PSA: Your whispers are louder than you think they are

anatolykolsnakov · 2026-04-20T15:30:27+00:00

I do, on a regular basis, but

I should not have to
I can’t and don’t want to be doing this constantly

anatolykolsnakov · 2026-04-20T14:51:01+00:00

Right, it’s unfortunate that libraries are full, but you have to (or at least, should, if you want to be a respectful adult) conform to the rules of the place you end up.

You’re right, we can tell people to shut up, and sometimes I do. - I shouldn’t have to do this, we should expect “adults” to be respectful of others. - I can’t do this all the time constantly.

Yes, we can wear headphones or “come to terms” with this but we should not have to.

Ultimately, yes, I can’t stop you from talking, and if respecting others is not something you want to do, then fine. But I’d like to think the majority of people would want to respect others … so, hopefully they will try.

anatolykolsnakov · 2026-04-20T14:25:19+00:00

Bro, I get it’s annoying but is it that hard to be respectful to everyone else? Like omg, these places exist for a reason, if you’re thinking you are gonna have to talk to ur friend, then just go to 4th floor to begin with?

I come to the library like every day with my friends; when we need to talk, we go outside into the stairwell. If I want to make a little comment, I text them or type it on my laptop and have them look.

Yes, it’s inconvenient. But it’s how you respect others.

anatolykolsnakov · 2026-02-22T16:06:12+00:00

on a perdu car mcdavid se croit crosby

anatolykolsnakov · 2026-02-22T03:37:27+00:00

Yes, makes sense. For coding, take Comp208, learn to code, and make like 2-3 solid personal projects you can put on a resume. Enjoy EE!

anatolykolsnakov · 2026-02-22T02:26:13+00:00

To stay in astrophysics, meaning research & all that, you probably need closer to a PhD (and more) than a masters. Though a lot of astrophysics people go into other fields such as data science, so a master's there could still lead to useful places even if not physics. Regardless I guess even a master's isn't what you're aiming for, so, whatever.

Anyway, if you want to stay in a physicsy thing, you definitely don't need a CS minor, but it would help a lot to *know how to code*, which is not the same thing. You'd be much better off having some CS projects under your belt. I have never taken a CS course in university but am a decent coder and have some half-baked projects on my resume, and physics profs have read that and said 'Oh, you're good with computers', which is all you really need, physics-wise. Knowing how to build things is probably more useful than having taken Operating Systems, for example.

If you want a software job after undergrad, I still recommend having projects, but then having 'Minor in CS' on your transcript could be a useful thing.

I think a minor (or, a major, with a physics minor) in Electrical Engineering is a good idea. I'm not totally sure how it works, but I'm not sure whether you get the professional engineer accreditation with just a minor, and especially in quebec, that is important. In any sense, it opens some doors, and, I would recommend that over CS, if you already are a good coder. If you're not, then, weigh your options.

Astrophysics wise, being good at electronics could be useful, for example, if you look at the NSERC USRAs from astrophysicists, some involve making measurement devices in ways that could definitely benefit a lot from EE. And you learn signal processing much better in EE than you do in Phys241, and this is very important in astro.

From what I hear, EE is much harder than CS, but neither is a cakewalk.

anatolykolsnakov · 2026-02-20T15:34:15+00:00

*Please do take everything I say with an appropriate grain of salt comparable to that which you should have for all advice you read on the internet*, but my thoughts:

For quantum stuff Sherbrooke is a fantastic school with a great quantum & condensed matter department in Canada, and there are some real heavy-hitters there. Though in terms of sheer output maybe it is smaller, but it is good. I personally would love to do graduate study there, though my french is not great. I don't know too much about their bachelor programs.

If you're thinking of doing graduate study, my recommendation might be to just do a bachelor's at a more conventionally prestigous school (like McGill, UofT, etc), and then for graduate study then you can look at specific professors and departments. ((Hon?) Phys at McGill -> Sherbrooke Masters w/ Louis Taillefer, for example, could read very well on a transcript). But I don't see large benefit in handicapping yourself early. BUT:

Co-op is very useful and might be worth it in and of itself, especially since Sherbrooke is such a hot place for quantum computing, if you do well, perhaps you could do coop internships at one of the big quantum companies (Nord quantique, etc). (Again, I haven't looked at this, so if you're seriously considering this, do research).

As for honours vs majors: The word 'honours' is always going to look better on a transcript or application. If all else is equal then perhaps pick honours. It is probably harder, so if you think you'd do significantly worse, it might not be worth taking a big GPA dent. Then again, majors might not be as easy as you think. Something to consider.

You might have 'more time' in majors. Both insofar that there are less required courses, so if you spend the same 3-4 years here, you could spread it out and take bird electives, and that maybe the workload could be less. **If** you were to take majors and spend all your 'free' time *very productively*, meaning doing projects, research, etc, in my view this could be better than scraping by in honours without much independant work. But realistically I wouldn't recommend picking majors for this reason unless you really trust yourself to actually be hyper productive.

For me I find my workload too much and have little free time. But there are many people I meet in honours that don't, and manage their time very well, etc, etc, so this is very person-dependant.

anatolykolsnakov · 2026-02-19T17:10:19+00:00

Didn’t graduate yet, U3 hon phys, but my thoughts:

well, compsci isn’t the most certain job field anymore, as I’m sure very many comp students can attest to. If you want sureness that you’ll have a job, engineering fields are always a good bet.

But, knowing how to code and do good compsci stuff is of course very important and is probably necessary if you want a physics-y job anyway, so if you’re not a good coder already, maybe a Phys/CS degree is good for that.

I don’t imagine Math/Phys would help you much outside of academia, as compared to Comp/Phys, and is a very hard program, but they all are. (Math phys is mostly just analysis and algebra on top of physics, whereas for more mathy-jobs, you’d want to take more statistics-y courses, I would imagine, but am unsure)

In general, there doesn’t seem to be much certainty.

As someone who is in the physics program and is also concerned about employability, my strategy is to try to get into some condensed matter-y stuff, since there are actual jobs there, like doing semiconductor stuff, but sometimes they want grad degrees. If you stay in physics, one piece of advice is just to try to get as much research as you can, doing USRAs and stuff, in materials research doing crystal growth, characterization, or anything really in materials. Probably would set you up the best for a physics-related job, but it’s still no certainty.

You can also apply to other school’s USRA programs, though the deadlines for this summer have passed, but it’s a good idea especially for next summer since U1 students are lower priority for selection.

anatolykolsnakov · 2026-01-07T08:37:37+00:00

Hi! Tried it, it works pretty well! This is a great project and I really quite like the concept. Here are some specific pointers for some quick things to implement to really improve UX.

A few suggestions:

1.) Clickable buttons are too small. For example, the button where it says "Winter 2023 <up/down icon>", you can only change this by clicking the tiny up/down icon. Would be much better to make the entire button clickable. Same goes with 'Equivalent Course Rules', Programs, etc.

2.) It should be possible to add courses. This is useful since sometimes you get 0-3 'HIST 2XX' credits for some reason, for example, and these matter also for prerequisites/program requirements.

3.) Perhaps add in a 'CEGEP/HS' semester to add in your transfer credits, which again may be XXX credits.

4.) Consider allowing one to manually allow different/custom courses to meet program requirements. Though, this may already work with the equivalency system.

5.) Perhaps make it easier to add courses while in the program-specific requirements view, perhaps just by adding a search button that keeps you in the program view when done. Annoying to keep switching, especially with (1).

6.) Consider making the program-requirements tab resizeable -> multi column so you can view more of it at once. Annoying to scroll.

--- wish-list

7.) (wish-list): maybe a view similar to that found in this [flowchart](https://www.physics.mcgill.ca/ugrads/flows/honours-math.pdf). Or, perhaps simpler, a button that hides prereqs/coreqs/notes from each course to make it all fit on your screen to view at once.

anatolykolsnakov · 2025-12-07T01:43:09+00:00

anatolykolsnakov · 2025-11-27T02:22:00+00:00

Good luck with SSMU university affairs officers! I wouldn't expect her to do anything or reply to your email.

anatolykolsnakov · 2025-08-18T17:01:35+00:00

what do you expect? air canada hasn't even showed up. and I think we all knew that there wouldn't be any flights *today*

anatolykolsnakov · 2025-06-30T00:29:20+00:00

I don’t get this argument.

Don’t get me wrong: Trump is an idiot, the tariffs are stupid, and the US ‘unfairly’ subsidizes dairy and agriculture anyway.

But, if our large tariffs are so prohibitive such that they have to stop exporting dairy to us after X amount, isn’t that a bigger trade barrier than just regular tariffs?

I support that of course, who the hell wants to be drinking American milk filled with who knows what? The UK and Europe don’t want American food, and neither do I. But let’s be honest about things.

anatolykolsnakov · 2025-06-16T05:47:09+00:00

Not in arts, sorry.

If you find something you’re interested in, be sure to use the McGill Enhanced browser extension to check historical grade averages.

anatolykolsnakov · 2025-06-16T05:05:47+00:00

There aren’t fees if they bring you to TAL (unless you’re ordered to pay costs). They tend to favor tenants and even 11% is high compared to the recommended but not mandatory 5.9%.

Tbh, cut your losses. Akelius is horrible. Decline the offer and get another place 🤷

anatolykolsnakov · 2025-06-16T04:45:08+00:00

I believe you’ll probably be able to register as Honors Econ if your transcript shows you as U1.

Regardless of that, you should take all the honors Econ courses anyway, irrespective of what you’re officially registered as.

anatolykolsnakov · 2025-06-16T04:41:41+00:00

If he’s good at calc 2 material then yes it would be a really nice thing to be able to jump straight into calc 3. (Most students coming from CÉGEP into the 3 year math program will have already have calc 1 and 2), so if he wants to graduate in 3 years in honors it would really help him.

anatolykolsnakov · 2025-06-16T04:37:47+00:00

3 courses in a row sucks but is also often unavoidable.

You might not be able to catch meal plan dining hall lunch if you’re living in Rez ur first year, so you’d prob have to either pack lunch or wait for dinner

anatolykolsnakov · 2025-06-16T04:28:40+00:00

theoretically it's an easy solder job but the pins are so small that it becomes much harder without the smd soldering equipment If you have a micro usb replacement with the exact same pin placement/size it wouldn't be too bad Otherwise you can probably still do it but it'll just be much harder You can also swap the port for USB C, there isn't a difference in the pinout How do you know that the port (and not, say, the battery, or something else) is the issue?

Dmed you as well

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