u/DependentLet2551

Is the career exploration week result out and where can I find it?

Hi everyone! Planning our very first trip to Japan for a family of 4 (2 parents + two young adults). We’re trying to lock down our travel window and build a rough itinerary that keeps both the hobby-hunters and the parents (50 years old) happy without destroying our bank account ( we saved $6000 outside of flight ticket for this trip but will not want to really use it all up...)

The Big Dilemma (Dates):

1. Option A: Dec 13 – Jan 3 (Winter)
2. Option B: Sometime between July 1 – Sept 14 (Summer)

(We plan to stay for roughly 10–14 days within one of those windows).

Our Group's Vibe:

1. Young adults: Huge into gaming (hunting for budget secondhand switch games, consoles, and retro gaming gear), animanga & pokémon merch/figurines, and -Fashion/thrifting.
2. The Parents: Love great scenery, traditional vibes, and relaxed sightseeing. They are super chill, but we don't want to drag them through 6 straight hours of narrow Akihabara hobby shops.
3. The Middle Ground: Food hunting! We are generally on a budget, but 100% willing to splurge on a few "absolutely worth it" culinary or memorable experience spots.

My questions for the seasoned travelers:

1. Which window should we pick? I know Japan summers are notoriously brutal for walking, but I’ve also read that December is quite crowded. For a first-timer family, which poison would you pick?
2. Is the golden route (Tokyo - Kyoto - Osaka) still the absolute best answer for this specific mix of interests, or should we swap Osaka/Kyoto for somewhere slightly more budget/scenery-friendly? Also we had visited Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka but that was 10 years ago and on a tour, so we didn't plan it ourselves..
3. I've gathered that main Akihabara is getting overpriced for secondhand figures/games. For those on a budget, is it better to just hunt at Book-Off Super Bazaars, Hard-Off, and Surugaya out in the suburbs/other cities?
4. Go-to resources: Are there any specific websites, itinerary planners, or YouTube channels you swear by for first-timers that aren't just standard TikTok hype?

Thanks in advance! Any reality checks regarding budget for a family of 4 are also very welcome.

Hey everyone!

I'm an incoming first-year planning to double major in Math and CS. For the past few years, I’ve been heavily focused on competitive programming. While my discrete math and algorithmic thinking are pretty solid, my standard high school calculus and continuous math skills are super rusty since I haven't used them in a while.

I want to do a quick review before taking the placement exam. From what I’ve read, the MATH 160s sequence is the standard for Math/CS folks, and I'd love to aim for an invite there.

1. What specific topics should I prioritize brushing up on to score high enough for the higher-level exam/160s invite?
2. Are there any specific resources, textbooks, or online crash courses you'd recommend to speed-run my review?
3. If I end up placing into the 150s instead, does it significantly set me back for upper-level Math and CS theory classes, or is it fairly easy to bridge the gap later?
4. Since the intro sequence changed to CMSC 14100-14400, how realistic is it to completely test out of the early classes (14100/14200) with a competitive programming background? What specific concepts or languages do they test if I want to try testing out of 14300 as well?

Any advice or insight on how the placement works would be amazing. Thanks so much!

Hey everyone, I'm currently super torn between UChicago and Georgia Tech for undergrad CS and would love some input.

I essentially have two main paths/goals in my head right now...

1. Go to UChicago and grind heavily for quant. I know their math reputation is great and it places well into top trading firms, but I also know breaking into quant is notoriously brutal and highly competitive.

Vibe-wise, I actually feel like I'm a really good fit for UChicago. People always say the student body is super quirky and nerdy, and honestly, that’s literally me. But, I'm genuinely terrified that the environment might be too depressing and the weather is just too cold. My goal here would be to grind for quant, but I was looking on LinkedIn and surprisingly couldn't find that many UChicago CS grads in quant roles? (well from gt too though but their cs recruiting is faaar more superior) It makes me worry that the general CS job outcomes just aren't as good here.

2. Go to GT, which feels like the "safer" and more established route for general CS recruiting. It also gives me amazing options to dive deep into robotics, which I really want to explore (it just seems super fun... but yeah maybe i can do it for grad school)

I ultimately want to end up in research or academia (maybe aim for phd but prioritizing career first). But realistically, I need to make money + support my family before committing to a PhD program, so the plan is to work in the industry for a bit first. At the end of the day, my absolute end goal is to settle and work in either taiwan, sg or hk if the offer is good...

A little about myself... I'm a competitive programmer, but I'm not sure how I'll perform as a student

Does it make more sense to take the uchicago risk for the quant pipeline, or take the gt route for CS/robotics?

Would really appreciate any advice, especially from current students or alumni!