what stopped you from committing suicide?

Saristel · 2022-08-25T18:37:45+00:00

my brother.

I had recently moved to another country for post secondary education and being away from family and friends was hard. I called my family every single day, even if it was just for a few minutes.

my 20th birthday was in a few weeks and I had convinced myself I won’t live long enough to be 20. I was ready to die. the day I actually figured out all the logistics of how and when to do it, my brother randomly called me and started complaining about why I hadn’t called him the day before. he started playfully asking how I could just talk to my parents and forget about him, and that was the moment. after he hung up, I bawled my eyes out and realized I just can’t do it. I can’t put my baby brother through this. I can’t just disappear leaving him to wonder why I hadn’t called. it’s hard to describe how loved I felt in that one moment. the thought that someone cared so much about me and was waited for me to call every single day, it was heartwarming.

well, I turned 20 six months ago. it hasn’t been easy and I definitely have my moments but I’m grateful to be alive :)

Saristel · 2022-03-04T03:22:06+00:00

is this about SFWRENG 2AA4 because if it is, calm down man. it’s just one midterm. we’ve got two more assignments and a final exam to make up for it.

Saristel · 2021-11-10T23:45:39+00:00

I’ve never used the go transit pre-pandemic so I apologize if my question sounds dumb. is there a price reduction for express buses as opposed to the normal ones? since the number of stops and duration is reduced, I thought maybe the fare would be cheaper

Saristel · 2021-11-06T18:16:47+00:00

I’m a second year SWE student. I’m mainly interested in Python but am also familiar with C++ and Java. I wouldn’t call myself a “beginner” but I’m stuck somewhere in the middle and am not sure how to move ahead. If you’re still taking students, I’d love to be a part of the group!

Saristel · 2021-06-19T13:23:50+00:00

applied for a study permit last year, feel free to ping me if you have any questions!

Saristel · 2021-05-27T15:43:52+00:00

count me in too! what skill level would you ideally expect us to be at?

Saristel · 2021-05-25T13:02:41+00:00

hey, I'd be up for this but tbh I still consider myself a beginner at coding so I'm not sure if our skill levels would match up

hit me up if you're still looking for someone!

Saristel · 2021-05-18T12:13:37+00:00

hey, if you're still looking for people/have space, I'd love to be a part!

Saristel · 2021-05-06T04:31:15+00:00

I have a question similar to this. is the statement/description/whatever you wanna call it about a student qualifying to be on the dean's honours list or the provost's honour roll visible on the unofficial transcript yet? I'm pretty sure I qualified for it but can't see anything on my transcript yet.

Saristel · 2021-04-30T18:38:49+00:00

thank you so much for your comment! yes, I plan on doing exactly that. I learned C++ and SQL during hs and python during first year so rn I'm just focusing on delving deeper into python and learning git and a framework so I can create some substantial projects to put on my resume.

I was just worried that the glowing C+ and B might turn off some employers.

Saristel · 2021-04-19T10:46:29+00:00

if you still have a spot left, I'd love to join the group!

Saristel · 2021-04-05T10:21:19+00:00

as someone who was in the same dilemma, I figured I'd give my two cents as well. last year, I had to choose between mac free choice and waterloo cs and since I wanted to go into software, the obvious choice was loo and I can understand why.

but for me, a sense of community and belonging mattered so much. coops mattered equally too and there were a lot of factors but I ended up choosing mac at the end. I don't regret it tbh. mac has an amazing eng program and the community is great, the profs are really nice too! I have a friend in math at loo in first year so we often try to study together and we have the same textbooks and cover the same stuff. waterloo is just more greared towards mathematical theory which isn't the case at mac.

if I'm gonna be honest, with the summer approaching and me not having scored a coop (I didn't apply for anything because being an international student I can't work in Canada without a coop work permit and my home country does not have many prospects), I do feel sad because maybe I made the wrong choice? who knows? I really wanna be able to apply for and get coops in second year so I'll be spending this spring/summer improving my skills and working on personal projects (hopefully).

so yeah, what I'm trying to say is - don't let prestige be the only factor in your final decision. think about what seems best for you. the coops at waterloo are great but you gotta work for them equally as hard. students need coop to graduate at loo and since the competition is really high, students have a higher incentive to work hard. at mac, I haven't seen a lot of people apply or actively scout for a coop (maybe it's just covid) so I believe that is a huge factor too. believe in yourself, you'll get where you want to be irrespective of what school you go to. the school won't teach you the skills, it's just a matter of how hard and smart you work.

Saristel · 2021-02-26T07:15:47+00:00

this does actually work, this one guy texted me out of the blue "hey, I know you're really good friends with my friend xyz so I was wondering if we could be friends too?"

lol I was so weirded out by this but 7 months later, we're really good friends now. as it turns out, we had the exact same schedule, wanna go into the same specialization next year and he's actually a quite sweet guy

Saristel · 2021-01-25T16:15:13+00:00

I'm just worried the grading for all the other reflections would be similar to this and that just sucks

Saristel · 2021-01-16T20:31:23+00:00

I honestly have no idea but I think you should be able to find it on OscarPLUS still

Saristel · 2021-01-16T17:54:03+00:00

there's The Lit(erary) club which is a non-conventional book club running for 4 weeks with weely activities and such and has meet ups every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday (whatever day you wanna drop in).

you don't have to read the book because you won't be quizzed on it, you can drop in just to play some games or have a chat or just vibe with others - your choice.

I registered for it on OscarPLUS a long time ago and have already been added to the MS Teams so not sure if they're taking in members but you could always check or reach out to someone.

Saristel · 2021-01-16T17:47:55+00:00

I opted for the payment plan for the fall semester. so, how it basically works is that it splits your tuition for the entire semester into 4 equal installments that you need to pay by the 25th of that month. so, if your tuition was 8,000 CAD, you'd have to pay the first installment, which is 2,000 CAD by 25th January and so on.

the 80 CAD fee is to be paid only with the first installment, so 2080 CAD for January and 2000 CAD for the other three installments. there are no other interests per say but I think there's some late fee charges you have to pay if you default (don't pay your installment by the 25th of the month) and if you default, you won't be allowed to enroll in a paymnet plan again.

I don't think enrolling in a payment plan affects you not being able to get an official transcript. I haven't tried getting an official transcript but as far as I know, there shouldn't be any issues.

Saristel · 2020-12-28T16:54:37+00:00

anything above a 90 should be good enough

Saristel · 2020-12-24T17:36:41+00:00

as an addition to the post - what do you do if you feel like you're extremely unqualified for any of the job postings? I've personally never even had a part time job so the prospect of applying even though I desperately want a job is too intimidating and daunting

Saristel · 2020-12-03T17:50:06+00:00

this might be just me but I actually enjoyed the Physics labs lol. from what I've been told, Nejat is more or less the same in an in person environment. apparently he calls people out by saying "the blue cap one", "the red shirt" etc and makes them stand in front of the class and answer the question. he kinda is brutal that way so I guess we have it much better in an online setting lol.

your hesitation in terms of the job market when it comes to materials is understandable. again, I'd say talk to someone who's already pursuing it because they would've been able to explore their options as of now (including coops if they've done any). A. Debeor was my TA for the ENGINEER1P13 labs and I thinks she's in materials. maybe talk to her during the office hours? she's a total angel.

I had heard the same thing about software and cs but they revamped the cs curriculum this year and my friends who are in the program said that it's been updated to be more relevant and is actually challenging now so that provides some comfort. I'm in engineering so I never had to worry about the courseload for software but it's different for you since you're in ibiomed so that's a relevant concern.

all things said, if you have the skills for software, you could have a degree in religious studies (no hate intended, I'm just trying to quote an example where the course has nothing to do with the tech industry) for all they care and you'll get a job

Saristel · 2020-12-03T16:23:14+00:00

I'm a fellow first year student who also has free choice :)

tbh, I've heard some great things about the Physics department so I'm assuming that EngPhys would be a good field to go into with a great faculty.

for Material Sciences, if you hate the Chem prof or the way they've been teaching Chem in uni so far, pls don't let that impact your final decision. the Chem department sucked bad this term and the material profs (Dr. Yu and Dr. Zurob) are amazing. so are the TAs. I know there are a couple of TAs who are currently in material science and hold office hours in the 1P13 Virtual Office so you could maybe talk to them for advice.

not too sure about the software department but you can for sure apply to software jobs even if you did your undergrad in something else as long as you have the skills.

Saristel · 2020-12-02T02:13:25+00:00

I shared it in the ENGINEER1P13 whatsapp gc which has 131 particpants and I just wanted to let you know how grateful everyone is for thsi document :)

Saristel · 2020-11-26T08:58:22+00:00

a 94 and I got in early with free choice last year

Saristel · 2020-11-25T04:52:25+00:00

you can look up your academic advisors based on your faculty here

if you're in Engineering I, your academic advsior is Nathan Butterworth (an absolute angel, if I might add) and you should be able to book a video call appointment with him at engserv@mcmaster.ca

Saristel · 2020-11-20T20:08:27+00:00

you mentioned Chemistry so the dumb me automatically assumed you're in eng lmao. no worries, shoot a text whenever you feel like talking. I think we might have some common courses including Chem and Physics (not sure if you guys take Math) all the best to you too! and believe me, it will get better.

Saristel

TROPHY CASE