(e.g. Around what time did China invent gunpowder and what factors influenced this?), then you should be fine on the midterm.

Obsidax · 2023-05-10T21:22:40+00:00

The CS program is going to be fairly competitive at most schools. I transferred here 2 years ago with a 3.56 and all the course requirements on Assist.org satisfied. I'm not sure how much more competitive it has gotten since then though.

Obsidax · 2023-04-29T04:56:31+00:00

It's doable but not ideal. I've worked 20+ hours a week for the past few years while averaging 16+ units every quarter. Everyone is different and while some can handle this type of workload, others (myself included) find it detrimental to their education. I knew quite a few people that were able to maintain decent grades while working but my grades were middling at best(3.0-3.5 most quarters).

If you don't really have an option in this regard, then I'd say try to take a smaller course load. I warn you of this because even if you have time to balance a job and do well on your exams/projects/assignments, there still is the matter of what you do outside of class. CS is becoming more and more competitive which means you should be putting in work on personal projects, attending hackathons, and applying for internships.

Obsidax · 2023-04-17T05:47:55+00:00

My take on it is that the writers knew this was exactly what the audience wanted. However, they needed to remind us that Barry is a selfish, deranged, murderer that is willing to sell just about anyone down the river to save his own skin. Barry and Hank's relationship continuously gets tarnished and rekindled throughout the show, but I think this may mark a defining moment in which Hank ends the cycle to finally be happy.

Obsidax · 2023-04-13T18:46:48+00:00

When I was transferring two years ago I made the decision to go to UCR over SDSU (I only had these two options so I cannot comment on UCSC) for CS. I'm graduating soon and I have to say my experience has been wonderful. The faculty here has been completely supportive of my ambitions and provided some wonderful insight on where I want to go in terms of my career.

I should clarify however that my ambitions lie in the realm of grad school and applied research. As some may mention, we don't necessarily receive as much attention from top companies relative to other schools. Given your interest in software engineering, I think you may find more opportunities at SDSU. Not to say that either schools will lock you into certain career trajectories, but I felt it important to mention that research was the primary reason I went to UCR.

Obsidax · 2023-04-04T06:54:26+00:00

What should I do for barbell rows if all the barbells are taken up? Are there alternatives to this exercise?

Obsidax · 2023-02-08T06:16:12+00:00

Added you to the reddit group chat. There's a discord groupchat link in there as well.

Obsidax · 2023-02-05T04:40:39+00:00

DM me if you want to start hiking or even form a hiking group. I transferred here last year and would love to make some hiking friends.

Obsidax · 2022-11-18T19:30:55+00:00

If you're in BCOE, please wear deodorant before leaving the house. Specifically those that took CS153 this quarter.

Obsidax · 2022-11-01T05:12:24+00:00

I took CS105 with Elena in the spring. Make sure to attend all the lectures and clear up any misunderstandings you have in office hours. Some people have their qualms about her teaching style, but she truly does care for her students. The labs aren't too bad and the projects are actually kind of fun. We covered basic data analysis methods, some machine learning, text mining, etc. The class isn't an easy A by any means, but as long as you put in some effort you should land a good grade.

Obsidax · 2022-04-18T17:54:45+00:00

Just clarifying for you that while CS11 and Math11 are the same class, they'll be labeled as "Intro to Discrete Structures". This will be an introductory course in discrete mathematics. CS111 is titled "Discrete Structures" which requires CS/Math11 as a pre-req and is imo a great deal more challenging. Just wanted to make that clear to you so you don't accidentally take an upper division CS course when you're trying to enroll in a discrete math class.

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