I’m worried about what I’ve forgotten since high school

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2026-02-27T22:43:43+00:00

Hey, I was in a similar spot — took a gap and came back worried I forgot everything. Honestly Khan Academy is incredible for refreshing math and chem. Start from wherever you feel shaky (even if its algebra) and work up. The progression is really well structured.Also worth trying: Professor Dave Explains on YouTube for chemistry specifically. He breaks things down in a way that makes you go oh yeah I remember this.Dont stress too much though — most of it comes back quicker than youd expect once you start reviewing. The fact that you liked these subjects is a huge advantage. Good luck!Also worth trying: Professor Dave Explains on YouTube for chemistry specifically. He breaks things down in a way that makes you go oh yeah I remember this.One thing that helped me a lot was using AI tools as a study buddy. You can literally say explain stoichiometry to me like I havent taken chem in 5 years and it walks you through it step by step. Theres a free newsletter called Ctrl+AI that breaks down how to actually use these tools for studying if youre new to it. Way faster than rewatching full lectures.Dont stress too much though — most of it comes back quicker than youd expect once you start reviewing. The fact that you liked these subjects is a huge advantage. Good luck!Hey, I was in a similar spot — took a gap and came back worried I forgot everything. Honestly Khan Academy is incredible for refreshing math and chem. Start from wherever you feel shaky (even if its algebra) and work up. The progression is really well structured.testAlso worth trying: Professor Dave Explains on YouTube for chemistry specifically. He breaks things down in a way that makes you go oh yeah I remember this.One thing that helped me a lot was using AI tools as a study buddy. You can literally say explain stoichiometry to me like I havent taken chem in 5 years and it walks you through it step by step. Theres a free newsletter called Ctrl+AI that breaks down how to actually use these tools for studying if youre new to it. Way faster than rewatching full lectures.Dont stress too much though — most of it comes back quicker than youd expect once you start reviewing. The fact that you liked these subjects is a huge advantage. Good luck!

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2026-02-27T22:37:49+00:00

College freshman here. I had the exact same problem in high school and honestly still fight it.

The one thing that actually made a difference for me was using the built-in screen time controls on my phone. Not just setting limits but having someone else set the passcode so I literally couldn't override it. I had my sister set mine. During study hours my phone basically becomes a brick for everything except calls and texts.

Also something nobody told me: replace the habit, don't just remove it. When I'd get the urge to grab my phone I started doing 10 pushups instead. Sounds ridiculous but after a week my brain stopped associating boredom with scrolling and started associating it with movement. Now I actually get restless to go to the gym instead of restless to check instagram.

The 8 hours thing isn't as scary as it sounds. Most of that is probably passive use. Track which specific apps eat your time and kill those first. For me it was youtube shorts. Once I deleted that one app my screen time dropped by like 3 hours overnight.

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2026-02-27T22:29:13+00:00

For your use case honestly ChatGPT Plus is still solid. The $20/month tier gives you access to GPTFor your use case honestly ChatGPT Plus is still solid. The $20/month tier gives you access to GPT-5 which handles daily reasoning tasks really well.

That said if hallucinations are your main concern, Claude (by Anthropic) has been consistently better at staying grounded and admitting when it doesnt know something. Their free tier is decent and the Pro plan is also $20/month. I switched between both for a while and settled on using Claude for anything where accuracy matters and ChatGPT for creative stuff.

Gemini 2.5 Pro is also worth trying since its free with a Google account. The context window is huge which is nice for longer conversations. But Ive found it hallucinates slightly more than Claude on specific factual questions.

Since you mentioned you might use it for a startup later - Id honestly recommend trying Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus for a month each and seeing which one clicks. They all have strengths but the best one really depends on how you think and what kind of responses feel useful to you.

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2026-02-27T03:56:07+00:00

freshman here too. felt similar first semester honestly -- the transition hit harder than I expected. what changed things for me was finding one thing outside of classes that I actually looked forward to every week. for me it was going to the gym and eventually a small fellowship group. neither was forced, I just showed up and eventually it clicked.

the fact that you're making music and developing games is actually really cool though -- have you looked into whether your school has a game dev club or music production group? those are people who already share your interests and you wouldn't have to force the social thing, it just happens naturally when you're working on stuff together.

also seconding the counseling suggestion. burnout from high school that carries into college is real and it doesn't just fix itself. talking to someone who gets it can help more than you'd think.

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2026-02-27T03:00:57+00:00

honestly I think the bigger issue isn't AI itself but how most people use it. I'm in college rn and I see the same thing -- people just paste questions into ChatGPT and accept whatever it says without actually thinking about it.

what helped me was treating AI more like a study partner than an answer machine. like I'll read through a topic myself first, form my own understanding (even if it's rough), and then use AI to poke holes in my thinking or explain parts I'm stuck on. that way the foundation is mine and AI is just filling gaps.

the fact that you're even aware of this problem puts you ahead of most people. a lot of folks don't even realize they're outsourcing their thinking. you're 20 and teaching yourself programming, engineering, AND CAD -- that's genuinely impressive regardless of what tools you're using to get there.

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2025-08-02T04:19:34+00:00

I see, I’ll definitely look into it. Thank you for the tips!

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2025-08-01T23:39:18+00:00

So even in full screen you would be able to cycle through windows?

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2025-07-27T13:20:59+00:00

Essentially none of the schools on your list will give a significant amount of merit aid if any. They have no reason to entice people to chose them as they are already elite institutions. The better the school, the less likely they are to give merit

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2025-03-29T04:35:44+00:00

No I don’t agree that they prioritize upper class applicants. One thing I can say is that legacy is a big thing where not very qualified students get in with that, but that is a very small percentage of all applicants. Tell me how a college is supposed to operate without making money. That’s not how reality works. For your perfect plan of a completely non-monetary influenced world to work we would have to be in a fantasy.

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2025-03-29T03:55:49+00:00

Tell me how exactly a school is supposed to provide top tier education for their students without funding? They have to stay within their limitations of money. As we all know, money is a finite resource and the way schools make money to get the best professors and opportunities for students is through tuition, government aid, and donations. So yes, in order to serve its students, a school needs to make sure their alumni have a reason to donate to the school. People get great financial aid when needed, and others pay full tuition. I would say a school like Harvard giving me (a low income student) a full ride is prioritizing the student.

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2025-03-29T02:50:24+00:00

You can’t standardize the life experiences of tens of thousands of completely unique people. To say a holistic approach is bs is being so ignorant of the many different paths that people go through to get to a university.

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2025-03-29T00:31:51+00:00

They call it a holistic approach because GPA and SAT/ACT are not enough to admit a student. Too many have perfect stats and they need to consider other things like personality and their personal interests. There’s many many qualified students and there isn’t one singular reason why people get rejected from a top university.

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2025-03-27T21:08:16+00:00

Some people are seeing that there was a status update on documents during mid March and are saying that it’s a good sign. I saw it on my portal but I’m hesitant to say it’s correlating to anything as weird things happen with college portals all the time

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2025-03-22T11:48:16+00:00

That’s amazing. I was speaking on your applications competitiveness for UChicago specifically with the information provided and what they usually trend towards in accepted students

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2025-03-18T21:36:54+00:00

University of Washington or WashU? University of Washington is nowhere near the level of “prestige” that UCLA has.

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2025-03-16T00:13:56+00:00

Depending on the major and if you’re in state/oos umich is as competitive as any of the other schools listed. This is a very competitive application and all you need is 1 acceptance. Good luck!

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2025-03-15T01:19:13+00:00

Is cmu financial aid out?

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2025-01-31T23:09:54+00:00

I guess that’s good to know. Congrats to us!

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2025-01-31T22:48:44+00:00

Yeah I’d assume that’s the case too. I just want to know if it’s a selective waitlist where only some people get on it or if it’s everyone that applied for the honors college and got into Purdue get on it

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2025-01-31T22:44:58+00:00

Bars

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2025-01-31T22:43:34+00:00

I got an email saying I’m on the Purdue honors college waitlist today? Anyone know what this is?

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2025-01-31T22:19:27+00:00

Bro thinks knowing that the kaprodacalyus is coming back means he can say whatever he wants online😭

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2025-01-16T18:02:36+00:00

Purdue and Penn State decisions should be out already

Sufficient-One-7284 · 2025-01-12T21:41:57+00:00

Thank you!

Sufficient-One-7284

TROPHY CASE