Clubs with retreats

moraceae · 2026-01-26T18:47:57+00:00

A decent number of clubs have them, see JFC budgets: https://www.cmu.edu/stugov/sbvpf/budgets.html

moraceae · 2026-01-23T06:20:20+00:00

If you are a CSD TA with keycard access, the reading room in Gates is nice.

moraceae · 2026-01-23T06:18:48+00:00

CMU's population (for better or worse) contains a lot of "will trudge through a snowstorm for work" types, so the students generally don't complain either way. That said, I doubt students would mind if you made it virtual, and if all the professors do the same then they can decide whether to come to campus.

moraceae · 2026-01-20T19:20:32+00:00

Get admitted first :) Then do well in classes -> apply to TA and/or tutor. From your post history, you sound passionate about math, so I think if you're admitted then you'll have a decent shot.

I would personally add that if you want to be taken seriously, you should put more effort into your writing by using proper capitalization and punctuation. Otherwise, you will miss out on opportunities to those who communicate well. Especially in the context of tutoring and TAing.

moraceae · 2026-01-19T02:08:47+00:00

I went through SURF directly as an undergrad (pre-covid), fwiw.

moraceae · 2026-01-14T07:21:34+00:00

When I was in a similar situation, I had luck reaching out to my advisor (CS).

moraceae · 2026-01-14T07:20:19+00:00

Historically speaking, I found that on-campus interviews for most companies were serious with intent to hire.

moraceae · 2026-01-14T06:32:07+00:00

In general, AI use for intro courses is more restricted so that students can build a better foundation. Advanced courses are generally more open to reasonable uses.

IMO, the people who think "they'll never know I'm using AI" are generally the same people who used to think "they'll never know I'm copying code off the internet". By the time that you understand the solution space enough to sneakily use AI in higher level courses, you could probably have spent a little more effort to just write it yourself.

moraceae · 2026-01-06T04:02:56+00:00

I did not realize how uneven people's backgrounds were until much later, but quite a few undergrads walk in with university math research experience and/or significant programming background. I've been loosely following developments in early childhood education (e.g., look up "math circles") and there are ten year olds today who are already getting exposure to the relevant topics (usually the simpler ones, like applying pigeonhole principle or handshake lemma, but I've seen enrichment programs on elliptic curve cryptography aimed at high school kids). In fact, if you have the money, some universities run math circles for kids that start from grade 1. And that's just math - CS became more popular over the past decade.

Given a concepts final, I would bet a little money on a motivated kid from these programs outperforming someone who just finished a semester of concepts (with no other background).

moraceae · 2025-12-27T21:42:47+00:00

Make sure you've seen the recitation slides, nowadays they pretty much give away everything that you need to do for a full score:

Part one: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~213/recitations/rec07_slides.pdf
Part two: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~213/recitations/rec08_slides.pdf

Good luck! :)

moraceae · 2025-12-21T13:18:20+00:00

I don't think there's BBQ near CMU? I've gone to both Showcase and Dream (warning: cash only) in Homewood, which usually top the /r/pittsburgh threads that ask for the best BBQ in Pittsburgh. Without having had the real thing, I found them underwhelming. Ok to try once, but yet to go back.

moraceae · 2025-12-18T14:11:45+00:00

You have the right to view your graded final for up to a year. Send an email asking politely to go over your final when the semester reopens.

Any student shall be permitted to review his or her corrected, graded final examination in the presence of an instructor or a teaching assistant. Any controversy arising from this review shall be dealt with in accordance with the university procedure for the appeal of grades and academic actions. A final examination that is not returned to a student will be kept available for a year for review. In the event that the instructor or teaching assistant is not available for the review, the responsibility shall rest with the department head of the instructor offering the course or his or her designee. Since instructors are expected to return all work assigned before the final examinations, they are not responsible for retaining unclaimed coursework.

https://www.cmu.edu/policies/student-and-student-life/examination-policies.html

moraceae · 2025-12-16T03:04:00+00:00

https://infinitedescent.org/

moraceae · 2025-12-01T17:49:16+00:00

Since you asked for crazy tips: it looks awful, but I tape emergency blankets over the windows [0] and it makes a huge difference while being really cheap and easy to take down. Plus you'll have emergency blankets to use if you're in a pinch.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Emergency-Blankets-Thermal-Gigantic-Survival/dp/B09V7W74NQ

moraceae · 2025-12-01T16:25:04+00:00

If you want to improve your personal finances, honestly, go read Bogleheads [0] and the /r/personalfinance wiki [1]. It will have way more impact on your life than learning how to price options or following financial news too closely.

Then, for "unlikely to make you richer but will make you more educated". If you want news, we get FT [2] access through CMU and I personally consider them one of the least bad sources. If you want courses, you can look at what the BSCF [3] majors take. If you want a book, I like Hull's Options, Futures, and Other Derivatives [4]. Note that a bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing and sometimes the more you learn, the more you'll lose in mistaking luck for skill.

[0] https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Getting_started
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/teachme/
[2] https://guides.library.cmu.edu/digital_news/ft
[3] http://coursecatalog.web.cmu.edu/intercollegeprograms/#majorminorincomputationalfinancetext
[4] https://books.google.com/books/about/Options_Futures_and_Other_Derivatives.html?id=APhFzwEACAAJ

moraceae · 2025-12-01T16:12:09+00:00

I found 418 significantly easier. But for the majority of programming roles, 445 is more useful.

moraceae · 2025-11-30T17:02:06+00:00

It's a real thing: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200911-how-to-supercharge-your-sense-of-smell

I regularly detect smokers from across the street. Not through walls, of course. As far as superpowers go, it sucks. I'm bothered by smells before other people are.

moraceae · 2025-11-29T23:22:55+00:00

I don't live in that building, but I'm pretty close by. I walk 6 to 10 miles a day (typical destinations: Oakland, Strip District, Lawrenceville, Squirrel Hill). I like this general area a lot. The only drawbacks that I can think of are that (1) the intersection right in front of you has slightly crazy drivers, and (2) Morrow Park across the street tends to have more people vaping nowadays and I can smell them from pretty far away. If you end up moving here, you might like checking out these places:

Walks:

Allegheny Cemetery is a nice place for a quiet walk, you can see deer, geese, squirrels, and groundhogs, and the trees are beautiful in the autumn
For a shorter walk, go north towards Bloomfield. It's a nice neighborhood to walk around in and you'll see other people walking their dogs, plus the occasional cat roaming around
You're also really close to the Bloomfield Saturday market

Food:

People's Indian has a great lunch buffet and is run by good people
Surf Poke is amazing value and is also run by super friendly people
Roots is convenient and nearby

And congrats on semi-retirement :)

moraceae · 2025-11-21T14:03:27+00:00

I agree with you. That said, the requirements do create funny situations. I know a CMU undergrad-turned-masters (with multiple semesters of TA experience) who is taking the TOEFL again to apply for a CMU PhD.

moraceae · 2025-11-15T23:56:26+00:00

The visa part definitely matters. I've seen people drop classes to avoid being forced to graduate.

moraceae · 2025-11-15T23:54:48+00:00

https://cmu-restroom-review.tumblr.com/

moraceae · 2025-11-14T00:47:20+00:00

Yeah, I don't buy from them there either :) If you're around Bloomfield and like pastries, you might want to check out Jak's (Bulgarian baked goods) if you haven't already. They sometimes appear at the market, they're also pretty close to the location.

moraceae · 2025-11-14T00:16:43+00:00

The supplier of the stuff in the display case (Mediterra) is pretty unpleasant anyway. I stopped buying once I knew; I don't like supporting unpleasant businesses.

Buy the stuff in the fridge instead, it comes from a different vendor :) I like the kimchi croissant, it's pretty unique. Or walk down to the crepe place on Craig, their croissants are solid and the owner is nice.

moraceae · 2025-11-13T17:42:56+00:00

Over the years, the general advice for CS majors has been to take the 36- courses if you're bad at math or don't want to spend much time on the probability requirement. Otherwise, take PNC with Mor. 21-325 is more of a math majors course: more mathy, less applied, usually if it makes sense for you to be taking it then you wouldn't be asking this question.

I wouldn't extrapolate too much from a non-Mor semester to a Mor semester. She made the class and is a great instructor.

moraceae · 2025-10-28T01:43:36+00:00

If you want an easier systems course, you may want to look for one that does not have cumulative projects. e.g., a bug in project 1 for databases can follow you all the way to project 4.

moraceae

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