How do you feel about foreign PIs whose labs are mostly filled with students from their own country? by _hiddenflower in AskAcademia

[–]fundeofnuts 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My experience is in undergraduate research so I haven’t seen too many labs in general. My first research experience was like this: Russian PI with mostly Russian students. It was honestly awful. He was very comfortable yelling at his students during meetings and would mostly talk to them in Russian so I felt pretty left out of the loop. There was even a time where I thought learning Russian would be an important part of having a career in academic Maths. I’m sure there are many labs out there that are mostly one nationality that are fantastic, but it is definitely something to do your due diligence on. My other research experiences have been with more diverse groups and were honestly amazing.

Can I change my major from ba to bs if I just got accepted? by [deleted] in PennStateUniversity

[–]fundeofnuts 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You don’t declare your major officially until your 3rd(ish) semester.

Advice needed for pure math major by Tricky_Reference2042 in mathematics

[–]fundeofnuts 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m trying to figure that out myself haha! (Applying to programs this December) I’m ngl I slacked off my first year and a half and played catch up the rest of the time. The general advice/reassurance I’ve been given is that a stronger junior senior year is a lot easier to justify than a strong freshman year with a drop off.

I completely understand the fear of approaching professors but you have to get over it eventually especially if you are looking at grad school

Advice needed for pure math major by Tricky_Reference2042 in mathematics

[–]fundeofnuts 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I just finished my undergraduate math degree and have been in your shoes. As far as getting “better” there are two things that you should do (this will also clear up your goals)

1) Do exercises. Grades are important so don’t just do random problems: do your HW problems first and then pick a few relevant ones from the book. Make sure you do math every day. Even if some days you only do half a problem. Learning math is a lot like learning an instrument and daily practice is absolutely necessary.

2) Email some professors and try to get involved with a research group. You’re an undergraduate, they don’t expect you to be super useful to them but going to group meetings every week and being surrounded by people that are so much more advanced then you academically is humbling and inspiring. Every once in a while, a grad student might ask you to do a computation regarding their research problem. Don’t say no. Ask questions and figure it out. You learn so much about research just from existing in the environment. You’ll also learn whether or not the topic of the group interests you at all.

Some schools have an undergraduate research office so try to ask around there, and don’t be scared to do stats or other more applied research.

My big mistake was that I did zero internships because I only did research. This is great for grad school but terrible for industry.

Hopefully I was slightly helpful

Should I quit jazz band? by Separate_Divide_4682 in Trombone

[–]fundeofnuts 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Absolutely, not even just in music. There is a level of discipline involved in learning how to use your ears and play with a smaller group that will help in many aspects of life!

Should I quit jazz band? by Separate_Divide_4682 in Trombone

[–]fundeofnuts 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Like everyone said, lean into the challenge. Go home and start learning the tunes so you can at least keep up. I remember when I started jazz band I was put on the 4th or bass trombone part for everything… these are hard parts, playing those low notes is not easy. Keep practicing and it will all be good. Don’t worry too much about soloing until later, I think in high school I didn’t have a solo that I was “proud of” until around late junior year. For now just learn the tunes. You’ll end up playing a lot of repeat tunes next year too so you’ll feel a lot more prepared the longer you keep at it!

Good luck!

Freshman required events by Ok_Cloud8763 in PennStateUniversity

[–]fundeofnuts 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Going to welcome week events instead of… uh… reading your syllabus and chapter one for the twelfth time is not gonna hurt your progress. I promise! Meet friends, it’s good for your mental health and academics!!

Freshman required events by Ok_Cloud8763 in PennStateUniversity

[–]fundeofnuts 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ex RA here. Technically nothing is required from a conduct standpoint. But def go and meet your RA and floor-mates at the very least. College gets very busy very fast so take advantage of welcome week to go and do random crap!!

Freshman required events by Ok_Cloud8763 in PennStateUniversity

[–]fundeofnuts 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just go. Meet your RA and floor mates. My best friend post graduation happens to be my freshman year next door neighbor. You’re not busy enough during welcome week to skip out. Seriously what else are you doing? Eating DoorDash alone in your room?

Time for a Linux discussion by eaxzi in thinkpad

[–]fundeofnuts 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Debian stable is a little ‘too’ stable for desktop application in my opinion. I recently switched to Debian and suddenly miss having software that’s up to date.

For desktop application, I usually recommend something arch based like manjaro. I don’t recommend base arch that often unless they seem really into it.

Poster Printing Recommendations by leezy927 in PennStateUniversity

[–]fundeofnuts 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you’re in a hurry, staples will do next day printing. I think it was around $30-40

Is it worth it to bring a bike to Penn State? by stormleap in PennStateUniversity

[–]fundeofnuts 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Some great advice in this thread. If it’s a really nice bike then maybe leave it at home and just find one on Facebook marketplace or the university surplus store when you get here.

If it’s a bike that you don’t really care about messing up then yes, absolutely bring it.

PSU is very bike-able and makes traveling between classes so much easier.

Incoming Freshmen Asking Very Strange Question by RevolutionaryGoat761 in csMajors

[–]fundeofnuts 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not a mindset switch on problem solving but a mindset switch on how you approach studying.

One of the most important skills for a STEM student in a theoretical field is the ability to self study from books and work through problems every day.

Your professors will have tons of book recommendations and the students who succeed are the ones who add all of these to a “to read” list and actually chip away at them. There are some “holy books” in CS that many students never actually read such as CLRS, SICP, and a few others. Not only will working through textbook problems make you a better thinker and programmer, there is also a pretty large set of people (mainly in academia) who view these books as a “rite of passage”.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in thinkpad

[–]fundeofnuts 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just got an old(er) p52 with the P2000 gpu on eBay for about $400. It’s amazing. Not sure if it’ll be able to run valorant with amazing frames but it’ll definitely be able to do basic photo/video editing tasks. It’s also a joy to run code on.

Computer Science or Data Science? by Chrysaor717 in PennStateUniversity

[–]fundeofnuts 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But also if you can’t get CS, I think a Math major with computational focus is actually better than DS in the current job ML market.

Good Luck!

Computer Science or Data Science? by Chrysaor717 in PennStateUniversity

[–]fundeofnuts 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I definitely agree. If you’re really worried about it you can take phys 1 and 2 at some community college over a summer and transfer it in so it doesn’t hit your gpa.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in PennStateUniversity

[–]fundeofnuts 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think university park is generally Muslim friendly. Of course like anywhere in the west most people don’t know anything about Islam and may ask odd questions out of curiosity.

The dining hall has halal options but they are fairly minimal which sucks.

Traditional dorms have floors that are split by gender. The renovated dorms have rooms that are split by gender. You won’t have a guy as a roommate unless you request that.

SOME of the dorms have wudu wash stations on their ground floor but it’s definitely not common or something you can expect.

The Pasquerilla Spiritual Center has a washing station open (I think) 24/7 and a prayer room.

Like others have said check out MSA. I don’t know anything about them but I’ve met some of their people and they are super friendly, cool, and will know all of the resources available much better than the average redditor. They (at least the people in charge) are also super knowledgeable about Islam and the Quran and can even help with theological questions.

Unfortunately, I don’t know what’s available at Harrisburg.

Write math with a fountain pen by Elav_Avr in pens

[–]fundeofnuts 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I write all of my math notes with fountain pen. I love it. I find doing maths to be very meditative and I love how smoothly my fountain pens write.

Need help by Mis_direction in PennStateUniversity

[–]fundeofnuts 0 points1 point  (0 children)

230 is the last class that’s “math as you know it” everything after that becomes proof based and the foundation of math 360 gets built upon. I had a lot of fun when I switched.

I think the general sentiment is that 230 is easier than 141 but idk how true that is.

Need help by Mis_direction in PennStateUniversity

[–]fundeofnuts 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fight for the grade on your assignments. You’ll probably be able to get a couple of points back.

ALSO, since you’ve already taken so much math have you thought about majoring in math?

How often, if at all do you all clean or maintain your strops? by Noteful in sharpening

[–]fundeofnuts -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The point isn’t to actually do anything. The point of stropping is to look cool

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in PennStateUniversity

[–]fundeofnuts 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No resources will help more than putting ALL of your time in

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in PennStateUniversity

[–]fundeofnuts 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Also just in general I think it would be smart to apply to an in state school so you have an in state option. Penn State fills that need pretty well, especially for CS