u/saa938

Hello, I want to get into advanced robotics. I am planning on buying an arm and playing around with it using lerobot. However, I want to look at alternatives before buying an arm. One arm I thought was interesting was SO-ARM101. It is around $300. What arms do you guys suggest/what alternatives do you recommend? I also have access to a 3D printer and a ton of Axon servos (like 10 of them lol) but I am not that good at 3D printing so I can't design anything. If there is a open source CAD design that could work as well. Thanks

Demographics: indian male in a pretty competitive hs (not bay area tho)

Intended Major(s): CS its over

ACT/SAT/SAT II: 35 act (34e 35m 36r)

UW/W GPA and Rank: our school doesn't have rank or weighted gpa, but i have 4.0 uw

Coursework: IB only, finished the diploma a year early and got a 7 aahl, 7 bm sl, 7 ess sl, 5 spanish b sl, 6 english sl, 7, 41/45 total

5's on all AP's (micro macro apush world physics 1 csa)

Awards: usaco gold, codeforces expert, aime qual, leetcode knight, hella robotics awards like inspire, control, etc.

Extracurriculars: 

created a ftc team and we are #1 in our state which is pretty competitive and made it to worlds, at one point we were #1 in the world but ib cooked us lol

worked at an a16z and z-fellows backed startup (got paid + flown out to sf) but left to join a better startup that has customers such as meta, both roles are founding eng

created a website with 100k users and i created an internship program so ppl could do help me build features since i was busy

worked with a post doc on research (current)

worked with a prof on research at my state university which is t10 in cs tho, didnt publish anything

ski coach

president of schools programming club

in process of publishing a paper to a mid journal (independent research)

build a enhanced gradebook for our district, got approved by admins

im prolly gonna have an internship in senior yr for #10 slot, otherwise i have some random shit i can put here like other projects i did

Essays/LORs/Other: 

math teacher gives like 100 lors a year but they are decent quality i think

spanish teacher has a phd in some feminist stuff and she fws me

essays are prolly gonna be aight im trash at writing but personal statement is prolly abt how extreme sports like skiing, mtb, paragliding changed my mindset to commit

Schools: can u guys pls chance me for cmu cs ed

I got a 35 on the ACT which I know is a good score I am not ragebaiting this is actually a serious post. I got 34 on English, 35 on Math, and 36 on Reading. I am very happy with my reading and English scores, just a month ago I scored somewhere in the high 20s. However, I consider myself to be good at Math, and I am pretty pissed I didn't get a 36. One of the questions I got wrong was about composite functions and it has been a while since I did it and I forgot the order (it was like f(x) dot g(x)) and I am going to be applying to a STEM major and aiming for t10 schools. Should I retake the ACT to get a 36 on Math and superscore? What do you guys think. I'm a rising senior btw

i took 8 total ib subjects, but only tested in 6. the ones i took were ai hl, aa hl, physics hl, spanish b sl, lang lit hl, history hl, ess sl, and bm sl. 1 is easiest subject ever, 10 is hardest subject ever. also this is my take it is different for everyone.

bm sl (2/10): free as hell

ess sl (2/10): also free, and grade boundaries are super low

ai hl (3/10): it's not that hard just learn how to use a calculator and you should be fine

aa hl (4/10): kinda like ai hl but a little harder since you can't use a calculator in paper 1

lang lit hl (5/10): just a weird subject

physics hl (8/10): you need to have good problem solving skills and a good understanding of all the content, which there is a lot of, i probably spent most of my time studying for physics

spanish b sl (9/10): really hard unless you are a native speaker or have been practicing for a while

history hl (10/10): so hard that i didn't test in it

i'm pretty lazy when it comes to school and i didn't want to try that hard in ib but still wanted a good score and still wanted to show course rigor. this is my strategy and how it turned out.

first the only things that mattered for me was taking aahl and physics hl, so i just took those. took lang lit hl as well because it was pretty easy. then for sl's i took bm sl and ess sl and spanish b sl (take ab initio, my school didnt let me take it so i had to take b). i didn't want to take any hard classes like history or something.

try to take as many exams as possible in dp1, it will make dp2 significantly easier. i could only take bm in dp1 because of weird school rules, but try to maximize this.

cas is completely bs, just do same random stuff dont spend too much time on it, i probably spent like max 1 hr total doing cas. its also pass/fail so it doesnt matter that much.

i also didn't really try on the internal assessments, most of them i just finished in a day or two and submitted it. my thought process was that i could spend hella effort to add a couple of points and i thought my time was used better elsewhere, and i thought i could js clutch in the exams (it kinda worked out but not rlly). if i had to go back i would probably do the same thing, because you can spend that time on yourself. i also slept like 7+ hrs every day. also teachers get moderated so that time could be completely wasted as well.

i also didn't rlly do that much in dp1, a lot of schools have mocks and stuff like that but for me only the grade of the class mattered and the ib score, no mocks, so in dp1 i did jack shit. coming into dp 2 i only knew basic tenses of spanish, no idea how tok works (lowk still dont have any idea lmao), no idea how to do english analysis, i knew like 20% of the physics content, i started ess this year as well, yeah it was like i did ib in a year almost.

for the tests i didn't use any textbook, all i did was spam practice exams, spend a lot of time reviewing them (mark them myself to learn how marks are given out, what i got wrong, watch yt videos to learn it). i suggest using ai for this so it can keep track of ur mistakes and help u get better, i think it helped me a lot.

also during exam season we had regular classes but i skipped almost every day and i got a truancy notice or wtvr but skipping class is actually the method. also in a lot of my classes we didn't finish the content in time so i suggest you just do it on your own thru yt and practice exams.

anyway, here are my scores for every subject and what resource i used.

may 2025:

IB BM (7):
My IA got moderated down 5 points lmao so I just decided that IAs are not worth my time if some bs like this can happen.

https://preview.redd.it/zy5ufrtip3eh1.png?width=1953&format=png&auto=webp&s=16af4f6c4649da2477ff38cef3d925a13e5a7d1c

may 2026:

Lang Lit (6):

basically for this my teacher didn't really teach much about IB, most of the stuff I learnt through ib english guys a couple of days before the exam, which is probably why my hle and io went so bad

https://preview.redd.it/173r1tfsp3eh1.png?width=1675&format=png&auto=webp&s=d8645f01f9f8471f56bc1c8b16124a8659a24fd4

Spanish B (5):

i came into the year knowing only basic tenses, but my teacher was awesome and im happy i got a 5 tbh

https://preview.redd.it/6hkpnpzvp3eh1.png?width=1503&format=png&auto=webp&s=4453afb506a07cf8b2cc3bf7e9e2adf3badc53c4

ESS (7):

I only took the class for one year but most of the time i was just doing random stuff with my friends in that class, i just watched mr kremers videos the days before the test, also the ia for this class is pretty much a checklist so its not that hard to screw up

https://preview.redd.it/hajq37b5q3eh1.png?width=1512&format=png&auto=webp&s=ca787625f9f979d8ab257662e02d78696ff506b4

AAHL (7):

math wasn't really that difficult for me, i didn't study for it at all since i was confident in my problem solving abilities.

https://preview.redd.it/aa3tlrgaq3eh1.png?width=1875&format=png&auto=webp&s=316a27ba00d7b0433aee8089e0aed3846a0b466e

Physics HL (6, but will remark):

i barely knew any physics and then in march i started locking in, watching a ton of videos, spamming practice exams (i did like 5 full practice exams). i pretty much learnt the entire content by myself, my teacher wasn't that good (she didn't even finish teaching everything at the end). i need one more mark on paper 2 to get a 7, hopefully that works out in my favor. but i dont think its too difficult if you have pretty good problem solving skills and just put in the time to understand everything, you def cant cram for this subject

https://preview.redd.it/qkjtfddnq3eh1.png?width=1450&format=png&auto=webp&s=bda8c2c01b585efc721f4ceef6bc65b67177c189

TOK (C):

i didn't rlly gaf abt this class, it was random stuff, i js bsed it and took the C

https://preview.redd.it/6ajivzbqq3eh1.png?width=1261&format=png&auto=webp&s=75788cba5a3e021805ca3b9aea4a04eb32901bf2

EE (B):

wrote the ee on some complex shit, i didnt really care abt the grade just did it for fun

https://preview.redd.it/s9a33xrxq3eh1.png?width=1303&format=png&auto=webp&s=00e655fd610042d613e4e3e433aa1ccf2a3220c8

Total score: 40/45

i would probably not use these strats, there are probably better ones, just do what works best for you. i am just sharing my experience.

Demographics: indian male in a pretty competitive hs

Intended Major(s): CS its over

ACT/SAT/SAT II: just took the act we will see how that goes but rn i have 730e 790m

UW/W GPA and Rank: our school doesn't have rank or weighted gpa, but i have 4.0 uw

Coursework: IB only, finished the diploma a year early and got a 7 aahl, 7 bm sl, 7 ess sl, 5 spanish b sl, 6 english sl, 6 physics hl (1 pt away from a 7, ill remark hopefully that should work out in my favor) total 40/45

5's on all AP's (micro macro apush world physics 1 csa)

next yr ill be taking 4 classes, math is lin alg + diff eq

Awards: usaco gold, codeforces expert, aime qual, leetcode knight

Extracurriculars: 

created a ftc team and we are #1 in our state which is pretty competitive and made it to worlds, at one point we were #1 in the world but ib cooked us lol, made states for the past couple of years

worked at an a16z and z-fellows backed startup (got paid + flown out to sf) but left to join a better startup that is funded by meta, both roles are founding eng

created a website with 1000+ users and i created an internship program so ppl could do work for me (method btw)

worked with a post doc on research (current), hopefully going to get something published

worked with a prof on research at my state university which is t10 in cs tho, didnt publish anything (in freshman yr summer)

ski coach

president of schools programming club

in process of publishing a paper to a mid journal (independent research)

build a enhanced gradebook for our district, got approved by admins

im prolly gonna have an internship in senior yr for #10 slot, otherwise i have some random shit i can put here like other projects i did

Essays/LORs/Other: 

math teacher gives like 100 lors a year but they are decent quality i think

spanish teacher has a phd in some feminist shit and she fws me

i can either get third lor from the prof from 2024 or from the post doc i js worked with

essays are prolly gonna be aight im trash at writing but personal statement is prolly abt how extreme sports like skiing, mtb, paragliding changed my mindset for the better

Schools: 

This is my plan right now:

all ucs, cmu ed, stanford rd, georgia tech ea, uiuc ea, ut austin ea, uw rd, mit ea, princeton rd

I need some advice on this pls

Demographics: indian male in a pretty competitive hs (not bay area tho)

Intended Major(s): CS its over

ACT/SAT/SAT II: just took the act we will see how that goes but rn i have 730e 790m

UW/W GPA and Rank: our school doesn't have rank or weighted gpa, but i have 4.0 uw

Coursework: IB only, finished the diploma a year early and got a 7 aahl, 7 bm sl, 7 ess sl, 5 spanish b sl, 6 english sl, 6 physics hl (1 pt away from a 7, ill remark hopefully that should work out in my favor) total 40/45

5's on all AP's (micro macro apush world physics 1 csa)

Awards: usaco gold, codeforces expert, aime qual, leetcode knight

Extracurriculars: 

created a ftc team and we are #1 in our state which is pretty competitive and made it to worlds, at one point we were #1 in the world but ib cooked us lol

worked at an a16z and z-fellows backed startup (got paid + flown out to sf) but left to join a better startup that is funded by meta, both roles are founding eng

created a website with 1000+ users and i created an internship program so ppl could do work for me (method btw)

worked with a post doc on research (current)

worked with a prof on research at my state university which is t10 in cs tho, didnt publish anything

ski coach

president of schools programming club

in process of publishing a paper to a mid journal (independent research)

build a enhanced gradebook for our district, got approved by admins

im prolly gonna have an internship in senior yr for #10 slot, otherwise i have some random shit i can put here like other projects i did

Essays/LORs/Other: 

math teacher gives like 100 lors a year but they are decent quality i think

spanish teacher has a phd in some feminist shit and she fws me

essays are prolly gonna be aight im trash at writing but personal statement is prolly abt how extreme sports like skiing, mtb, paragliding changed my mindset for the better

Schools: all ucs, cmu ed, stanford rd, georgia tech ea, uiuc ea, ut austin ea, uw rd, mit ea, princeton rd

I am a rising senior. I just learnt about summer programs online this year and applied to a couple, like ASSIP, RISE, SHIP, HighTech Bound, RMP, and Wolfram Alpha. I got rejected from literally all of them. I was insanely heartbroken and thought it was over. However, I kept on trying with the little hope that I had and it paid off.

I had some research in a specific field of computer science, and reached out to one professor. Literally one cold email. And boom I am now working on some interesting shit with a post doc researcher. But it gets better.

I also had a project I was working on. I was not able to spend too much time on it this summer, so I created an internship program for all the unemployed CS majors. I got people from universities and other high schoolers to work on the project for me, while I focus on other stuff.

Lastly, I also am getting flown out and paid to work at a startup in San Francisco backed by a16z. The food is free, housing is free, and I will meet a ton of new people and learn a ton of new things.

I am not saying summer programs are bad. I am saying that these opportunities wouldn't have happened if I had a shit mindset after getting rejected from all of these programs. In fact, I wouldn't have been able to do this cool stuff if I was stuck in a summer program. I hope if you are reading this and didn't get into any summer programs, it is not the end of the world. Keep on trying, improving your skills, reaching out to people, and good opportunities will come your way.

2 years ago I made a post on this subreddit on why I was bullish on AMPX. In the fall of 2024 it went all the way down to $1. However, I held and forgot about it. Now it sits at over $15, and the company turned out how I envisioned it. This was probably mainly luck but whatever, it feels good to win after months of losses. Diamond hands baby 🤙💎

I am getting into powerlifting, and my technique needs a lot of work. I want to compare my training videos with an example.

I have used reddit for the past couple of years and if I want to ask a question on a different subreddit I always get blocked by the bot and it tells me to go to another sub reddit and so on and I can never get my question answered. Why does it have to be so hard just to ask a simple question? How can I make sure that my posts don't get auto removed by the moderator? I have tried asking like 4 questions in the past year on reddit but I never could get them posted. right now im looking to ask a powerlifting question, so i would appreciate some subreddits that accept basic questions.

I am getting into powerlifting, and my technique needs a lot of work. I want to compare my training videos with an example.