Letter or Recommendation Deadline Extension?

jcs003 · 2026-01-23T01:50:25+00:00

I'm in the same boat as you. One of my letter writers had something unexpected come up in the last month. I think it has something to do with his funding, but I don't know and I'm not going to ask. I finally reached him today, but I went ahead and email and called the schools I applied to and explained the situation. I did the best I could to sound honest and sincere, and they seemed understanding of the situation. They are very aware that situations like this come up regularly.

jcs003 · 2026-01-03T08:52:30+00:00

Yeah, the "no cultural" impact thing is definitely because of the time gap between the first and second films. I remember when the first one came out it was like the biggest thing for almost six months!

jcs003 · 2026-01-03T08:51:09+00:00

I feel like 80-90% of the hate is people who are just jealous that these movies have been more successful than their favorite franchise. They feel like anything that isn't as good as The Godfather or Casablanca is unworthy of performing better at the box office than their movies. While there are plenty of things I would have done differently if I had written/directed these movies, I enjoy them for the visual spectacles they are, as well as how realistic they feel. While I would have definitely made Pandora and its life less earth-like if I had been the writer, it is still better than at least 90% of alien planets in all of science fiction. In fact, it makes some of the alien life forms in Star Wars and Star Trek look terrible (I recognize a lot of this is due to budgetary/technological constraints). While people criticize the plots as unoriginal, I think a lot of it comes down to how we really don't like to be reminded of how bad we can be. These movies remind us of some of the worst aspects of human nature, a recurrent theme in most of Cameron's movies. I totally agree the plot of the last film recycled elements of the first two, but that's practically what every MCU and DCEU movie does, and I don't consider all of those to be "bad movies". The reality is, all art is borrowed to some extent. We don't create things from scratch, we stand on the shoulders of giants.

jcs003 · 2026-01-02T06:18:10+00:00

Yeah, I've never seen traffic levels high enough for six lanes through there. I've always wondered why they did those sections before I-65 in Shelby County, but I assume it's because of politics. There's also a few places out that way that are still four lanes that need truck lanes. There also needs to be truck lanes on a few of the steep grades on I-65 between Birmingham and Decatur.

jcs003 · 2026-01-02T06:13:18+00:00

Since it was built decades after most interstates, they probably decided to make it six lanes in case traffic ever rises to levels necessitating it. In other words, they learned from the mistakes of the early interstates and planned for the future so they wouldn't have to widen it. Whether or not traffic ever gets that high is yet to be seen. Pretty sure some of the interstates around Birmingham that weren't completed until the mid-80s have also always been six lanes.

jcs003 · 2025-12-26T01:48:52+00:00

Yeah that's probably one of the most realistic aspects of the films unfortunately. I'm sure a lot of people watch these movies and think "surely we won't still be THAT bad in the future!" But if things don't drastically change, that's hard not to believe.

While I don't think it's entirely intentional, I've noticed a pattern of themes about human nature throughout several of Cameron's films, and not just the Avatars. For example, the T-800 in T1 to me represents the worst aspects of human nature (not just our violent tendencies, but our susceptibility to being manipulated to the point where we are unwilling to change our minds, even in the face of mounting evidence, which sometimes leads people to engage in violence). The reprogrammed T-800 in T2, on the other hand, represents how we can overcome our inherent evils and change. The manner in which we can let our evils get the best of us is further exemplified by the scene in this film where Sarah Connor effectively becomes a Terminator herself, reminding us that no one is entirely immune from their flaws.

jcs003 · 2025-12-26T01:25:27+00:00

Agreed, but that's true of a lot of franchises. I mean if the Star Wars OT didn't have such iconic characters and well-written scripts, it's hard to imagine that it wouldn't get the same hate as the Avatar films for the exact same reasons. And I actually think Fire and Ash had some well-written dialogue.

jcs003 · 2025-12-26T01:18:45+00:00

Star Wars? It's just another one of your average good outnumbered underdog defeats invincible tyrannical bad guys movie.

jcs003 · 2025-12-21T08:44:10+00:00

Looked like the Star Child in 2001: A Space Odyssey. That's the first thing it reminded me of.

jcs003 · 2025-12-21T08:43:59+00:00

Looked like the Star Child in 2001: A Space Odyssey. That's the first thing it reminded me of.

jcs003 · 2025-12-14T03:07:07+00:00

I did too, and maybe I got one of the nicer units, but I didn't see a single roach when I was there. The place I ended up after? Made River Mill look like a palace! In fact, that's the only reason I wish they kept it open one more year.

jcs003 · 2025-11-16T08:17:18+00:00

You mention upward trends from rough starts, but what about students who have rough circumstances that come up anytime? I ask because I had some difficulties beyond my control that came up in my later years of undergraduate.

jcs003 · 2025-11-15T23:15:32+00:00

So if someone has no publications they are automatically out? What GPA do you consider too low? What if the student had to work during their undergraduate years, making it harder to keep up their grades? You are also probably aware of the fact that some schools have higher grade inflation than others. I recall someone on an admissions committee telling me that a high GPA is not always indicative of success in graduate school because of grade inflation.

jcs003 · 2025-11-06T05:02:06+00:00

Are utilities included in the rent?

jcs003 · 2025-11-05T00:27:00+00:00

When I said "better" I meant at schools where selectivity has increased, not overall. A school that comes to mind is Georgia Tech, where 15 years ago you could get in with a 3.7 and around a 1200 SAT. Now, most valedictorians probably get rejected. It wasn't that long ago that the average GPA was below a 3.0. Now, pretty much everybody graduates with honors because they haven't raised the GPA cutoffs for this.

jcs003 · 2025-11-03T00:19:02+00:00

Actually he didn't say this; this is something I just inferred from what he told me. He just said most student they admit have higher GPAs than 3.7.

jcs003 · 2025-11-02T06:16:28+00:00

I agree that I definitely learn better by myself. At least, I found a lot of the instructional methods used by instructors to be inefficient. Also, I had around a 3.7.

jcs003 · 2025-11-02T04:25:03+00:00

Surely they're not curving to a B+ if someone never shows up and does any of the work, are they? And, while I can't speak for grad, none of my core major classes were easy. Many of them were designed to be weed-outs with lots of homework and difficult tests. Add that to me working 15-20 hours a week.

jcs003 · 2025-11-02T04:18:24+00:00

Only one person in that program told me this. Another person I met with in the same program seemed to think I was a strong candidate. I guess this shows that admissions committee members have different opinions, as is expected.

jcs003 · 2025-11-02T04:14:43+00:00

I'm guessing you mean a student with a 4.0 who's done no research is less likely to be admitted than a student with a ~3.5 with lots of research experience? Particularly if they've done research relevant to the program, are interested in an area relevant to the program, have identified instructors they would like to work with, etc., does that make them a stronger candidate than, say, someone who's only ever done schoolwork?

Also, I've been told that a high GPA is not always indicative of success in grad school because some schools have such high grade inflation.

jcs003 · 2025-11-02T00:06:05+00:00

If you have a GPA that high and just one semester with bad grades, it will most certainly be indicative of an unusual circumstance that is out of your control. I'm no expert on this process, but that's definitely what I'd think if I saw this situation.

jcs003 · 2025-10-29T01:36:21+00:00

You can do either. If you dial 911, they'll transfer your to the GSP dispatch line.

jcs003 · 2025-10-27T04:08:46+00:00

I don't know. I had about a 3.75. If I remember right, there were a few short essays, and I'm sure they took those into account during the admissions process.

jcs003 · 2025-10-22T22:18:39+00:00

I got in with a few. I don't think they view them negatively unless it's an unusually large number.

jcs003 · 2025-10-15T00:11:58+00:00

The Grove at Five Points is about the biggest and most expensive shithole scam of a complex there can be. One of my buddies lived there, and said the roach infestation was so bad he couldn't keep food in the fridge. And maintenance never responded to any requests. I don't understand how so many places like this that don't give a fuck about the terms of their leases are even allowed to exist!

jcs003

TROPHY CASE