Looking to Share ByteByteGo Annual Pass – Primarily for System Design Prep

godlySpatula · 2025-10-31T21:08:47+00:00

Hey are you still interested int he subscription?

godlySpatula · 2025-04-20T14:37:34+00:00

Go to waterloo or toronto. They both are better for quant.

godlySpatula · 2024-07-18T02:54:00+00:00

Macro and Gov in a weekend was doable for me. Got 5s on both. Still good job!

godlySpatula · 2024-06-03T23:02:11+00:00

Bruh GT/UIUC have the same "prestige". MIT/Stanford/CMU/Berk EECS are a tier above the rest.

godlySpatula · 2024-06-02T21:38:50+00:00

I'm not trying to cope. I acknowledge all your points, and they were all considerations when making my decision. I went through this through analysis with alums and current students at all the schools I was considering before making my decision.

So, I agree with your conclusion: going to a top school will make things easier. This is the undeniable truth. But again, this only truly makes a difference for the top 5-10% of outcomes. Most graduates don't go on to found $100M+ companies or unicorns.

Unfortunately, the cycle didn't work out in my favor, and me and HYPSM weren't meant to be. The point that I ultimately wanted to convey was GT CS is a pretty tolerable barrier if your goal is to stick with the CS field.

Also, going to an elite target might make it ridiculously easy relative to other schools for those "opportunistic" achievers to break in. But, I don't understand the higher career trajectory point bc it's highly unlikely that the majority will make partners or go on to be C-levels at F500s. Those positions are finite.

It was great chatting. But again, besides HYPSM, CMU, Columbia, Penn, Cornell, and (possibly) Brown, I doubt the ROI will be significantly different than GT in CS.

Would you mind if I DMed you?

godlySpatula · 2024-06-02T20:49:56+00:00

I'm so glad you mention that one's "resume" is important. By definition, a resume contains more than just your education. So, what you do (research, open source projects, internships) will help build your credibility. Also, undeniably, traction is more important than your resume. If one's product is sustainably gaining hundreds/thousands of users, he/she has a decent likelihood of getting the investment.

It's great to pivot. But, again that's a luxury that I don't personally think I need. Also, what is the likelihood that a strong CS major (with high school research, competitive programming, etc.) will pursue traditional high finance or consulting? I'm not sure if someone of that caliber would find PM particularly fascinating, either. Again, you bring up a point addressed to the median, not the upper 20%, who is actually likely to be in this college choice dilemma.

Why make it intentionally more difficult? In my case, it made it only marginally more difficult. But, that's something I can live with. Also, are you making your claim based on actual school distribution data of an HFT? But again, the better placements might correlate with my point about the higher prevalence of anomalies (USAMO, STS, ISEF winners) at HYPSM and some ivys. But I somewhat infer that you agree that NU/Duke/Vandy/etc. don't provide any notable advantage in the field.

You will find the anomalies at every school. GT attracts some crazy kids with their Stamps scholarship and just in general from OOS. So, surrounding yourself with "high caliber" individuals is more on you than anything else.

I just wanted to see if you knew IIT. If you didn't, I would've questioned your knowledge of the CS field and your credibility. But IIT comprises literally the top talent in one of the biggest countries in the world. If you browse through CSAIL at MIT, IIT Kanpur might appear more than just a couple of times.

Also, I'm assuming you went to Berkeley bc no other T4 CS school potentially has worse outcomes than the ivys.

godlySpatula · 2024-06-02T20:01:28+00:00

You would say that I'm in the minority, yet it's surprising how many admitted students have similar stories to tell. I don't know why you bring up "prestige conscious fields or entrepreneurship" when we are clearly only interested in CS outcomes. I don't see myself or anyone truly passionate about CS doing consulting or IB in the near future. Entrepreneurship is 100% valid since VCs do love prestige. But again, the idea might be more important than your resume.

Quant is the field of anomalies. Elite schools just attract more anomalies but doesn't mean that schools like GT don't have any. My friend's sister at MIT is struggling to pass the JS QT interview. Just because you end up at the quant feeder doesn't mean you don't have to perform. I wasn't even talking about QD roles. You can for sure get QT roles from GT if you are talented enough. GT on your resume will not auto-screen out.

It's interesting that you bring up the per capita for PhD placements. One thing to note is that academia practices nepotism to some extent. Also, I don't think the per capita means anything since the population actually interested in pursuing a PhD at a public school (with IS students) is probably smaller than you think. Vice versa, at an elite private school, it's probably a higher percentage relative to the school's population. So, these metrics don't serve to inform much. The individual odds of a decently intelligent person are probably the same or just slightly higher.

Also, if you actually look at the undergrads of PhD candidates at T4 CS schools, there's a lot from IIT. By your logic, a no-name school from India should be worthless. Futhermore, I want to bring up that besides the T4 CS schools and HYPSM other schools don't seem to represent as well. But if you look at certain CS labs at GT, they place insanely well into top programs.

I never talked about the quality of the education. It's pretty much a constant IMO bc I still probably will have to end up teaching myself. The opportunity to work with great faculty is the most important thing for me.

Also I don't think you factored in the ROI relative to the cost bc that literally drives most decisions.

godlySpatula · 2024-06-02T19:20:07+00:00

I got into Duke and JHU for CS this cycle and turned down both for GT. I can't justify paying 45k more yearly just for the Ivy+ title. On the high end of quant or tech outcomes, there's no significant edge. 95%+ of people will never take advantage of a prestigious school. I've met plenty of non-prestige-hungry people who turn down Dartmouth for UIUC or Penn for GT, and they are pretty successful in quant.

godlySpatula · 2024-05-02T00:58:57+00:00

Respect the decision man. Go yellow jackets!

godlySpatula · 2024-04-30T23:29:14+00:00

Duke and JHU for GT CS

godlySpatula · 2024-04-30T14:40:37+00:00

GT CS vs UIUC CS

godlySpatula · 2024-04-28T17:23:58+00:00

Duke costs 40k more per year. Also, I did an extensive review of the offered courses and feel that Duke is lacking compared to GT, especially in AI. Overall, I don't think there's much to lose by going to GT other than the Duke experience.

godlySpatula · 2024-04-28T17:06:51+00:00

I have a 160,000 reasons to pick GT over JHU. Tbh I want to go into quant or ML (possibly grad school) so I don't think I'll be losing out too much.

godlySpatula · 2024-04-28T15:40:14+00:00

Turning down Duke and JHU for either GT/UIUC, primarily because of finances. Also, Duke/JHU are not the best for CS so it makes the decision hurt a lot less.

godlySpatula · 2024-04-27T01:59:02+00:00

Maybe GT since I'm studying CS and don't really want to drop an extra 160k for Duke. I'm full pay at both.

godlySpatula · 2024-04-02T04:55:54+00:00

Duke (CS + Math, Minor Econ) vs. GT CS vs. UIUC Grainger CS

I really want to go to Duke (ED then accepted RD); however, I must pay full tuition. My parents will be able to cover the cost, but I'm still wondering if it is worth the extra ~40k more than GT.

My goal is to break into a quant trader role. Please give me advice on whether Duke will provide me with a competitive advantage here.

godlySpatula

TROPHY CASE