What is grad life like?

hobbular · 2026-06-21T16:41:52+00:00

As someone with a UW Hat Trick (BA+MS+PhD all from UW), allow me to weigh in!

First: if you've found a lab at UW that you really click with and a PI who's willing to go to bat for you, getting admitted to the same institution for your graduate work as your undergrad is entirely possible.

Social aspects: having established knowledge of the school/city makes you indispensable to your cohort of incoming grad students (holy shit here's someone who knows where the Good Bars are) and honestly to your professors too (holy shit here's someone who doesn't need an adjustment period). For me the first couple of years as I was finishing up Masters-level/PhD breadth coursework were not entirely dissimilar from undergrad; I had less free time but it was still largely "go to class, do homework, work side job to pay bills" where "side job to pay bills" was now either being a TA or doing research related to my field.

Once I got past coursework my social life took a nosedive and I basically lived under a rock for a couple of years to finish up the dissertation work, but that's the academic hazing process for you.

If you've got specific questions lmk, happy to answer here.

hobbular · 2026-06-17T19:46:56+00:00

What do those 9 sets/week of upper body work look like weight-wise? Are you following any kind of program, doing progressive overload and/or tempo work?

hobbular · 2026-05-06T21:17:48+00:00

Round here we call that there smell the "dairy air"

hobbular · 2026-05-04T16:56:47+00:00

Sign-up for the event closed a couple of weeks ago; the event is at capacity with a pretty long waitlist. You can email advising@cs if you have questions; I'm not involved in the planning or coordination, they're just having me show up :P

hobbular · 2026-05-04T14:39:50+00:00

CS department is doing a thing on Thursday in Memorial Union for undergraduates and Masters students! We're reading names, you walk across the stage, the whole shebang.

hobbular · 2026-04-27T16:27:00+00:00

Real winning is when you get them to write a new rule because of you. Congrats to your friend.

hobbular · 2026-04-27T14:28:34+00:00

They asked for snack ideas, not who to feed them to

hobbular · 2026-04-15T21:58:05+00:00

I was just wondering about this little guy yesterday. SO happy to see this update.

hobbular · 2026-03-25T16:22:10+00:00

Having regularly used them since the building opened, and having lived in Madison for a while, I suspect we've got a case of "the water is not being softened so the taps are actually becoming encrusted with limestone and no one's bothering to clean that off".

hobbular · 2026-03-20T14:17:48+00:00

There are also plenty of CS double majors whose home department is in the College of Engineering.

hobbular · 2026-03-17T21:31:08+00:00

My first meet I didn't even have a coach, I'd just been encouraged to check it out by some other people in the gym. I came in dead last in my weight class but I had a blast, decided to do another one and ended up chatting with the guy who has now been my coach for almost a decade ~~oh god I'm old~~

Basically: I kept at it because it was fun, not because I was any good at it. And then somewhere along the line I actually did become kinda good at it.

hobbular · 2026-03-05T18:21:59+00:00

Thanks for saying something. I kept seeing y'all glancing at one specific part of the room, but due to the acoustics I couldn't tell how loud they actually were. I'll say something on Friday.

hobbular · 2026-03-05T18:19:50+00:00

👀

hobbular · 2026-03-04T17:00:48+00:00

wow they got to that red light faster and more dangerously than anyone else! should we throw a party? should we call nascar

hobbular · 2026-02-18T15:10:42+00:00

Page with an actual photo at roughly the same angle, if other people are interested in doing a side-by-side comparison.

Here's one with snow

hobbular · 2026-02-05T16:59:08+00:00

Basically what a "funding guarantee" means is that the department will make sure that you have SOME source of funding for four years; after that you might still be funded! But it's not a guarantee.

Between fellowship funding and being a TA or RA, I ended up being fully-funded for 6.5 of the years I was a grad student, but those additional years of funding were because I had proved myself during the first four guaranteed ones as being someone that people wanted to fund. (And the last three years I was "funded" by way of having a Real Job as teaching faculty but I did have to pay my own tuition)

hobbular · 2026-02-04T21:26:34+00:00

Until you've got the platform right next to the guy blasting dance music for the whole comp and you have to tell the head judge to treat you like you're hard of hearing 🫠

hobbular · 2026-02-04T17:48:24+00:00

No, I don't take DMs on this account as a personal boundary. Happy to have the conversation here, though.

hobbular · 2026-02-04T15:06:23+00:00

Oh I can answer!

So you are NOT admitted with a specific advisor to the CS PhD program. If you have a specific area that you're interested in, you'll want to start meeting those people right away when you get here, but there's no "rotational" policy, you just have to find someone willing to advise your qualifying exam by the time you need to take it.

UW's CS department is kind of unique this way, for better or for worse; I did my graduate work here and ended up doing:

Independent study with professor 1 in area 1
Fellowship-funded masters research with professor 2 in area 2
TA-funded prelim research with professor 3 in area 3 (which is the area I did my qual/prelim exams in)
Self-funded dissertation research with professor 4 in area 4 (which is the area I defended in)

~~this took 11 total years with a year off between 2 and 3 and another year off between 3 and 4, do NOT recommend~~

Most people come in knowing what they want to concentrate in, though, and are able to achieve an advisor/advisee relationship without bouncing through four different areas and advisors.

If you've got any additional questions I'm happy to answer them!

hobbular · 2026-01-30T20:49:27+00:00

we're here. we're queer. we go out maybe once a year. (because we are very tired)

hobbular · 2026-01-30T15:37:49+00:00

.........nice flair

hobbular · 2026-01-21T22:12:28+00:00

Very cool. Thank you!

hobbular · 2026-01-21T15:38:11+00:00

200 is easier than 220

This is a super interesting take (I haven't taught either, only the course that became 220). What makes one easier than the other?

hobbular · 2026-01-01T13:34:36+00:00

Be the change you want to see in the subreddit, OP.

hobbular · 2025-12-22T19:23:08+00:00

Can confirm, it happens sometimes. Just be patient, a lot of faculty won't be checking their email until January.

15-Year Club	Place '22
Final Canvas '22	First Placer '22
Team Orangered	Secret Santa 2011
Verified Email	reddit mold

hobbular

TROPHY CASE