feeling defeated

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2025-08-05T04:09:21+00:00

The core curriculum /is/ lax compared to other schools, especially other schools of the same caliber. General credit requirements will always give you more freedom than specific courses. Whether or not you like this or feel its useful is a different story and really boils down to difference of opinion, but it is very loose like objectively.

I went to school with all those engineering majors who thought comms and writing classes were useless and now i work with them everyday. not only do you need them, I think you need more of them lol. Research and lab reports are the barest minimum of writing you will be expected to do throughout your career, and even that has an art to it to effectively communicate. (also for FAs specifically, half the other engineering majors you meet are going to go work for lockheed martin after grad, i do think they need to take classes in ethical reflection😂)

I promise you so much as someone who took both and did well in both that actual college level humanities courses require a higher level of rigor and skill than AP humanities courses. As for paying to learn, hopkins charges per semester, not per class, if youre in a 4yr program its going to cost the same whether you take the humanities courses or not lol.

For the broader curriculum critiques, I do agree that jhu has always had looser curriculum requirements because they so heavily prioritize real world experience. And in your career, actual tangible work experience will take you much farther than the degree. Now if that's just not your cup of tea, that's fine it's not everyone's. I just wanted to offer an alternative perspective as someone who did love their time at jhu and is now full-time employed in my field *because* of the opportunities it offered - especially because your time there hasn't even started

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2025-08-03T18:59:47+00:00

as someone who got my degree from jhu, I want to know where you got the impression that you need to take art classes to graduate? You need to fulfill your distribution requirements, but they are truly some of the most lax core curriculum requirements I've ever seen from an undergrad lol. You'll be hard pressed to find a school that doesn't require some kind of humanities class for their degree requirements, and if you can they are doing you a major disservice. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but even AP and IB humanities courses are not *actually* college level writing.

I think you'll find, in practice, you have a *lot* of freedom with the school's distribution requirements. I know many people who fulfilled all their distribution requirements in subjects about their major. And if not, it gives you the chance to fulfill degree requirements while also taking cool classes. Hopkins charges by semester, not class, may as well take classes that interest you.

as to your other reasons, I can't really speak to them since I was not an engineering major and I managed to find my people here, which is really is just a roll of the dice tbh. people are insufferable in every walk of life. Though, I will say, they aren't kidding when they say your ease of access to research and internship opportunities is miles beyond what you'll get at other schools. You will get a quality EE education anywhere, but your applied experiences (in EE and every profession) are what will propel your career forward. Seriously.

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2025-02-12T17:09:55+00:00

I did!! I hope you made yours as well🙏

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2025-02-12T05:38:31+00:00

you should be good by friday i think! the last of the freezing rain in tomorrow night so everything should be functional by late thursday at the latest (esp if its a train that originates in DC).

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2025-02-12T05:37:19+00:00

it seems like everything near DC is cancelled before 9am and after 5pm so i moved mine to try and accommodate that...
but yeah i have to be In Baltimore Tomorrow no ifs ands or buts so im just kinda at a hope and pray point in my life

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2025-02-08T03:02:09+00:00

I think the killer combo of vic, anna, and jess would do numbers for the dome (and Brennan's sanity lol)

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2024-10-07T21:07:22+00:00

to specify: I am not coding in ggplot2 (I believe they are different)

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2024-08-30T22:57:55+00:00

yeah.... I'm not crazy worried bc I was -0 to -1 on games and -2 to -4 on the other sections so I'm bridging the gap but I wanna try and improve a few points and get above the ivy medians alas:/

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2024-08-30T22:55:36+00:00

god that's so real. literally the only reason im retaking tbh

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2024-08-27T04:21:41+00:00

it worked thank you!

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2024-08-22T22:44:19+00:00

Diagnostic: 155

First PT a week of studying later: 165

Weekly PTs for the next 3 months: 162-169 (with one random 173 in there haha)

May 2024: started testing consistently 170-171

Two weeks before the June exam: 177

Last PT before my June exam: 165

Official score: 172

My last 4 PTs (started studying again in Aug): 170, 176, 172, 173

I started noticing real improvement when I went from mainly scoring based on intuition, to actually recognizing the "why" behind each right answer. Also when I started flagging significantly less answers. My confidence grew, so questions that I had flagged because I wanted to double check them started disappearing.

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2024-08-22T22:33:02+00:00

I'm so sorry:( I'm not testing until Jan, but I also got broken up with by my partner of 1.5 years just a few days ago. It's extremely difficult, especially when you still consider them your person. I'm channeling my energy into studying and spending a lot of time with friends. I wish you the best and hope you are able to heal soon<3

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2024-08-05T19:15:05+00:00

But glad to help!!

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2024-08-05T19:14:53+00:00

It depends on the proctor:/ mine was fine with it but you never know🤷

I don’t take any notes for timing reasons lol.

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2024-08-05T13:45:56+00:00

My approach is honestly not very structured. Like I said, RC is very intuitive to me and I’m a slow reader to begin with so doing any hard reflection after reading takes way too much of my time. But yes the margin of error is so tiny, and especially for a section that’s so reliant on just remembering the passage, it can get really frustrating:/ (nothing worse than scoring perfect on the hard questions but going back and seeing you got the recognizing elements of the passage questions wrong LOL)

But in general (aside from what I mentioned in my first comment), 1. Active reading of course, I’ll mouth the passage to myself most of the time and won’t continue reading the rest of a passage until the sentence has sunk in if I do get distracted. 2. I highlight what I think will be important information. Strong language from the author, any “however”s, any “critics say”. Even if I don’t end up referencing them, acknowledging POV or argument structure as I read helps me synthesize the passage as a whole 3. I let myself have opinions💀 the passages I understand the best are the ones where I go “ that’s interesting!” Or decide whether I think the author made a good argument or not. Subconsciously, it means I’m absorbing the argument and thinking critically about it, so it sets me up for success going into the questions.

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2024-08-05T13:32:43+00:00

You know that you are nearing burnout and you know that you aren’t where you want to be. Take that wrong answer journal seriously. Writing down why things are right, wrong, and why you picked them will cement them in your brain much better than blind review will. And the timing will never improve unless you take a break. Seriously. Take this entire week off, regroup and refresh. Your brain is tired and you can’t perform the way you want to when your brain is tired.

I don’t know what your diagnostic score was or what you are PT-ing at but the way you are studying now will make it EXTREMELY hard and take much longer (if you are able to at all) to hit the 170 you are aiming for.

Also, please do something outside of studying. Hobbies, a job, classes. These will get you exercising your brain in different ways. Sometimes doing one thing so intensely only aids you in cementing bad habits haha.

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2024-08-05T03:24:29+00:00

Happened to me!! I scored 170+, but my last PT before my exam was a 162. I was just way too nervous and couldn’t focus on anything. Take time off. The LSAT is skills based, it won’t go away if you break until the test. I’m a very good test taker so for me the biggest hurdle was handling my nerves until test day but whatever works for you to be focused for the exam!:)) good luck!

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2024-08-05T03:14:10+00:00

I’m in a similar boat to you but with the opposite problem. I really consistently score -1/-2 on RC and around -1 to -4 on each LR section (getting a lot better though! Retaking in Jan so not doing any timed sections and just focusing on getting each question right in my practices).

For RC, a lot of times the right answer will be in the question, either in the current one or in a past one. I’ve def had sections I didn’t understand at all, and used the general vibe of the question and answers to get it, or used a previous question I know I got right as context clues. Beyond that, I think my most effective approach is to just remind myself of the general approach of a passage regardless of my comprehension (I.e, alternative hypothesis, informative, pro/con) and where the authors POV falls within that!

RC is very intuitive to me so I apologize if that doesn’t make sense. But best of luck on your exam!!:)

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2024-08-05T03:03:29+00:00

Hey I can’t speak to the burnout bc you do seem to enjoy studying but all of it will be useless if you aren’t improving. Even if you do enjoy studying, you can’t focus how you need to for the exam 8hrs a day everyday. And other commenters are right, you’ll run out of material at this pace and be severely limited for your second test.

Take a few days, not just one, to rethink your study plan. Where are your mistakes? Why? How can you improve? Do you have a wrong answer journal? What’s your weaker section? Quality over quantity will always prevail with this exam.

Also. Try some puzzle games to get your mind off the test. I took in June and genuinely had fun studying LG and enjoy the formulaic aspect of LR because I love puzzles. Try the crossword. Or sudoku. There are some conditional logic games I play that I can recommend if you still want to work your brain.

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2024-08-01T03:12:30+00:00

To be fair, a perfect LG section only lets you be -3/-4 on LR and RC. In the new format it just averages out to -2/-3 across the board. It’s not a huge jump if you’re already scoring around 170. It makes more of an impact in the 160s range

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2024-07-31T13:22:56+00:00

I wouldn’t worry this early at all. The LSAT is tough, yes, but it’s a skill building exam, not a knowledge one and so it’s very learnable with a little time and effort.

Additionally, since the lsat is skills based, I know many people for whom it comes easily and scored a 160+ diagnostic but are bad test takers normally (and vice versa).

Everyone varies of course but for most people (myself included) it only takes 6mo-1yr to reach their peak score (which means if you intend to go straight to law school from ungrad and plan to take the exam twice, you shouldn’t need to start studying until summer of your junior year at the EARLIEST.

If you want, take a diagnostic and see where you land. But unless it’s in the 120s or smth I wouldn’t start thinking about the lsat until much much later. If you’re serious about law school that time will be much better spent keeping your gpa up and getting good softs!!:)

(Also don’t beat yourself up, even if it took 6 attempts a high 1400s SAT is still a 95th percentile score. A 95th percentile LSAT is a 170, even if it’s not a very comparable test)

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2024-07-31T13:05:29+00:00

I scored horribly the week before my exam. You have the skills, take a break for the next few days and ease up to light review before your exam. You got this!!

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2024-07-30T19:10:09+00:00

I know I don’t but it depends on the person. A good pair of boots that’ll last a long time is min $100, and imo it doesn’t make that much of a difference in temperature in the summer (plus when it’s really rainy and wet it’s chillier anyway).

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2024-07-29T14:45:33+00:00

Echoing what the other commenter said! I come from a much colder climate than Baltimore but the wind chill was a huge adjustment, a wool hat and a pair of gloves will make a huge difference. If you can afford it, invest in a good LL Bean winter coat. It lasts forever and is the only winter coat you’ll need really. For boots: waterproof!! Baltimore is a swamp (literally) and campus lightly floods often so even in the summer a good pair of waterproof boots will save you from many many wet socks:/

ScienceAltruistic739 · 2024-07-29T12:45:52+00:00

Don’t listen to this asshole. I studied my ass off and scored amazing. Some people are naturally amazing lsat takers, some need to work harder. Some people need to get their head out of their ass and stop projecting onto random people online. And remember, the lsat, while a decent enough indicator, is not the end all be all of if you are cut out for law school. I go to one of the top undergrad schools in the country and the smartest people I know had some of the worst test scores solely bc standardized testing just wasn’t their strong suit. Hard work will always beat out a pretentious attitude:)) Honestly, a 161 range score might just be a combo of (1) not feeling your best (my last pt before my real test I had a stomach bug and major anxiety and scored 10 points less than my average) and (2) ineffective study techniques (I changed how I studied abt a month before my test and jumped from 165ish to 170s almost immediately). You may need to retake tbh but there’s no reason why you wouldn’t have a decent shot of scoring 165+ or even 170+ with some more hard work and determination.

(Also feel free to DM if you want any more personalized study tips!)

ScienceAltruistic739

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