u/Blitzblur1X1

For context, I am a 5th/6th year (3yrs CC, 2-3yrs UCI)student (23 years old) studying in Business Administration and Economics. My studies have been going fine this quarter, though there is always room to improve. However, part of me wishes I took up the Quantitative Economics Major instead of the basic Economics major, however I am almost done with the basic ECON 100 Series. So, changing majors is no longer an option, and I also graduate in September of 2027.

However, I am going to try and do what I can to leverage the time I still have to give my Econ degree more weight by supporting it with more quantitative coursework, giving me a better understanding and economics and statistics. This is where my questions come in regarding how to plan courses for Fall of 2026. I am considering in enrolling in either Math 3A or 2D for Fall of 2026, taking the other one after in either the following Winter or Spring quarters.

As someone who hasn't taken math in 4 years, what are the best places and methods to revisit the concepts from 2A-B needed to succeed in 3A and 2D? From memory, when I took Calc 2 (community college), it was with a prof whose exams didn't allow any cheat sheets/calculators, but due to this being taught at community college, I suspect were still likely a bit easier than the ones given at UCI. I got a B in that class, but my prof curved 2/4 exams by 2-3%, and dropped the lowest (Exams worth 76%, I think?). From memory, I generally did well on techniques of integration, decently on areas/volumes (washer, disk, etc.), 50-50 on polar coordinates, and quite badly on sequences/series. Which are the most important concepts here to brush up on? Which ones can I ignore, if any?

The other questions have to do directly with scheduling. I have to wait before I can enroll in either 3A or 2D due to a major-enrollment restriction. But, when that restriction lifts, how likely is it will I be able to take either course? Which course would be a better fit for me to start with? Which course + professor would you recommend I take first? Taking 2D, I have either Donaldson and Yu. Taking 3A, I have either Lu or Youssefpour.

Regardless, I appreciate all feedback and recommendations given to me! Also, I apologize for how verbose this whole post is lol.

I am a 23-year-old Junior/Senior (CC transfer) double majoring in Business Admin and Economics, graduating September 2027. I feel severely underdeveloped compared to my peers. While they have internships and campus involvement, I have neither. My GPA recently dropped from 3.68 to 3.37 over the last two quarters, and I struggle with a sense of purpose and belonging in the world. These failures work in tandem with my poor sociability of being either too “animated/open” or “antisocial/closed” towards everyone I’m not intimately familiar with, likely a product of having Autism/ADHD. I just feel like a living ghost in society with no real future or capacity to even function in the broader world, let alone thrive. I wasted much of my time in college coasting along rather than focusing on my long-term success. Now it feels like I’m too late to salvage any good post-graduation outcomes.

I feel my older age, 6-year degree path, poor GPA, social skills, and a lack of involvement put me at a permanent disadvantage. Even I were to start now and make all the right changes, my peers will keep growing, and it seems I’ll thus never be able to catch up. There also just isn’t really enough in my life I feel that justifies any of my failures thus far. I worry that recruiters will always prefer "on-track" candidates and that my September graduation date will disqualify me from many Winter/Summer 2027 internships. I did volunteer for my local VITA for 36 hours, which is something for whatever that’s worth, but it likely isn't nearly enough to uplift my experience sufficiently to compete for internships I may not even be eligible for. I’m stuck in a cycle of daily anxiety, overthinking, inaction, and just a general feeling of insecurity seeing the probable results of my failures racing towards me, attending classes where most of my peers seem much more put-together. I may even consider unenrolling at this point, given how bleak this path I am presented with is.

I desire guidance on what I can do to salvage this situation, if I can. Be honest regarding my current position. Is college worth it at this point, or am I falling victim to the sunk-cost fallacy? How do I reorient myself and mentality for long-term success? What professional opportunities exist for me at the moment, if any? What actionable steps can I take right now to build myself from the ground up, mentally and professionally?

Regardless, I appreciate any time taken for guidance!

Hello Reddit!

I wanna know what my approach should be for taking Linear Algebra and Calculus 3 after 4 years of no math. I plan to starting taking one of these this Fall, so I have a few months to prepare.

For context, at community college, I took Calculus 1 and 2. Although, I did get an A in Calculus 1, I did not feel learned much beyond the basics of it since my prof wasn’t all that demanding and even allowed us to use internet resources. I then took Calculus 2, where my professor was much harder on policy, making exams where no notes/cheats sheets, or calculators allowed/provided. So, I then had to properly learn Calculus, and despite only coming out with a B for that course, I nonetheless felt I learned much more, even though I struggled at the end with series and the stuff with polar coordinates.

With that background in mind, 4 years later, I have since moved onto uni, and I am studying Economics. Although not required to complete my major, part of me feels like I would benefit from taking Calculus 3 (at least the first half) and Linear Algebra (my uni is quarter based, so Calculus 3 is split into two different courses) to develop a better understanding of the discipline.

Should I move forward with this? If so, where should I start to reprogram myself to refine the topics I struggled with? What resources do you recommend?

Regardless, I appreciate all responses made!

Hello Reddit!

For context, I have used Firefox since at least 2022, as a product of Google announcing that year they would eventually drop Manifest V2, result in Chromium browsers losing ublock Origin support (I do realize they only dropped this proper like 1-2 years ago, I think?).

While it’s still fine for my purposes, part of me wishes there was an alternative to it that is generally stable and broadly compatible with websites and with support for the same extensions. Ideally, I would also maybe run a bit faster, whilst having less AI crap and less of a need to adjust settings constantly to maintain privacy.

Although faster, I don’t want to use Chromium-based browsers if I don’t have to because while Mozilla is far from perfect, Google still seems like a much greater threat to the internet as a whole in regards to privacy, on top of there being limited truly private options besides perhaps the new $60 Brave Origin, which I’d hate to pay for.

I feel the best solution for me seems to be a Firefox-based browser that runs faster/fluidly and is more private out of the box. Any recommendations on Firefox forks for this use case? How well-supported are these forks concerning updates and the likes?

Regardless, I appreciate all responses given!

Hello Reddit!

For context, I have used Firefox since at least 2022, as a product of Google announcing that year they would eventually drop Manifest V2, result in Chromium browsers losing ublock Origin support (I do realize they only dropped this proper like 1-2 years ago, I think?).

While it’s still fine for my purposes, part of me wishes there was an alternative to it that is generally stable and broadly compatible with websites and with support for the same extensions. Ideally, I would also maybe run a bit faster, whilst having less AI crap and less of a need to adjust settings constantly to maintain privacy.

Although faster, I don’t want to use Chromium-based browsers if I don’t have to because while Mozilla is far from perfect, Google still seems like a much greater threat to the internet as a whole in regards to privacy, on top of there being limited truly private options besides perhaps the new $60 Brave Origin, which I’d hate to pay for.

I feel the best solution for me seems to be a Firefox-based browser that runs faster/fluidly and is more private out of the box. Any recommendations on Firefox forks for this use case? How well-supported are these forks concerning updates and the likes?

Regardless, I appreciate all responses given!