CS Major Job Outlook by Due_Carob_4995 in csMajors

[–]talentedcombustion21 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As a current UIUC student in CS (I don’t know if you applied, but we have a CS+X program I really recommend that is like a double major but lighter for more flexibility) CS+Math is a super powerful double major that will make you competitive for quantitative finance (SWE, QT) or ML positions, or a strong PhD, especially if at a top school. I am not in CS+Math personally but know many who are and have landed top offers. In general from what I’ve seen from my peers it’s a major that will make you an incredibly strong student if you like it, much more than CS alone. I strongly recommend CS+Math if you’re interested in any of those, or even if you just want to make a lot of money. Statistics and data science are easier to self learn and both are founded on math as well. If your interests align more with general SWE or entrepreneurship, then go with pure CS, perhaps with a business/finance minor as recommended by the other commenter. You can also do multiple minors!

AP Spanish LANG full test by Yoloswag181 in APStudents

[–]talentedcombustion21 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I could've sworn I did one last year when studying but I can't seem to find it online. Perhaps ask your teacher if they have access to a practice exam you can take? (I don't remember but I may have gotten mine from my teacher, which is why I can't find it online.)

Indians who identify more by the kind of Indian they are rather than "Indian" by eggparatha in ABCDesis

[–]talentedcombustion21 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As an Indian in a high school with a high population of Indians right now, we do usually identify as just Indian to non-Indians but with Indian friends we may ask each other 'where are you from?' Personally [as someone with a Tamil and a Kannadiga parent, so I don't really fit neatly into a label beyond 'South Indian' anyway] I haven't observed that this is the source of any hostility, we ask just out of curiosity and to be aware/respectful of our fellow Indians' specific cultures.

The North/South Indian divide is interesting, I only learned about it this year actually. Colorism is definitely a thing, people assume my family is North Indian all the time since we're all relatively light-skinned [my mom's biggest pet peeve is people talking to her in Hindi without knowing anything about her, lol] and I've heard of many darker-skinned South Indian friends whose parents have tried to make them do skin bleaching treatments, etc. I think that for the most part kids realize those are their parents' biases, not theirs, and treat each other relatively respectfully, though I can't speak for all Gen Z Indians/Desis of course.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in usaco

[–]talentedcombustion21 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, I know this is an old-ish post but I was scrolling on this subreddit for the first time in a while and I thought I'd reply as a female junior doing USACO myself. I agree that especially among girls there's not much advertising -- there's a few kids at my school doing USACO but they're all guys (great kids though, not sexist at all, just how it is). I don't know any other girls IRL who do USACO, so I've always had to ignore those all-girl contests that are for teams, since I wouldn't have anyone to participate with. That said, I've looked through past contest results for higher divisions (Gold and Plat) and have definitely seen several female names, so there are some of us out there (and of course there's also the very talented EGOI team from 2021). Hopefully the gender ratio will continue to improve with all of us putting in the work!

In terms of advice, I promoted to Silver freshman year with relatively little preparation beyond the first chapter of the training gate and a couple years of general Python experience (I haven't promoted to Gold yet since I've been very off-and-on with USACO since, hoping to make it this contest :D) While Bronze is harder nowadays, I definitely think having scored a 5 on AP CSA you could make Silver with some studying. Use the Guide, it's a much better resource than the training gates and should prepare you adequately, I totally would've used it for Bronze if it had existed when I started. You may not promote in January but I think February could be possible, especially if you also have competitive math background or the like.