Hello,
I am currently enrolled as a distance learner at Leicester University. I just finished my first module, but I didn't do as well as I had hoped, which is my fault. I'm having trouble figuring out if I passed the module or not. I received a mark of 45 on my first paper, which counts for 30% of my module grade. I then received a mark of 52 on the final paper. I've tried searching for answers online, but I still can't determine if this means I passed the module.
This might be a silly question, but I haven't been able to find a clear answer. Thank you in advance for any help!

Long story short: I had a bad first year due to personal issues, and these reflected in my poor grades that year. I went into my second year with the intention with turning my grades around, so I could have a chance at applying to schools who prioritize the last 2/3 years of undergrad, and I was doing quite well. My cGPA for this year was 3.94.... until earlier today when I received a very poor final grade in a course I should have just dropped, now it is a 3.70. Also, if its relevant, my undergrad is a CS major + Maths specialization.
I am going into 3rd year now, so could you guys just share the brutal truth; should I just give up on applying to medical schools?

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• Bea

I never officially "came out" but I realised pretty early that I was gay. However, coming from a conservative background, I never had the chance to properly live my sexuality as any other person. Over time, I ended up developing a lot of mental health issues that were unrelated to this, but it certainly didn't help and was both a cause and an effect. And so I ended up now, in my early 30s, never ever having dated anyone - no sex, no kisses, no flirting, nothing. I have friends, but romantically, I've never existed. I've only had a handful of crushes that I only dared to identify as such in hindsight.
Essentially, I've long struggled with feelings of self worthlessness. Back in high school I used to be the classic straight A student everyone said would go on to become a Nobel prize winner or something. This pressure weighed on me while at uni and after I graduated, being unable to find a job (the economy in my country was and is horrible), I quickly spiraled into depression and anxiety and I've never been able to truly shake them off since then.
Around the same period I fully admitted to myself I was gay, even though I already "knew". I managed to pick up my pieces and move to another country to pursue a second MSc in the hopes of improving my skills and start building a career...and deep down maybe I also wanted to possibly start living a romantic life like normal people...but I was still too scared to even attempt anything. And when I developed a crush for a classmate, I just kept it for myself (oddly enough, we became good friends, and I hope he never realised).
I graduated again, and then Covid hit and I was unemployed at 30. Depressed again. Gave therapy a serious chance, didn't work (although I started taking meds, which I still take). After the pandemic, I somehow found an internship at the UN in NYC, and I told myself wow that's IT! THIS is my chance! I get to start over in a new country across the ocean where nobody knows me! I can date! I can meet people!
But after my internship ended, they couldn't hire me, and I had to go back home again. My depression spiraled once again, because I was 31 and unemployed and penniless and felt like I had no prospects. I basically became shut in and envisioned serious plans to...you know the big S word. And when I say serious I mean "googling the price of my casket" kind of serious.
After a year, I managed to find a job. It's a terrible low paid job, I have to live at home with my mom (who, by the way, "knows" of my sexuality but won't discuss it) in a place I've always tried to escape and that only gives me bad memories. Every day is a struggle. Although I take meds, I am not really bothering with therapy, because I know that therapy won't help until something external changes.
But I'm now going on 33, and much to my horror, I'm realising that I have a deep desire to love and feel loved. I tried to convince myself I could live without any romance or sex (mostly because I was scared, and because I felt I already too much going on to even start thinking about THAT) but I guess it didn't work. I don't go on Grindr because I'm not interested in hookups - I do have my desires, but I am most interested in being personally intimate with someone rather than sleeping around with random people (for the lack of better words - please don't think I'm judging that negatively). I tried Tinder but it basically seemed to be Grindr 2.0 so I quit that as well. I recently went on Hinge and surprisingly it seemed a lot better - lots of guys in their 30s looking for serious relationships and having interesting profiles that suggested they were intelligent, emotionally stable people I could at least explore something with. And even more surprisingly, I had started chatting with a few of them within one day of signing into the app - I feel I am the ugliest most boring person in the planet so having people interested in MY profile was certainly a first.
I now realise that some of these interactions might lead to a date, and I wouldn't know how to handle that. As I said, I have a deep desire to love. I am messed up and have so much baggage, but I am not a bad person. I don't do drugs or (excessive) alcohol, and I believe I am reasonably smart. I have a lot to give, but my mental health is holding me back. I wish someone could see past that and give me a chance, but I also don't want to scare people away by trauma dumping on them, and I don't want to inflict my pain on someone else because it would be unfair. I am terrified I'd be rejected because of how I am, and I am also terrified of falling for someone and self sabotaging myself. At the same time, being able to love someone would be integral in helping me come out of my shell and finally become a stable, mature adult. For many if not most people, love and relationships are one way to grow and develop an inner balance.
Have you ever dated while mentally struggling? How did it go? How do you unravel such a disastrous past to someone while communicating that you want to try your best to be a good partner and that there might still be something worth loving in you?

Hello! Honestly I’ve always wanted to do both md and phd eventually, but I struggled throughout undergrad and I think it might hinder my ability to get into a good dual program.
My gpa is 3.78 and sgpa 3.71, downward trend as grades peaked in my second year and dropped in the third. I tried to graduate in 3 years but had to withdraw from one class in the last semester spring 2023 due to health issues. I was supposed to take it online fall 2023 to graduate but then my mom’s cancer progressed and she passed away. So I’m just now finishing the class over a year from initially withdrawing, and it will have incomplete notation due to having to get an extension after my mom passed. No mcat yet.
My interest is oncology, specifically the one understudied cancer subtype that my mom passed from, as well as a specific type of immunotherapy. To date these two fields have never been combined in the way I really hope to be able to do in my future career.
My ECs will include 3000+ hours research (working toward 1st author publication but unlikely by application time, will probably have first author review), on an independently conceptualized project in translational cancer immunotherapy. Also have 200 hours shadowing and 50 hours hospital volunteering.
Basically my PI has offered to let me stay in my current lab for a PhD. I’ve been in this lab for two years and it is amazing, in my home city, at my top choice T20 school, and I would have a chance to combine my two niche research interests for which other labs/opportunities are very scarce. I’m leaning toward doing this and then maybe looking into accelerated 3 year Md programs later on since I’m fairly set on intended specialty. The average gpa for the combined program at this school and for most others with a potential research fit is above 3.9. I just don’t think there’s a chance I could get in.
Is there a reason to not do this? I know the main one is losing free tuition but what else? Thank you!

(2 weeks later)
Matt Horner: Sir, I'm sorry to say this we just received some really terrible news. It seems like Dr. Hanson was not able to find a cure for the zerg infestation after all.
Jim Raynor: Oh, no. Can we do anything to help?
Matt Horner: I'm afraid it's too late, sir. The infestation has spread all throughout the colony, and even those who haven't been infected themselves are beyond help. It's a blood bath.
(3 weeks later)
Donny Vermillion: And now, for some tragic and shocking news. Another colony of refugees has fallen to the Zerg. What is especially sad about this case is that help was available: a Protoss fleet was ready to eradicate the infestation, and although of course many lives would have been lost that way, too, at least half the colony would still be alive today. Reportedly, the terrorist and crimnal Jim Raynor chose to fight the fleet, destroying their capital ship and preventing their efforts of stopping the infestation. It's because of him that the entire colony is now dead, and we've already gotten reports that the infested have started attacking the remainder of the planet, threatening the lives of many more millions. Our own Kate Lockwell has the details.
Kate Lockwell: Yes Donny, for literally the first time ever that I'm talking live on this program, the facts don't seem to contradict your narrative. In fact, I have reports that the Protoss tried to negotiate with Raynor, but he refused, apparently because he thought some scientist could find a cure.
Donny Vermillion: Surely, Raynor could not have seriously believed that a single person could do what the entire empire has failed to achieve for over two decades. Besides, wasn't the infection already apparent at that point? Why else would the Protoss fleet have tried to intervene? Did he think that the scientist would find a cure in another few days?
Kate Lockwell: I know it sounds completely unbelievable, Donny, but that's what my sources are telling me. Perhaps you were right all along and Raynor is actually just a bloodthirsty terrorist, or at any rate, completely delusional.
(9 weeks later)
Jim Raynor: Matt, why do we see so many more infestations from all these small refugee planets? It wasn't this bad even after the Zerg appeared again.
Matt Horner: Uhh... well, sir, you did destroy one of the Protoss fleets devoted to eradicating the zerg infestation wherever they could. I think Selendis' fleet was the main factor keeping the infestations at bay.
Jim Raynor: ...
Matt Horner: She's still trying, sir, but it seems like the losses she's... um, suffered have slowed down her efforts considerably, sir.
(12 weeks later)
Donny Vermillion: ... but if there's one positive thing we can say from all this, it's that support for Raynor's Raiders among the population has dropped significantly since the disaster on Haven. It seems like people are finally seeing him for the psychopath he always was.

I remember in 2nd or 3rd grade any time a kid had a birthday you had a choice of getting a birthday spanking and a "pinch to grow an inch", or "running the mill" Since my birthday's in september I was the first birthday in the class so I had no idea what "The mill" was so I chose the spanking, which in retrospect was super inappropriate. you'd get a light spanking for how many years old you were and a pinch to grow an inch.
I think the mill was you'd just run between all the other students on either side of you and they'd all spank you as you ran through. Again, super inappropriate lol, but we just treated it like it was a normal thing.
Was this just me or was my teacher a weirdo?

I love the moons, got this back when I was a kid in 8th grade back in 2008. My first significant purchase after working at my grandparents Christmas tree lot. Will never sell it.

Deep down I knew I don’t need permission or confirmation that my mother is generally malignant and the ultimate source of suffering in my life right now. But I can’t accept why my own mother would do that to me.
So I am turning to you for advice, support, and insights for ways to separate yourself emotionally and individuate from your parents later in life when you should've done so much much earlier. The adult part of me knows what I should do but there is also a part of me that is frightened. let me give you a snapshot of my life trajectory. The story is long but I want to give you as much contexts as possible. If you want a short summary of the dilemma, go to the last paragraph, otherwise, here is my life story (it is long because I want to give as much context as possible, and also show clues for the many different ways a narcissistic parent can disrupt your life): I grew up in a well-to-do family in an East Asian country, my parents gave birth to me when they were in their early 20s and just as their business started taking off in the 'boom years'. Both of them came from very broken family, my mother suffered poverty, abuse, and neglect from her parents (she did not speak to her dad until he died, and almost never acknowledges her mother). My father was the least favourite child in his family of three, he dropped out of high school, ended up on the street (and, as I learnt a few years ago, later in prison for getting into fights). My mother met my dad (21) when she was 19 and ran away from her hometown, they grew a very successful business together in the early to mid 20s and became incredibly wealthy for a society that is generally still very poor. I had a lot of luxuries in my early childhood, we had a car, I had good clothing, but my parents were never around. I started boarding at the age of 3, and generally spent most of my time outside of kindergarten and school with my paternal grandparents, and occasionally, my mum's mother. My parents fought a lot, and I remember my mother threatening to take me away from my dad and drove away from home with me in a car with nowhere specific to go. Once things got really bad and my mother told me that she is divorcing my father, and we even went into another flat (for a grand total of 1 day) before returning home. She emotionally smothered me, told me that she would die for me and nobody would love me as much as her. As the expression in our language puts it ' You are a piece of flesh fallen from my body'. She hit me a lot, often over small things , sometimes in public, I remember being thrown outside of our apartment and crying in the corridor. But I thought she was better than my father, whom, in my mother's words, would swiftly remarry in an event of her death/departure, and I would then be abused by another evil mother in law and her offsprings. My dad was completely absent from my childhood save for the first year (I remember playing video game, going to the park with him at the age of 3).
Although my family was wealthy, my mother took me out of the posh international school I was in after 6 months and sent me to a state school that is (in)famous for being extremely strict and militant. I was a 'good, smart kid' in primary school, but when I got to the state school at the age around 12 or 13, I became very depressed and that life has no purpose. I was falling at almost all school subjects (except History), and I started drinking (my dad drank a lot, and alcoholism is culturally tolerated if not perpetuated). At this point something happened that saved me in retrospect. My family decided to emigrate to an anglophone New World country and I went to yet another boarding school there. Yes, I experienced racism and generally felt horrible about the way I looked (not good looking in the Western sense or sporty), but I got to be separated from my family and grew as an individual. My grades got better, and by year 12, 13 I was among the best performing students. Between 13-18, I rarely see my father (perhaps once or twice a year), my mother would visit periodically, they bought a house next to the school, so I started to live in the house (mostly alone, sometimes with my mother and whatever hapless young women she manipulated into being her assistant). My parents couldn't speak English, and I dealt with most family matters, as with many first gen immigrant kid. By the time that I was supposed to go to university, I wanted to do law & politics at the public university in my adopted hometown but then my father intervened stating that I would never get a good job at a respectful company with a degree from the backwater 2nd rate university. He insisted that I should go to the U.K. or the U.S. He also stopped me from taking a gap year to travel, so I mostly stayed at home, played game, whilst being a driver and an assistant to them for a year. I regret not leaving home and getting a job. I applied to many universities in the U.K, Canada, and Australia, got into most of them, and ended up choosing the worst ranked university because I wanted to be in London. I couldn't do a conjoint degree so I chose to study politics (as that's what I was interested in). University life was eye opening, I got to see Europe, realised that the world was much bigger than the conformist, conservative East Asian country and the backwater suburbs with strip-malls and junk food stores I grew up in. But the degree did not prepare me for life, and all those years of bad parenting, emotionally under-development made me miserable in my first taste of adult relationships. I chose emotionally distant if not abusive friends, was a horrible person who hurt people who actually liked me and loved me. I did no internship or travel because I was expected to go home during school holiday, helping them move house, looking after guests, and being the 'little husband' when my mother was giving brith to my youngest sibling. I really wanted to stay in London, I looked for jobs, very random jobs because I had no life skills and never ever made my own money. So in the end, I left, and had to return to East Asia. By this time, my father had moved to another, more cosmopolitan East Asian city as his lifestyle became more and more extravagant. I lived with him and started interning at a fancy company in the culture industry. I worked there for almost a year hoping they would offer me a job, they did not. I got another job fairly soon in brand consulting, and finally at the age of 23 started making money. I had a relationship with an older woman, she was kind and tolerant, and I was an arse. I also realised that I cannot combine intimacy and sex at this point. I tried to start my own freelancing consultancy, acquired the ability to impress other people (faking it). Things seem to be working, I almost made enough money to support my life, but I was fundamentally lost and unhappy. I had the first depressive episode in my life. I wanted to go back to London, to get a Masters degree. So I applied and got into my dream school, my father agreed to pay for my education, so off I went to university again. That was probably the happiest year of my life, it turned out I loved elements of academia, research, being with other smart nerdy people. I met an intelligent, caring, and beautiful woman, and we moved in together soon after. I discovered more fulfilling, freer ways to live, I found proofs that a successful life was not just about working for an investment bank, or being rich. I wanted to be an academic, so I applied for a PhD at the school, and I got in after two attempts. Academia isn't all rosy, the work condition is pretty awful, the publish or perish mentality literally sucks every last bit of joy and fulfilment out of research, I loved teaching, but quickly learnt that teaching matters little at a 'research university'. I got fat, my relationship got really bad, sex became non-existent, arguments soon turned physical, and I thought that I was a real piece of shit and better off dead. The only thing that kept me going at the time? Bitterness and shame. I felt indebted to everyone, to my partner because I was an abusive arsehole, and to my family because I was stupid enough to do a PhD and wasting their money (and my life away). The pandemic hits, and sure enough, things got even worse, I felt like I couldn't carry on anymore and that I needed to radically un-f my life. My solution to this: was to finally become the person my family wanted me to be, filial, loyal, and rich. I was ready to threw my life in London away, everything, my home, my girlfriend, my PhD and move back to East Asia to become rich, and 'stop being a loser'. I came home to 'fix my family' and showered everyone with love and attention in ways I never did. I networked and explored ways to get into finance, and I got an at a VC firm. Soon enough, the whole thing completed backfired and my life started to unravel faster than I could count to three. I hated the internship, it fundamentally clashed with who I was and my value, I cried everyday in the toilet at work. I also broke up with my girlfriend for a person who was the poplar opposite of her that I had no attachment to (and sex was great because there was zero emotional intimacy). Within 3 months, I had very little savings left, was living in a short term rental apartment, and spent most of my time in bed and eating very unhealthily. Luckily, I had a therapist, a good friend in Shanghai, and my girlfriend was willing to give me a second chance. It was also around this time I realised how my family's (what do you even call it) emotional neglect might have contributed to my unhappiness and depression. I was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder and medicated, the medicine helped for me to move out of paralysis. But I wanted to tell my family that I am very unwell and get them to love me back, so I confronted them over things they have done to me as a kid and showed them the diagnosis. My mother did not handle this well. She called me horrible names, made fun of me, and accused me for being a horrible son. This whole ordeal made me realise that I needed to break away from them, and what I had thrown away in London was actually the most valuable things I have in life, a career, a family, my own identity. After confronting my mother over her abusive behaviour and emotional smothering, she vowed to never see me again. However, after 6-8 months, she sent me a large chunk of money for my birthday. So I, stupidly, let her back into my life again, a part of the reason was the financial help that I needed (to feel safe mostly), but I also really wanted to see proofs that my parents actually did love and accept me after all. At first, things got better, she came for Christmas, visited a few times, celebrated her birthday, and looked really happy. Both my partner and I spent a lot of time with her, bought her gifts, cooked for her, and hang out with her to make sure she feels loved. But soon, she started complaining that she actually had a horrible time and was mistreated by my partner. To make matter worse, a year and half after I left home for the last time thinking that I would never go back, my parents promise to buy me a flat (and started to pressure me to get married). I accepted the flat, thinking that it would offer stability and freedom (pushing away the past experience of their emotional neglect and abusiveness). Sure enough, the flat became yet another way for my mother to mess with my life. It had daunted on her that I am about to become my own person and live in the flat and start a family of my own, so she lashed out and said if my girlfriend lives there she would sue me and reclaim the flat. She then went behind my back and started disputing the flat's ownership. We have already spent a lot of time and energy planning the move and all of this is happening just 2/3 weeks from the move-in. I have a demand job that requires a lot of cognitive focus, and I feel like I am spending a decent chunk of my day trying to resolve the situation in addition to processing the emotional toll of having my own mother out to destroy my life. I know I have a job, a family, and my own life, and I have a good legal case, but I also feel so unsafe, violated, and confused. I can almost feel the voice in my head telling me that this is all my doing, and that I am too weak. It is like I know what I need to do cognitively but emotionally I am paralysed. Do you think what I mean? What would you do?

Considering transferring as a finance major--career goal is Investment Banking. My current school is a small LAC where I've had great professors and learned a lot. If you could help with any of these questions, I'd appreciate it. If you'd rather DM, that's cool.
Why did you choose GWUSB?
If you've graduated, did you get the first job you hoped for?
What size are most of your business classes (sophomore and up)?
Are professors personable and the type that know your name (a lot of the Rate My Prof reviews are old and not good)?
Do professors grade fairly and is the workload manageable?
Is the atmosphere collaborative or competitive?
How helpful has the career center been?
Have you found alumni willing to help you with an internship or get your resume to the hiring team? (I don't have family with Wall Street connections, but many peers at my current school do. They already know what jobs they can get.)
Are you able to sign up for the classes you need/want or do they fill up pretty fast?
The school advertises access to lots of opportunities in DC (IMF, World Bank, etc). Have you found that to be true?

Alb Given writing up my app properly, is my profile esp ECs considered strong enough for EC-heavy AB schools I wonder ? (Plz assume OOP first and then what if IP)

• cGPA 3.90, 2&3 yr 3.95+
• MCAT : expecting 510-514, let's say CARS eligible for uofc oop
• CASPER : will take, was my op last year, but heard AB cutoff super low
• Doing MSc thesis clinical, good side projex

///////////:

TUTORING : * YMCA tutor for 3 years, great exp working w ppl w all learning styles and occasionally difficulties, diff subjects and grades - Peer mentor, course notetaker for office of students with disabilities - Paid uni Biochem tutor, 1 year - Paid tutor for a company starting fall

LEADERHSIP : * Student society's Vice prez, Univeristy senator, board member. Did projects aimed at improving student life academics equity. Voiced my fellers at committees. Network that I leveraged to make things happen. * Program's society Vice prez for 2 yrs. Additional to typical responsibilites, held or helped hold workshops, career fairs, etc. - Cancer society vice prez. Led a committee of 4, collaborated with a committee of 30. Did quite a bit, fundraised alot.

WORK (minimal): - Crew member at Timmies 1yr (learned French there basically bein oui) - Comms assistant and student guide 1 yr * Medical secretary this summer, so 4 months. Blessed to be doing incredible additional stuff that ease pt's getting appintments, also digitalizing the clinic's records, alot of impact potential that I'm enjoying. Thyey're super appreciative of me too, goes both ways.

Research : * mid-ranked author and article screener, scoping review on health services. 1.5 yrs. Did screening, extraction, brainstorming steps. helped write manuscript. - paid full time summer internship, wet lab. 2 uni conferences. -- MASTER'S THESIS AND OTHER PROJECTS OTW !

Comm service :

• Hospital cancer support volunteer 1 yr. visitsa and talks, sign up patients and families for support services, sometimes niche things like securing funding for adapted mobility. Extremely eye-opening. Crearing a respite program rn.

-- ICU reception volunteer, 2 years (effectively helped manage unit traffic, guided and comforted visitors)
-- long-term housing volunteer, 3 years (visits, outings, event facilitation, arts and movement workshops, helped residents overcome anorexia, isolation, etc etc

Awards :

• student engagement award, resssrch award fundung my summer internship, a few partial scholarships from school, made it semi-final to a huge EC-based scholarship.

Other :

*basically my family's rep in all processes involved in a Covid-striken, isolated immigration experience in early 2020. This shaped me basically. I can talk about enormous challenges I, and I mostly, overcame for hours. Lost 20kg in first months doing those, wrote hundreds of letters, called 1000s of times, even worked w lawyers once, but turned dozens of refusals and rejections into approvals. fuck it we ball.

Given writing up my app properly, is my profile esp ECs considered strong enough for EC-heavy AB schools I wonder ? (Plz assume OOP first and then what if IP)

• cGPA 3.90, 2&3 yr 3.95+
• MCAT : expecting 510-514, let's say CARS eligible for uofc oop
• CASPER : will take, was my op last year, but heard AB cutoff super low
• Doing MSc thesis clinical, good side projex

///////////:

TUTORING : * YMCA tutor for 3 years, great exp working w ppl w all learning styles and occasionally difficulties, diff subjects and grades - Peer mentor, course notetaker for office of students with disabilities - Paid uni Biochem tutor, 1 year - Paid tutor for a company starting fall

LEADERHSIP : * Student society's Vice prez, Univeristy senator, board member. Did projects aimed at improving student life academics equity. Voiced my fellers at committees. Network that I leveraged to make things happen. * Program's society Vice prez for 2 yrs. Additional to typical responsibilites, held or helped hold workshops, career fairs, etc. - Cancer society vice prez. Led a committee of 4, collaborated with a committee of 30. Did quite a bit, fundraised alot.

WORK (minimal): - Crew member at Timmies 1yr (learned French there basically bein oui) - Comms assistant and student guide 1 yr * Medical secretary this summer, so 4 months. Blessed to be doing incredible additional stuff that ease pt's getting appintments, also digitalizing the clinic's records, alot of impact potential that I'm enjoying. Thyey're super appreciative of me too, goes both ways.

Research : * mid-ranked author and article screener, scoping review on health services. 1.5 yrs. Did screening, extraction, brainstorming steps. helped write manuscript. - paid full time summer internship, wet lab. 2 uni conferences. -- MASTER'S THESIS AND OTHER PROJECTS OTW !

Comm service :

• Hospital cancer support volunteer 1 yr. visitsa and talks, sign up patients and families for support services, sometimes niche things like securing funding for adapted mobility. Extremely eye-opening. Crearing a respite program rn.

-- ICU reception volunteer, 2 years (effectively helped manage unit traffic, guided and comforted visitors)
-- long-term housing volunteer, 3 years (visits, outings, event facilitation, arts and movement workshops, helped residents overcome anorexia, isolation, etc etc

Awards :

• student engagement award, resssrch award fundung my summer internship, a few partial scholarships from school, made it semi-final to a huge EC-based scholarship.

Other :

*basically my family's rep in all processes involved in a Covid-striken, isolated immigration experience in early 2020. This shaped me basically. I can talk about enormous challenges I, and I mostly, overcame for hours. Lost 20kg in first months doing those, wrote hundreds of letters, called 1000s of times, even worked w lawyers once, but turned dozens of refusals and rejections into approvals. fuck it we ball.

Hello; really loved the interaction with my first post, so thanks so much for that! I'll just reiterate: spoilers for all Star Trek, and everything is just my opinion.
900) Unnatural Selection (1989)
TNG 2x7
Writer: John Mason & Mike Gray
Director: Paul Lynch
We've seen this idea done before and better. Yeah, it's a little bit different this time: it centres around children genetically engineered to be free of disease (isn't that illegal in the Federation?). But the actual plot of the episode is little different from TOS' The Deadly Years, with Doctor Pulaski aging and trying to find a cure for the condition. An uninspired repeat of a TOS episode that wasn't even that good in the first place.
899) We'll Always Have Paris (1988)
TNG 1x23
Writer: Deborah Dean Davis & Hannah Louise Shearer
Director: Robert Becker
Bored me stiff. I'm not always a huge fan of time travel stuff in general, and this is one of the least dynamic uses of that story type I've ever seen. Picard also has some weak character development, in his reminiscence about the girlfriend he left behind to join Starfleet, after he runs into her in this episode. The resolution with Data is fine, though, and I do like that they used him, as somebody less affected by the Maddox Effect, to solve the problem. Functional, just really dull.
898) Angel One (1988)
TNG 1x13
Writer: Patrick Barry
Director: Michael Rhodes
I will say that, as a teenage boy and as a young man now, this episode did give me empathy for what women go through in real life: being dismissed as weak and soft and barred from meaningful work. Beyond that, however, this episode really says nothing. It feels like it wants to be a deep and compelling exploration of gender roles, but apart from that feeling of empathy it gave me it doesn't accomplish anything of the kind. It's just a rote story about an oppressed section of society trying to combat their oppressors, and Riker saves the dissidents from being executed with a dull speech.
897) Silicon Avatar (1991)
TNG 5x4
Writer: Jeri Taylor, story by Lawrence V Conley
Director: Cliff Bole
Oh, just what I always wanted: the return of the Crystalline Entity from Datalore! Most anticipated villain return ever! But seriously, this could have been an interesting episode exploring a decent creature, but all that ends up happening is the Enterprise chasing the Crystalline Entity while Data has conversations with the mother of one of the victims of its attack on his colony. I will say that her hatred of Data got some genuine emotion out of me, as I raise my hackles against anyone who dares attack that loveable android, and seeing her come round to him was reasonably satisfying. But I still wasn't intrigued by their conversations, or the story of her seeking revenge for her son's death. The actual murder of the Crystalline Entity was done with a decent weight, but the episode takes forever to get there, through a slog of boring conversations and virtually no emotional investment for me.
896) The Outrageous Okona (1988)
TNG 2x4
Writer: Burton Armus, story by Les Menchen, Lance Dickson & David Landsberg
Director: Robert Becker
An aimless, artless story of a rogue caught between two fathers hounding him for his misdeeds. I don't find Okona amusing or charming, so his heavy presence in the episode doesn't do anything for me, and the story surrounding him is weak too. Data's stand-up comedy stuff is quite funny; Brent Spiner plays it brilliantly. I particularly enjoy the scene where he's trying out his act on Guinan, and it's just so bad. Also love Whoopi Goldberg's delivery of 'No' after Data asks her if his act was good. But this B-plot has only a flimsy connection to the main story, and therefore its presence leaves the end product feeling messy as well as weak.
895) Bounty (2003)
ENT 2x25
Writer: Hans Tobeason, Mike Sussman & Phyllis Strong, story by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
Director: Roxann Dawson
An A-plot and B-plot that are both very bad. The story of Archer getting kidnapped by a bounty hunter is rote and uninspired, and definitely feels like it was one of the last ideas the writers came up with for the season. They were just filling time with a poor sequel to the earlier episode Judgement. His interactions with the Tellarite do not interest me at all, and I do not care about the Tellarite's lost ship. The B-plot with T'Pol prematurely going through the Pon Farr sees some of the worst sexualisation of the character, plus some cringey dialogue between her and Phlox. Archer's ending escape from the Klingons, with the Tellarite's secret help, is solid, though.
894) The Omega Glory (1968)
TOS 2x23
Writer: Gene Roddenberry
Director: Vincent McEveety
Goes from mundane to insane. For much of its runtime I would give this my label of dull but functional: there's a rogue Starfleet Captain trying to discover the secret to eternal youth on a pre-warp planet, and there's a lot of fighting with some of the savage natives. It's all very boring... until the last quarter.
It gets revealed that this is (yet another) TOS Season 2 Earth parallel, with the savages representing the US and the village people the Communists. There is no explanation given for how the aliens ended up with all the exact paraphernalia of that time on Earth, from the US flag to the American Constitution; it's all just ludicrous.
The crowning weirdness of the episode is Kirk's lauding of the American Constitution as the greatest thing ever invented. Now, I don't just not like this because I'm English; I would feel the same if the British (unwritten) Constitution was being lauded like this. I consider myself a pretty patriotic person, and I believe that every country has equal reason to celebrate themselves, but I feel it is utterly inappropriate in Star Trek for any one country or group to be held up as the ultimate shining example of civilisation. This is because Trek is meant to represent a future where everybody's come together under one banner. There's a lot to praise about the American Constitution, but it's inappropriate for it to be held up as the 'One True Way', if you will. Kirk's final admiring look at the US flag is so cringeworthily saccharine. So, yeah, this episode is boring for most of its runtime, and it certainly isn't in the end... it's much worse.
893) The Muse (1996)
DS9 4x21
Writer: Rene Echevarria, story by Rene Echevarria & Majel Barrett-Roddenberry
Director: David Livingston
The DS9 Lwaxana Troi episodes are largely not a good time, and this is the absolute worst of them. The story of her pregnancy feels so hammy and forced, and the drama with her and Odo doesn't interest me at all. She also doesn't feel like she has much of a presence in the episode, which is shocking given how she came on so wonderfully strong in TNG. The other plotline with Jake is also uninteresting. It's at least not as bad as the Lwaxana storyline, but it's still so very uninspired (you see what I did there?). Annoyingly our last Lwaxana appearance; they really should have stopped her episodes after TNG's Dark Page; that was the perfect ending for her character.
892) When the Bough Breaks (1988)
TNG 1x16
Writer: Hannah Louise Shearer
Director: Kim Manners
Gene Roddenberry did like his kiddie episodes, didn't he? The idea of 'Atlantis-but-a-planet' is interesting, but the episode wastes the concept on a tiresome kidnapping story. The kids are fine I guess, but I'd also rather not be watching them. Wesley feels kinda out-of-place among them, to be honest, considering how noticeably older he is. I will say that Picard's reaction to the abduction: 'You have just committed an act of utter barbarity!' is a superb bit of acting from Stewart, but other than that there's nothing else I'll praise about this outing.
891) Pen Pals (1989)
TNG 2x15
Writer: Melinda M Snodgrass, story by Hannah Louise Shearer
Director: Winrich Kolbe
This always feels like a short to me, despite its forty-five minute length. No time is spent building up Data and the alien kid's relationship; we just see the kid's first communication, then jump into Data confessing to Picard he's been in contact with a pre-warp individual. So I have no investment in this relationship, which is a shame because Data-plus-kid had the potential to be really sweet. They just didn't put the legwork into it. The resolution is fine.
890) Unforgettable (1998)
VOY 4x22
Writer: Greg Elliot & Michael Perricone
Director: Andrew Robinson
Got to be the most ironic title in Trek history, since this episode is extremely forgettable. It's also mind-numbingly boring: Trek does not have a good track record with single-episode romances, and this has got to be one of the worst. I feel zero connection to the guest character and zero investment in her relationship with Chakotay. The idea of a species that you forget after they've been gone for a while is intriguing, but it is wasted on this insipid romance. This was one of the longest forty-five minutes I've ever sat through.
889) Transfigurations (1990)
TNG 3x25
Writer: Rene Echevarria
Director: Tom Benko
Speaking of dull one-episode romances, here's another one. The idea of a species going through a butterfly-like transformation, that is feared and suppressed by the authorities, is again intriguing. It reminds me of the Jon Pertwee Doctor Who story The Mutants, if anyone's watched that, except it's done less well. Again, the good concept is wasted on a boring romance, this time between Beverly and her patient. This is another one that feels much longer than forty-five minutes.
888) Bread and Circuses (1968)
TOS 2x25
Writer: Gene Roddenberry & Gene L Coon
Director: Ralph Senensky
At this point in TOS Season 2, I just thought: 'Really, Mr Roddenberry? Another Earth parallel? I know you like them, but this is getting ridiculous!' Not only is this a tired repeat of an already done idea, but no explanation is given for why this planet parallels the Roman Empire. In A Piece of the Action and Patterns of Force clever reasons were given, but in this it's just presented as a weird fact. That doesn't fly with me.
And even if they had come up with another clever explanation, they have done this idea, which I don't like very much anyway, way too many times this season. I did have some minor interest in the concept of a Rome that never fell, but not enough to sustain me for fifty minutes. Boring and uninspired to the highest degree. I will say there's one really great scene between Spock and Bones in a prison cell, though, when Bones confronts Spock about how he keeps all his emotions carefully concealed.
887) How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth (1974)
TAS 2x5
Writer: Russell Bates & David Wise
Director: Bill Reed
Similar to Who Mourns for Adonais?, in that it gives us an omnipotent alien, who was once worshipped as a God on Earth, and has returned to take charge of his wayward children, only to ultimately discover they don't need him anymore. This is a much weaker version of that story, however, with a less sympathetic godlike character and less runtime to flesh out the idea.
The episode also takes a weird swerve halfway through, from the setting of Kukulkan's city (a nice location, I must say) to his zoo, which I find much less appealing. This episode had an idea, but it wasn't quite sure how to tell the story. Kukulkan genuinely scared me a little, though, and I did feel sorry for him when he flew off, knowing that his former worshippers had outgrown him. But again, that was done better in TOS.
886) Resurrection (1997)
DS9 6x8
Writer: Michael Taylor
Director: LeVar Burton
Michael Taylor is a curious writer for me. He has written both some of my favourite and some of my least favourite episodes, with little middle ground. This falls hard into the latter category. It's interesting to have someone from the Mirror Universe cross into the Prime Universe, rather than the other way around as normally happens, and it's doubly interesting to have that someone be Mirror Bareil. But the episode falls flat on its face: every scene is just so interminably dull, and, unlike his Prime Universe counterpart, this Bareil has no chemistry with Kira. So boring, so pedestrian, and the absolute worst of the DS9 Mirror Universe episodes.
885) The Paradise Syndrome (1968)
TOS 3x3
Writer: Margaret Armen
Director: Jud Taylor
I think this is the epitome of functional but dull. The story makes sense, the characters' motivations make sense, but that doesn't mean the episode is interesting. I do like the idea of the Preservers, beings who transplanted members of endangered peoples, here the Native Americans, to other planets, but the episode flops. Kirk's memory loss leads to a yawnworthy stay among the Native Americans, filled with predictable tensions and conflicts, and a bland romance. The Spock and Bones B-plot is also boring. I feel a little something for Miramanee's death, but only a little something.
884) Assignment: Earth (1968)
TOS 2x26
Writer: Art Wallace, story by Gene Roddenberry & Art Wallace
Director: Marc Daniels
Star Trek without the Star Trek. Deciding not to focus on the main characters for an episode isn't a bad idea in and of itself, but the characters put in their stead hold little interest for me. The same is true of the plot they work within. This was of course a backdoor pilot for a spin-off that never manifested, and maybe if it had come about I would like this episode much more, but as it stands I find the characters unintriguing and the plot uninspired. The climax is particularly poor, with about seventy different shots of the rocket going into orbit, while the characters mill about and do very little. I want me my Kirk, Spock and Bones back.
883) The Red Angel (2019)
DSC 2x10
Writer: Chris Silvestri & Anthony Maranville
Director: Hanelle M Culpepper
Down here for the same reasons as previous DSC Season 2 episodes I've put on this list. It engages heavily in the twin foul-ups of the Spock's sister storyline and the Section 31 portrayal. I hate the base concept of Burnham being Spock's sister, for reasons I've explained in my previous post, so I despise all their scenes together, that build out this relationship that I wish had never been. And Section 31 continues to be portrayed as a public wing of the Federation, with ships and resources provided by Starfleet, which is godawful.
I will say, however, that I do kinda like the sequence where Burnham has to strap herself to a chair and bare herself to the planet's toxic atmosphere in order to summon the Red Angel. And the reveal that the Angel is not herself but in fact her mother is cool. But this is still a really bad episode.
882) The Storyteller (1993)
DS9 1x13
Writer: Kurt Michael Bensmiller & Ira Steven Behr, story by Kurt Michael Bensmiller
Director: David Livingston
A really messy, weak outing. The A- and B-plots have nothing to do with each other, which isn't automatically bad, but here it just makes the episode feel untidy. Of the two, I prefer the Jake and Nog subplot; it's funny seeing them mooning over the female teenage leader of a settlement who comes to the station. Their getting in trouble to impress her is charming. The A-plot sucks, though: the whole business of O'Brien having to become the protector of this village, from an amorphous cloud villain, is just lame, and the resolution is whatever. It is funny to see O'Brien and Julian in their first episode together, though, and witnessing how much O'Brien doesn't care for the good Doctor at this point. Oh, how times will change.
881) The Arsenal of Freedom (1988)
TNG 1x20
Writer: Richard Manning & Hans Beimler, story by Maurice Hurley & Robert Lewin
Director: Les Landau
A ramshackle adventure with a medley of different storylines, all of which are underwhelming. The best is Geordi's plotline, where he asserts himself as commander of the Enterprise over the *rsehole Chief Engineer of the week, but the other two don't really have any redeeming qualities. The Riker and co storyline is repetitive and the Picard and Beverly storyline is dull. I do like that the threat is resolved when Picard agrees to make a purchase from this dead civilisation, though.
880) Move Along Home (1993)
DS9 1x9
Writer: Frederick Rappaport, Lisa Rich & Jeanne Carrigan-Fauci, story by Michael Piller
Director: David Carson
OK, so I said this wasn't the worst of DS9, but it's still really bad. Though I have to say that, after I watched this with my siblings last year, and had such fun doing so, I've never been able to see it quite so badly. It's bad, yeah, but it's so, so much fun. The best-worst bit is of course the alien hopscotch scene, and I also really have to give credit to Alexander Siddig for playing some brilliant cringey comedy with Julian. The scene where he's trying to wake himself up from a nightmare by screaming? So funny. These (sort of) praises made, this is still a stinker of an episode, with a messy plot, too-silly events, and some serious overacting from Armin Shimerman at the end. Definitely something best watched with friends or family.
Allamaraine, count to four,
Allamaraine, then three more,
Allamaraine, if you can see,
Allamaraine, you'll come with me!
879) Justice (1987)
TNG 1x7
Writer: Worley Thorne, story by Ralph Wills & Worley Thorne
Director: James L Conway
I love the basic idea of this episode: Wesley runs afoul of a law on another planet and is sentenced to death by their draconian justice system. Then Picard has to struggle with whether to obey the Prime Directive or save his life. But the episode is dragged down by some weird costuming choices and, most of all, the addition of an omnipotent entity that watches over the planet's people. This should have just been an episode about Picard struggling between duty and conscience; the addition of a mega-powerful being steals screentime from this fine idea.
878) A Simple Investigation (1997)
DS9 5x17
Writer: Rene Echevarria
Director: John T Kretchmer
Uuuuugh; another boring single-episode romance. It's an interminable chore to sit through, from beginning to end, with tired, uninspired romantic scenes and an unexciting criminalistic plot surrounding the Orion Syndicate. I also don't like how the Changelings' linking is equated with sex in that one scene. There are a few fun scenes with O'Brien, Julian and Jadzia when they're playing the spy holosuite program (Jadzia's 'Ooh, somebody stop me!', or O'Brien's 'Hi, Odo!'), but that's about it.
877) Such Sweet Sorrow Part Two (2019)
DSC 2x14
Writer: Michelle Paradise, Junny Lumet, & Alex Kurtzman
Director: Olatunde Osunsanmi
DSC wasn't merely content to introduce a sister for Spock who weakened the story of his childhood and family life. They had to make that sister so important in his life that he'd be willing to go with her into the future and leave his life behind. I hate that Kurtzman and co made this decision, as it makes everything in TOS, SNW etc feel like Spock settling for second-best, when in reality he is fulfilling his life's purpose in those series.
I also never connected with any of the DSC original characters, except for Saru, and even with him I don't feel any emotion at their grand final 23rd Century adventure to stop Control. As I've said before, this evil sentient AI story is a tired, repeated idea, and its connection to the terrible portrayal of Section 31 makes it worse. As a result of all this don't give a single crap about any of the grand-scale action in this episode, and I feel nothing for the loss of the Discovery crew to the far future. I will say that this episode did at least propel DSC into the 32nd Century, which would end up saving the series from being irredeemably awful, and it sets up the phenomenal SNW (although we didn't strictly need all this for SNW to work).
876) Vis a Vis (1998)
VOY 4x20
Writer: Robert Doherty
Director: Jesus Salvador Trevino
A vapid story about Tom feeling dissatisfied with his life on Voyager, and getting replaced by a shape-stealing alien. The concept for the alien is solid, but the execution doesn't fly. It ends up being a limp episode that drags quite a bit, with a bland character arc for Tom at its centre. Shoutout for the appearance of Dan Butler as the alien's main form, though; he played the testosterone-fuelled Bulldog Briscoe in my favourite comedy, Frasier.
That's it for now. Thank you very much for reading, and Live Long and Prosper!

So, I wanna say first of all that I feel extremely shame about this, idk if I was an abuser or not, but the shame I feel is killing me.
So when I was around10-11, I and 2 girls at my school would go behind a hill and hump each other, i don’t remember who initiated it (I don’t remember much since I have sever trauma from my home around this time and that has caused some memory loss ) but we also started doing this naked, I don’t think I was abused before this. The only reason I even slightly knew about it was that in second grade my teacher showed us “sex ed” videos and also had a book explaining “sex” with pictures and drawings that she would force us to read, since the book only showed us straight sex, we did not think that 3 girl doing it was sex, we didn’t know girls could have sex with other girls. I remember us doing this and I then asked 2 of my other friends if they wanted to do it. They both said yes, and since we still didn’t know what we were doing we did it. I don’t know who started all this, all I know is I feel extreme shame and guilt and I feel disgusted in myself.

(Skip to the end to see the informal poll and avoid the anxious ramble)
My first year of teaching was a disaster from beginning to end. I know most teachers’ first year is the worst and you feel like you don’t know what you’re doing bc you don’t know what you’re doing and there’s so much pressure. Etc.
Even beyond the more typical misery was a lot of personal life tumult and turmoil and trauma and chaos going on, including a debilitating (somewhat unofficial but more or less confirmed based on symptoms) diagnosis I have to live with now without having much insight as to prognosis. And a lot more discomfort involving loved ones.
Reflecting on this year is almost as traumatic as the experience itself. I had next to zero support, with the exception of about 2 weeks under the guidance of an amazing master teacher. But that was it. The morale at the school was beneath rock bottom. Every single day was worse than the day before. I tried to go in positive. But with very few exceptions, everyone was miserable and no one tried to hide it. People were directly rude to me, condescending, sarcastic, openly comtemptful, angry, hated the kids and cursed about them and screamed at them (“shut UP!!!!” “MORON! GET OUT!” “You’re STUPID, I should have LET that student hit you!” “I woulda hit you in the face too if you’d done something like that to me!” Just a few quotes off the top of my head, not to mention one slamming the door on my sped teacher’s face along with our sped students, which the principal did absolutely nothing about despite his friendship with the sped teacher). Discipline/behavior was an absolute JOKE. I think I’ve painted an accurate picture of how awful it was.
I guessed my way through everything but did my absolute best and figured everything out. A bit of productive struggle and hey, by the end of the year I was an expert in a lot of things I knew nothing about months earlier. My rapport with my students was great, to give myself some credit. They loved me. Albeit too much—they thought of my softness as a doormat. They felt free and liberated in my classroom bc I seldom raised my voice. Unfortunately what they’re accustomed to is only listening when yelled at, and as a new teacher, I did not have better tools to manage classroom behavior, beyond building relationships, and my class was a bit out of control. It became all about getting through the curriculum through the 3rd quarter.
My benchmark scores went up, which was pretty amazing considering everything. However at the very beginning of the 4th quarter my principal informed me that he wasn’t renewing my contract and that he would never let me teach 4th grade again, that “I don’t know if I would ever let you teach any grade level, maybe try pre-k—you get nap time and someone is always with you.” So he wrote off my career as an elementary teacher after just a few months of teaching. I could go in about how he had covertly brought in his very own former student (who had only recently began prepping to take the Praxis) as my replacement, unofficially “employed” but “technically not.” But I don’t want to get into that, as furious as it made me. I just stopped writing lesson plans bc no way was I gonna train her for free when they gave me zero support through the year.
I had way more bad days than good—the kids and my para got me through it! I was grateful for that. They were wonderful and I miss them. But I was made to feel incompetent. I slowly started to realize that him booting me was a blessing in disguise, especially after learning how many students I’d have had next year. And some other changes that won’t be helpful.
There’s also a lot of BS going on in our state regarding education. So things are not exactly going to get easier. Alas, I need a paycheck and I went to school and passed praxis to be a teacher. I’m 44 so it’s not like I have many options.
But I did actually finally get an interview at a library last week! I’d applied for 6 years and never got so much as a phone call. Unfortunately it’s part time and drastically less pay (which is honestly pitiful). And it would take me years to make close to what I make now. And I was just getting into certification so as a teacher I’d get a $10k raise. Buuut I really don’t want to miss a rare opportunity to get my foot in the door at the library!
I’ve got dozens of job offers in my district. I had 6 principals call me and email me yesterday alone! I know I could make decent money. But I don’t want to turn down the library job, which absolutely would not cut it financially.
I forgot to mention a key component of this dilemma: Teaching is extremely overstimulating to me. I’m autistic/adhd. This was part of my misery. Between my loud a/c units in my classroom and the kids noises desks constantly clanking and kids constantly talking over me etc etc etc, and the awful attitudes of most coworkers and all the other stuff, I barely made it to the end of the year. I know most of us actually feel that way, but my day to day in the classroom is beyond awful. I cried constantly, I had panic attacks going in every single morning during the 4th quarter after years of reduced panic attacks, most days I felt frustrated, and some days I even had moments where I could not even talk anymore and had to go home (these days where at least one kid told me to “Shut the f- - k up b-tch!” or fought or both plus admin treated me like crap and I had enough). Not to mention spending entire weekends and weeknights writing lesson plans, creating lessons, grading, entering grades, etc etc etc. All I could think about every day was how much I wished I could get a library job!! I even had a student tell me I would make a better librarian than teacher. She was excited when I got the call about the interview lol.
But what if my next school is better? What if I go in knowing expectations and having a better idea of how to do things and how to establish classroom procedures, what if it’s better? What if it’s stupid to give up on a better paying job? I’d love to get my MLIS but realistically, there aren’t very many librarian jobs and moving isn’t an option. The day to day would almost be worth the paycut. I’ve contemplated doing both, just for one year. I know that sounds nuts, and it’s risky, but what’s more important? My paycheck, or my mental health?! I honestly don’t know! I need the money. But I also need a peaceful environment.
Here are my options:
A) Substitute w library for almost the same money as I made uncertified, which was barely enough
B) Library + teaching full time bc you’re insane and unrealistic
C) Library only + MLIS bc it’s your dream & short term paycut is worth long term happiness.
D) Girl, are you insane?! Teaching only bc it’s the smart move!

You're doing great! Don't sweat the most recent or upcoming project, test, grade, etc.
Make sure you give your best shot, and never, ever succumb to cheating. The OSI Police are in full force during this critical period, and you know it, through the Reddit threads that you would occasionally find how onerous these threats could be.
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You Are Not Alone & You'll Get Through This. Know that you are not alone.
We all go through ups and downs and have tests or projects that don't go as planned. Never fear as bright days are ahead of you. Utilize this thread if you're feeling down and or want someone to talk to. We are all in this together and we're here for you and one another.
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There is a lot more to life than work and school. Health, family, & friends always come first.
School is not the most important thing in life. Remember, Bs (and intentionally sometimes even Cs) give you degrees.
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Nobody cares about a perfect 4.0 GPA, besides yourself.
OMSCS has always been intended to be part-time so that you could explore things that you love and enjoy. There is no shame in quitting, and you should post a new thread and celebrate with us if you took 6 years to accomplish this feat in graduation.
​
Love, OMSCS Mod Team (posing themselves as bots, but hey, we update and wrote it up!)
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Crisis Resources

• If you or someone you know is in an emergency, call 911 immediately.
• If you are in crisis or are experiencing difficult or suicidal thoughts,
  • access National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - call 1-800-273-8255 (TALK); en Español - 1-888-628-9454
  • International Hotlines: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines
  • If you'd rather not talk on the phone you can use the Online Chat
• If you’re uncomfortable talking on the phone, you can also text "HELLO" to 741-741 to be connected to a free, trained crisis counselor on the Crisis Text Line.

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Mental Health Resources

GaTech OMS Students have access to mental health support services just like on-campus students.
The Institute has partnered with Uwill, a leader in collegiate mental health and wellness services, to provide additional resources at no cost to our students. Through Uwill, students will have access to:

• Umatch: Up to 5 free virtual counseling sessions with a licensed therapist with no need for referral
• Urise: On-demand curated wellness events to complement therapy.

Visit the Uwill website and register yourself as a new user with your gatech.edu email address. Once you've created your account, you will have access to all available Uwill services via your dashboard.
Check out other services too, like

• GT Wellness Hub
• Center for Mental Health Care and Resources
• Wellness Empowerment Center
• Stamps Psychiatry
• Togetherall app
• Headspace app (69.99 USD per year FREE for GaTech OMS Students!)

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Chat with Someone in OMSCS ❤️

If you need someone to chat with please post in the comments below.
Never forget the coffee hours, too, where you are able to speak with the directors, directly! Check out the OMSCS Student Center located in Canvas.
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Once again, there is more to life than school. You'll get through this rough time!

Hey everyone! I’m a first year in a transactional practice and I’m trying to transition to public interest litigation. I recently started the job application process and need to pick a writing sample to submit with my applications. Since I primarily took transactional classes in law school, I only have a couple brief or memo writing samples: a brief from a 1L legal writing class and a memo from a doctrinal course exam I took during 2L, for which I received a high grade. I have written memos analyzing case law for work and pro bono matters but am not able to use any of those as they are confidential and cannot be appropriately redacted. I’m leaning towards cleaning up and using the 2L memo since it is more recent but wanted to see if others had different recommendations. I am new to the practice of law and know very few lawyers, so I would appreciate any advice! Thank you in advance!

Hej, if I lived in Sweden for six years (4years there, then two years away, then two years back, before moving away again) and went through primary school during that time (I essentially did most of grundskola in sweden) would I have any better chance at being employed by a company using my US college degree. My father's job has us move there in what was first grade for me.

Does anyone know how VSV students are scaled or how they alter the curriculum? Are their SACs and study scores scaled down? Has anyone here gotten a 95+ ATAR with fully or mostly online units? Currently stressing out for my entire future! 🤗
I have been doing 2 of my 5 1/2 units via VSV and I'm getting a bit worried! Both are subjects that my school isn't running this year due to numbers. However, I developed a health condition mid last year that's doing anything but improving, + i'm extra busy/stressed from commitments outside of school (working and caregiving responsibilities.) Right now it's looking pretty likely that, due to all these factors, I'll have to go fully online for 3/4. When I enrolled I was assured by my school and VSV that as long as I keep my focus I'll get the same standard + amount of work as I would currently. I was a bit worried because of how secretive they are with their study scores ect but I didn't have much choice.
However... Both subjects are clearly easier than the standard that friends from other 'in person' schools receive. I'm always getting 97-100% on SACs for both subjects, even though I don't go to their glorified powerpoint reading online classes and typically complete all my weekly work for the subjects in a few hours. The marking + feedback for weekly work is useless too. You don't get a grade, only a 'satisfactory' or not, and you can resubmit if you don't pass. My feedback is always "This is far above VCE level, well done! Keep it up!"... It's really not. What I'm submitting is the level that I would do on campus if I want mid 80's. Oh and just to clarify, I'm obviously not some child genius so hopefully this doesn't sound as absolutely pretentious as it does to me. Sorry everyone. I'm always good with Lit, but I usually need to put some elbow grease into the other ones if I want to achieve high marks. At my private, but by no means academic school, I've always done well (ok apart from GM; lets just say my emotional support calculator and I have clawed our way to 'firmly unremarkable' status) but I have to study hard and push myself to stay up there in marks. Essentially I'm just not used to getting full marks on a silver platter for a SAC that I submitted at 4am, after 1 hour of sleep-deprived and unmotivated work. I submitted that fully prepared for my average grade to drop pretty dramatically. Very much a 'fuck it, fuck this' submission. When I saw my mark I was honestly offended(?). That mark at my current school would've been the result of a week in self isolation and a rapidly approaching vitamin D deficiency. I really don't deserve it at all! I almost want them to take it back!!! It doesn't mean anything like this.
I always have to email them to ask for useful feedback (I BEG them to tell me areas I can improve on.) Even then I get the same response, or a very surface level message that doesn't seem to have much thought put into it. All very generalised stuff. The SACs aren't even well regulated. My submission didn't load properly once so I ended up submitting two days late; they didn't even mention it!? Once I was told I didn't have to worry about proper referencing for an essay. I have started going through the standard text books (VSV told me I wouldn't need one because the content is "all found in the weekly work" yea nah ) + doing all the work that a friend from another school gets. All because I'm terrified that they aren't teaching me the level they should be. I've even started trying to do double the effort that they ask for so I'm not stressing about getting behind without knowing it. It's getting tempting to submit crap without even editing it first, but I'm trying so hard not to fall into that rabbit hole... Yet.
Not to be dramatic but that chic, sultry 99.95 ATAR™ 😮‍💨🤩 has been tantalising me since my little brain could intellectualise it, so I'm really scared for my results if I have to go fully online next year. I don't have family pressure for results, but my self worth and academic results venn diagram is a circle. Before you ask, I'm not willing to move to a local-ish school with all my subjects because it will make things harder for my family. The one good thing about vsv subjects is that I have more time at home for those responsibilities + I can stop working so much because it's a public school. Sorry for this mini breakdown that nobody ever asked for or needed, but please please please, if anyone has ANY info on how it will effect my results or experience with getting a good ATAR at vsv, let me know. Or confirm my fears that my life is over.