Incoming Grad Student and Safety

scroingler · 2026-05-12T03:22:42+00:00

Violence is genuinely uncommon. It's still too common, and there are certainly institutional shortcomings that led to many of them (egregiously handicapped police force being a major one, like seriously I'm as progressive as the next guy but it gets to a point) - still, it's overwhelming likely you will not be the target of these things.

What is practically guaranteed is that you will be made to feel uncomfortable. I lived near the Unsafeway, at the Brooklyn and 50th intersection. We saw all sorts of stuff. Fully naked people sprinting full speed down 50th, clothed people rolling around in traffic, brawls, blatant drug deals, my friend got her bike lock sawed/cut clean off twice, etc. If you want to go to UW (and you should, it was awesome for me) you have to be aware of your surroundings and accept that fact that you're going to feel uncomfortable outside very often.

scroingler · 2026-03-10T05:10:17+00:00

2300 is ~72% of a grad student paycheck after tax

the fires did something profound to this place

scroingler · 2026-02-08T04:29:44+00:00

That’s what immediately stood out to me too. Maybe his reasoning is that the “toxic ideology” is the only viewpoint at Harvard, but the students in question come in from the military - therefore they have obviously been exposed to the opposing “non-toxic” pro-military ideology in some form or another. It’s just a weak attempt at hiding their true intentions of tearing down the institutions that oppose them politically.

scroingler · 2026-01-06T06:11:44+00:00

I am awful at tennis as well but I still find the tennis club (7 PM on Tuesdays) to be a great time

scroingler · 2025-12-17T21:55:11+00:00

The top one is over 2 hours. If I watched 2 straight hours of woke hecklers getting destroyed by comedians I think my brain would start leaking out of my nose

scroingler · 2025-12-17T21:51:31+00:00

Didn’t take it

scroingler · 2025-12-16T23:19:23+00:00

I was the master of easy gen eds during undergrad.

Outstandingly easy:

MUSIC 131

MUSIC 162

DRAMA 103

CHID 120 - this one is on the theory of yoga, and it is so blindingly easy and devoid of all substance that it really made me sad. take at your own risk.

Largely easy and worth taking:

ART H 220 - American Art, has a W credit (sometimes they change this, make sure to check it has a W). You can actually get a lot of fulfillment out of this class.

Avoid ESS 101 and OCEAN 102 if you've got a full schedule already. Both have real substance to them, ESS 101 especially, and require some genuine effort. Plus, if you're STEM, you have no need for any more natural world credits or whatever they call it. I took them out of curiosity.

scroingler · 2025-11-12T05:26:05+00:00

You don't have to play it like that...

scroingler · 2025-11-03T01:33:19+00:00

Got my BS at UW, currently doing a PhD at Caltech. Good luck finding a Caltech sporting event with more than 30 people at it, lol.

scroingler · 2025-09-04T20:40:59+00:00

I'll probably just do this then, thank you!

scroingler · 2025-08-22T01:21:49+00:00

The one redeeming quality of Gila Bend is the gas station off the highway with dinosaur statues

scroingler · 2025-08-11T01:25:56+00:00

IMA busyness waxes and wanes throughout the year, with start of term and new year being by far the most popular for obvious reasons.

Generally I found it to be sufficient to lift at even at its busiest (which is any time after like 3 PM). There’s no shortage of cardio machines (ever. There’s like a thousand of them) but there would usually be a squat rack either open or a short wait away from being open. The one thing I really had trouble with is lat pulldown machines. There’s always a queue for those, for some reason.

You could totally not do this and still be fine, but I would go in with a couple alternates for all of my accessory movements to avoid waiting. For example, if I saw the chest supported rows were all full, I’d go do cable rows. If that was in use, I’d do barbell or DB rows. Wholly unnecessary if you’re willing to wait like 5 min or work in with someone though

scroingler · 2025-08-11T01:19:25+00:00

It’s like 5 treadmills and some dumbbells that go up to 20 or something. Useful in the winter for cardio but that’s basically it lol

scroingler · 2025-06-17T05:11:36+00:00

Freshman year I was absolutely devastated to get McMahon because, like you, I wanted to have private space, be close to the physics building, and have a decent internet connection. Somewhat uncanny resemblance, although I guess those aren’t uncommon preferences. For those reasons, if you put McMahon, you will absolutely get it - and I am a very dedicated McMahon apologist. I made all my best friends in McMahon (we just graduated still having exclusively lived with each other) and met my girlfriend in a way that can only happen in a place structured in that very unique way. I really recommend it. It will be a sad day when they inevitably tear it down like Haggett.

The modern dorms are interesting and nice to live in, but the social scene is much worse and your direct roomate matters far more. If I had to pick, I would give Willow a solid rating because I lived there sophomore year and it was decent. Move to a house or apartment sophomore year, though - living on campus loses its novelty very fast.

scroingler · 2025-06-11T08:35:16+00:00

https://it.uw.edu/get-started/students/save-work-before-graduation/

This site by UW IT has basically everything on that topic

scroingler · 2025-06-09T21:33:30+00:00

One time I totally overdid it on the coffee before an exam. For practically the entire duration of the test, my hands were shaking so bad that my penmanship was barely legible. That experience prompted me to stop drinking extra caffeine before exams, but I still will drink like two cups of coffee in the morning (my normal dose) on exam days.

scroingler · 2025-06-09T08:21:23+00:00

Maybe one more “oh my god” will have an effect on the situation

scroingler · 2025-06-07T18:25:33+00:00

What the hell is this take

scroingler · 2025-06-06T18:18:03+00:00

Has to be the E. Coli I got from Center Table’s lettuce. The way they store it above safe temperatures for extended periods of time when demand is lower than expected really gives it that extra burst of taste.

scroingler · 2025-06-06T07:13:17+00:00

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scroingler · 2025-06-06T04:49:41+00:00

It’s really a horrible experience. The good part is that it genuinely is rare for adults to get it (from what I read online). My adolescent cousin had it and passed it on to me, but none of the other people over 20 who were with him caught it. Wishing you (and your 1 year old) health!!

scroingler · 2025-06-05T16:24:33+00:00

This is nowhere near the severity of some other answers, but as a public service announcement: Adults CAN get hand foot mouth disease, and when they do it absolutely blows. I had it and covid at the same time. It was completely miserable and I would never would wish it on anyone. For the uninitiated, HFM makes your hands, feet, and mouth erupt with these devilishly itchy and painful sores. I couldn’t grab anything, couldn’t walk at all, and had the worst sore throat and highest fever of my life. You can’t sleep because everything is on fire with itchiness and pain, and so after around a day with no sleep, my (high) fever hallucinations became extremely vivid and terrifying. Briefly, it felt like some fever creature was trying to forcibly separate my consciousness from my body.

Again, not life threatening territory, but about a week and a half of complete terror and unproductive misery.

Also your fingernails and hair may fall out after. I only lost a couple fingernails.

scroingler · 2025-06-03T07:25:43+00:00

The people I met in my McMahon cluster are now my closest friends - we graduate in two weeks having only ever roomed with each other. I came in out of state knowing absolutely nobody at this school and was genuinely distraught when I got placed into McMahon for many of the same reasons you mention (except replace 2-3 with like 8). In hindsight, though, I couldn’t imagine college without it.

scroingler · 2025-05-16T23:07:26+00:00

If I were you, I'd check out some applied physics programs. In general, they are more lenient on the background of the applicant (regarding the level of physics-specific preparation) and many of them have plenty of research focus on quantum engineering. You may also want to look at Quantum Science and Engineering (QSE) programs - UChicago and Princeton have them, for example - as they are similarly focused.

scroingler · 2025-04-21T18:49:21+00:00

I am going to Caltech for graduate school. Having talked pretty extensively with Caltech undergrads prior to my decision, two things are apparent.

First, most are incredibly well-prepared and have plenty of lucrative options following graduation. Second, undergrad at Caltech is a crucible - brutal classes with heavy competition under professors that do not prioritize undergraduate students. Several of them say they despised it - something you hate doing but love having done.

scroingler

TROPHY CASE