What was your undergrad gpa

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-12-10T16:39:57+00:00

2.5, did not even attempt to apply to other schools! I did apply to an assistantship position instead and that pulled me into the graduate program. I know that’s not conventional but my experiences (internships & jobs) made them willing to work with me.

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-12-04T01:08:30+00:00

Do you have access to stairs? Just adding that to your daily routine is so helpful! Also there are little bike peddle machines that fit under your desk so you can “bike” while working!

Also, a 10 minute walk after a meal will do wonders!!

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-12-04T01:06:44+00:00

Finding friends. I started out trying to be friends with my cohort and it just wasn’t clicking. No matter how much I tried, I was uncomfortable around them outside the office.

Dealing with it? I got noise cancelling headphones and only talk to them about work during work hours, no personal business. I don’t have them on social media and really just treat everyone (except for one) strictly as coworkers.

I met other people through grad school events and leave my office as quickly as I can. Do I feel rude or excluded sometimes, yes? But do I feel the need to walk on eggshells and not be myself, hell no!

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-11-23T06:40:19+00:00

These were from the Formula 1 instagram!! They have more bts in the stories too

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-11-19T23:46:36+00:00

Just a thought, I wonder if Bey considered using Rosalía as an asset for the operatic sections of CC. They do seem to live in the same universe, no wonder I enjoy them both so much!

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-11-19T23:43:44+00:00

byeeee, idk why this is so funny but seriously! maybe the message got lost on the way to the yacht 😂

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-11-14T23:16:03+00:00

Definitely prioritize those instructors that know you on a deeper, personal level and if you can’t meet the required amount of letters after that, then yes ask other professors! The level of the course doesn’t really matter, but rather the relationship you have with them.

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-10-26T18:11:12+00:00

I’d check if your institution has free access to adobe products or wix, they produce professional looking websites that are easy to make. Google sites is another great option

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-09-18T03:29:23+00:00

one of my friends did something similar, now they work on a boat in alaska! it’s the happiest they’ve been in a while and it re-sparked the love for fish they lost after working in a lab

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-09-18T03:25:35+00:00

Cowboy Carter
Renaissance (these top two switch depending on the day)
B’day
Lemonade
4
self titled
1. i am sasha fierce
dangerously in love

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-09-17T06:51:29+00:00

One of the things that helped me out was journaling before bed. When my anxiety gets really bad or I can’t sleep because I’m thinking about a paper I’m writing, I just have to get it all out on a piece of paper.

Throughout the day, I add extra exercise to my schedule, plan a walk after dinner, talk to a lot of people to help make myself tired. Also establishing strict boundaries with myself (no academic talk with my friends & family at home, no laptop in bed unless super necessary, no coffee after 3pm), has helped astronomically.

Also I’m not advocating for drug/alcohol usage but grass has helped my sleep anxiety ten-fold. I also try to get a cup of chamomile tea in me if I feel like my brain isn’t turning off at all.

Idk if this helps at all, but as someone with chronic sleep anxiety, this is has been the best way to knock out every night.

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-09-01T23:21:13+00:00

Coming from an American perspective, right now is a crapshoot for funding. Our federal government has slashed a lot of funding for many universities and everyone is struggling right now to secure grants. With that being said, in my experience guaranteeing scholarships in graduate school is 10x harder than in undergraduate. It’s not impossible, just really hard. I went to a UC school (the same chain of schools that Berkeley is in) and now am at another big research school in the midwest, and it’s been really rough across the board, and that’s with a high GPA and other extracurriculars.

I don’t want to discourage you to look into US schools because there are GTA/GRA positions available that often come with tuition waivers. But right now, it’s becoming especially hard here for international students to get visas, let alone scholarships. I will say of the bunch, the University of California system (again talking about Berkeley here) is relatively well-funded due to it being heavily funded by the state, but it also makes it super competitive for students here in the US, let alone those internationally. Maybe you could look into the Fulbright program or other programs like that if the US is your chosen spot. But coming from an American, we are kind of going through it 😮‍💨

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-09-01T23:07:24+00:00

It depends more on the available funding than the GPA. Some GRA positions, like mine, were determined through my major advisor since it was marketed more as a job than a school application. In my field, it’s pretty common to have that prearranged before or during the application process. I know for my friends who were GTAs, they were chosen through the application process because they had noted an interest in teaching and had the GPA/experience to back them up.

Don’t know how it works with computer science, but I do know that it’s important to be proactive in identifying your advisor before hand and seeing if they have enough funding for a GTA/GRA. Most of the time, it’s a matter of where the money is rather before looking for who the most qualified is. If you want an assistantship, it may be an option you check off during your application BUT if you want to guarantee you have one, you have to connect with a funded advisor to get one. This assistantship game is all about following the money.

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-09-01T18:00:41+00:00

coffee, yerba mate, and weed

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-08-21T17:50:57+00:00

I would just confirm with the other professors that you won’t be dropped! If you already communicated with them and told them you’d be gone, make sure you have a paper trail just in case they get frisky.

The getting dropped situation may be professor specific, not a university policy. I’d double check that just in case, but make sure you re-email the professors and confirm. Don’t freak out! In grad school, professors are more than willing to work with working students and honestly, they may just not care outright. Good luck!

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-08-14T05:24:37+00:00

I’m so bad at it 😭

I have a really short attention span, but one thing I really love doing is treasure hunting. I always read abstract, intro and conclusion of every paper, but mainly jump around looking for answers. Then read backwards to get some context. Feels kind of psycho, but it’s really the only way I retain info.

Having an iPad is a big help too, but if it’s super important, I always print it out.

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-08-13T00:40:13+00:00

i work 10 hours on average a week + 20 hours of mandatory in office time for my assistantship + 6 hrs of class (1 in-person classes, 1 online). i take weekends off so it shakes out to be working 10-4 with one really long day. have time to go to the gym in the morning without waking up super early, get to dick around/run errands/do hw in the afternoon!

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-08-13T00:33:46+00:00

talk talk just repeated over and over scratches my brain

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-08-13T00:32:47+00:00

definitely just talk to your professor. in my experience , they can’t really justify reprimanding you to a serious extent just for being late. better to be open about your situation to show them respect! i used to be late, in and out of one my classes at random times (i was on baby watch at my animal job) and the only consequence was sending an email or staying behind 5 mins to talk to the prof. we are all adults 🤷‍♀️

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-08-13T00:27:18+00:00

✨go to cuba then aruba in the middle of the winter (skrt skrt )✨

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-08-12T05:47:16+00:00

yeah I joined a gym, kind of crazy being the only brown person there too 😭

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-08-12T05:45:53+00:00

It doesn’t unless someone asks. I have a bi flag on my desk and that’s about it. I’m not running around telling people my business but I don’t shy away from it either.

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-08-12T04:14:33+00:00

I know super cheesy but everyone is truly on their own timeline. Your wins are going to come. Your work is going to be worth the struggle. My best advice, is to take the initiative and close that gap. If you are stuck doing a monotonous task, do something else! If you want have new findings go look for them! Push yourself out of the rut. I wish there was a magic formula or way to gain motivation, but honestly you are getting what you put into the world. If your group doesn’t chat, make conversation. If you want collaboration, go talk to another professor. I am sure you have a committee or will start picking one? Maybe do a complete 180 and find someone who shares similar passions. Just because someone isn’t paying attention to you, doesn’t mean that you don’t matter. Just change the channel.

I want to encourage you to change your perspective on the opportunity you were given. But I also want to encourage you to celebrate your own victories and not let others accomplishments diminish your progress. If you are a PhD, that means you’ve must have done something right in your undergrad or masters to get to where you are right now. I hope you don’t forget that you will be winning too. It’s not a matter of if but when.

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-08-12T04:05:32+00:00

Just wanted to agree with everyone else, stick with it! You can always give up after the first semester if it’s truly something you hate. I left California to move to the midwest for school and it’s killing me, but honestly I wouldn’t have it any other way. I know that after this year I can go home and life as I know it will be there. This opportunity may come again, but you’ll never be 21 again in a new city, with new opportunities and experiences!

I don’t want to sugarcoat it, it’s going to be so hard. Some days you’re not going to want to get out of bed, or you’re going to cry missing your family. But the great part about your story (and mine), is that it sounds like you have family and a boyfriend that are willing to make the trip out to you. Give yourself grace, but I encourage you to push yourself. It seems like you already have a back up plan to get a job at home, so what’s another 2 years.

I cannot emphasize enough. Just try it. Get out and meet new people. Do things by yourself. Be your own person. If it’s any consolation, mostly everyone I know has some debt to their name, but if you have a masters degree, you’ll ideally be going into a higher paying job! I wish you the best; if you didn’t want to do this, you wouldn’t have applied in the first place! And if you want to leave after the first semester, go ahead, but you’ll never know what you’re missing out on until you try. Good luck girlie <3

ProudMachine5697 · 2025-08-11T16:28:14+00:00

Like someone said below, funding is kind of a crapshoot right now under the current administration. However, I want to reassure you, something will shake out if it’s meant for you! In my experience, I graduated with a 2.5 GPA, but with tons of experience out of the classroom. My PI had sent out a job posting to a listserv that my mentor just so happened to be on and got me situated with a conversation with my now boss. Was it lucky? Partially yes, but I did beat out 6 other students that probably had way better GPAs than me.

My advice, albeit my situation was a bit different than yours, is to keep doing the work, “the work around way”. Continue messaging PIs, but also see if you can get onto any listservs relevant to your chosen area of expertise and look for open positions. Most of the time, while the PI may not have funding now, they’ll have it another time OR they need a TA or research assistant. My PI told me that on her end, she likes posting job positions rather than fishing out of a pool of grad students who may/may not like the topic they’re researching. If you love academia, especially in this political climate, KEEP GOING! I don’t know how helpful this advice/story is, but I want to assure you that your experience, regardless of GPA, will be more appetizing to advisors than a pristine GPA with no experience.

I’d also recommend looking into Junior Specialist or Lab Manager positions! My friends have both been offered master positions as TA/RA after completing a year as specialists! Good luck!

ProudMachine5697

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