>>1149 Awesome I will make a twitter and check it out at some point. I meant to ask more whether you would be happy or not pursuing that life? >>1144 I think with actuarial sciences you'll more likely just be using some shitty business software, that is more or a less a big calculator as opposed to programming in C or something. I do agree though I couldn't work in a bank or anything like that. Optimisation and linear programming are vital for a Communist world though, logistics will make the world go round regardless of the system. Oh that's interesting, you the programming on my courses more or less exclusive used to solve numerical partial/ordinary differential equations or numerical algebra. Where you doing this kind of thing? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_programming

>>1151 >Awesome I will make a twitter and check it out at some point. I only just made it now, so if you want to directly contact me you can always just use the email address ([email protected]). If you want to find more of my work, know that I don't make anything right now apart from what you see here on this site. >I meant to ask more whether you would be happy or not pursuing that life? I don't really care anymore. I've given up on trying to find a job that would fulfill me or whatever, my immediate need is to help allievaite my aging parents' suffering under the boot of capital. I know that my future won't be a good one (none of ours alive today will be), we will all suffer a future more horrible than anyone before us could imagine whether we have a decent job or not. I'd say 10 years to total collapse if we're lucky. When faced with that, I simply can't bring myself to care whether I want to work or not. All I want is to be involved with a truly revolutionary movement that would see an end to all this and dethrone capital for the last time, everything else is subordinate. Plus, to be honest, I kind of like the idea of doing smut/hentai/normal direct commissions like that. It feels somewhat better to me knowing that my labor will be used to give someone what they want rather than only serving to enrich Capitalists further (I realize the issues with the culture industry, porn, the spectacle, etc. are not 'good' or healthy in that way, but for what little agency I have in my own life right now, I will gladly accept that role over anything else currently presented to me). All this combined with the lack of decent jobs around, lack of affordable (or free) public transport to commute or friendship/familial connections to currently hiring companies makes doing art commissions probably the best thing to do right now. The only big downside is that I can't organize anyone else.

>>1153 Have you thought about starting a Patreon at all? Not to piss others off here, but given your circumstances, I think you'd be forgiven for doing a job that enable yourself some sustenance and to provide care for your parents. I'll use myself as an example. I too am tired of it all, but rather than going Doomer mode as some do I went full Quixotic Hope (which is a naive and foolish mindset, but I'm a bit of an absurdist stoic so ymmv). I mention this as I care for my sister who is disabled due to a drunk driver t-boning her car. Our parents are deceased, so it was either going to be me looking after her or... Well, the choice was obvious. I quit my passion job to take on a job I don't love but can do, am at least content to "put in the hours" and you're damn sure I get everything I can from those motherfuckers (I'm the quintessential "bad" employee who's too good at what they do to fire). Man this is rambling so I summerise... >tl;dr For your parent's sake, fight for the revolution by spending the best of what time you have left with them. Do a job you can do, a hand or head skill, a job you can do well and get paid well for that you hold leverage in, and leave the heart skills for until you can break free financially or socially. Failing that, you are part of something greater so perhaps creating Leftist Smut is a niche you can fill to stick it to the system. Get that Twittershit, Patreon, the full kit-and-kaboodle of profligate degeneracy that the capitalists utilise, their machinations of repression. Take that and take what you can of it to make it yours. Plus, if you set those up, I'll sling you a dollar or two on a Patreon/.io/star whatever the fuck there is now, and I'd like to commission you too. So at least for one more day you have some way to support yourself and parents. For what it's worth, we can support each other. Isn't that half the point after all?

Majored in "History-Literature" undergrad, which apparently nobody else but me and one other person ended up majoring in. Was basically an excuse to study Critical Theory and do intellectual history. Ended up writing my thesis on Mark Fisher. I totally loved school. Like most people here, I have no real job prospects. I'm hoping to apply to grad school in a year or two.

I studied econ through to a masters now I work as a emsfag

studying math and statistics for data analysis. pmc, here i come

>>1120 I just completed my first year in a similar field. It was basically the same experience. I have nothing to show for it and have learned fuck all. I really do feel scammed but I'm conflicted. Is it really going to continue to be like this?Should I just get out while I can?

>>1204 with something like this your only real option is to become a scholar

>>1151 > I think with actuarial sciences you'll more likely just be using some shitty business software, that is more or a less a big calculator as opposed to programming in C or something. former actuary, can confirm. the actual math in the actuarial profession never gets more sophisticated than first (mayyyyybe second) year calculus and basic to intermediate probability theory. Maybe if you're working with the quants on option trading and financial modeling there'll be some beefier statistics going on. and some actuaries are now basically becoming specialized data scientists. but that's a relatively new development im an ABC with parents who (very) loosely fit into the tiger parent stereotype. Got good grades in high school, did math competitions and shit. Went to a pretty prestigious liberal arts school and studied math with a computer science minor. I was pretty good at math but it took me way too long to realize I had zero passion for it and just liked the lifestyle of a being a math student (don't really have to worry about anything other than pulling an all nighter every now and then to finish up problem sets, which honestly was kind of enjoyable, at least in those days when I was super depressed and anti-social). i hardly remember any of the topology, abstract algebra, complex analysis, probability theory, etc. that i spent so much time studying. Overall I think getting a major in math, at least the last 2 years, was a huge exercise in masturbation. I didn't know what the fuck I wanted to achieve in life, just being an alienated chinese kid growing up in the suburbs. Had so little perspective going into college that I didn't realize 70% of my classmates were there without financial aid (total cost of attendance came out to about 60k a year). I remember getting close to a girl I liked and when she found out I was there on financial aid she was so surprised, > wow anon, I didn't know your family was... like that Man. Wonder how things would have been different if I had realized earlier on that I was in a school full of rich kids and I wasn't one of them. my family definitely wasn't poor by any means, it didn't occur to me that severe differences in wealth could exist beyond being well off and not well off. Anyway I went into undergrad implicitly assuming I'd go to grad school, but realized by the time I was a junior that I did not want to go into academia. so i started taking actuary exams and landed a consulting job. it's nice making 75k straight out of undergrad, and aspects of my math education (and cs education) made me much much more valuable to my employers than most actuaries, many of whom have a shocking lack of critical thinking ability and really any technical aptitude. but i wanted to blow my brains out after a few years, beyond the soul crushing nature of consulting work you're also just surrounded by peak neolibs. quit my job and now i'm preparing to blow my savings on another two years of school to get a bachelors in civil engineering. dunno if i really have it in me to do another two years of school but fuck, >>1144 >This kind of work strikes me as betraying my class interest to the very highest degree, and I had kind of a crisis of conception when I realized this was what most of my peers would be going into after graduating (assuming they didn't just get a prole job or go to grad school and post doc for eternity). I identify with this hard. Studying math and comp sci fetches you a high price on the labor market, but you really are whoring yourself out for the most useless, if not destructive industry forces out there. Eh, would I do things differently? idk. maybe would have just studied to be an engineer instead? idk. i feel pretty grateful that i graduated without any student debt (can thank my parents for that) and earned enough money in a few years that I had the freedom to start over and chase some dumb fucking dream of building water towers. i think studying math helped me in that regard, and it's gonna help more in terms of making the engineering degree much easier.

>>1553 I can't make your decisions for you, but if you feel the same way I do and see no material benefit from continuing your course, I would advise you to drop out now. It doesn't get better. If you want a decent job out of your studies, perhaps go to a community college to study to be an electrician, plumber, etc. If you want to learn a lot and possibly become a professional academic or revolutionary politician, see if you can find a course on Marxism, History, etc.

>>1144 >>1562 Also: For anyone reading this who feels like their (prospective) job betrays their class interests, Don't worry about it. I honestly can't think of many jobs today that don't require fucking over the working class in some direct or indirect way. I don't think it's too productive to contemplate this unless you're planning to make Marxist theory/analysis concerning this. If I was to follow this train of thought for myself, my current art commissions (mainly erotica) could be seen as feeding the culture industries as laid out by Theodor Adorno and Guy Debord, with it also exploiting the sexual frustration of modern man and supplying them their 'fix' instead of encouraging them to seek out their own meaningful relationships. This of course isn't everyone's case, but the trend is there. For me also, there is the fact that while I am sunken into my chair with bloodshot eyes and an aching wrist from my labor, I am not organizing, or even conversing, with anyone. I constantly feel guilty for that. Anyway, the class character of the vanguard, from Marx to Lenin to Mao to Che to Sankara, has always been of the middle class in some form. Even the poorest of the great revolutionaries such as Gramsci and Stalin were able to attain a high-quality academic education at some point in their lives. Point being, you really can't escape from the grip of capital until you abolish it by force, not the least in your job, so don't worry about whether your job is consistent with your class interests or 'ethical' or whatever else. If you are involved with any kind of leftist group (ideally a good political party), then you are already making infinitely more an impact than if you were to spend your time and energy instead searching for that 'perfect job' that aligns with your class interests. This is the same reasoning liberals use when they weigh up which brand of detergent is more 'eco-freindly' at the supermarket. Don't worry about it.

Since Drawanons are big here >>>/hobby/5948

>"Leftists" doing college Keep LARPing. You all are one salary raise away from being libs.

>>5064 >We live under capitalism and try to learn, get education and degrees and other things to survive and make life easier <Hurr ur just libs if you go to college Ok Elon Musk

>>5066 Again, I'll see you in a few years voting for the Democrats. Keep LARPing buddy.

>>1109 I went to university to do journalism, it was a waste of time, I only learned how shitty and corrupt that industry is and that real reporting is dead. Everything is just press releases. But at the same time at least it gave me something to do for 4 years and I don't have to pay back my student loans because I'll never have a real career that earns over the threshold or even any career. Don't go to college, it's a scam, but then the whole economy is a scam so it's not like there's any better options. Learn a trade I guess? Do something to do with computers then at least you can earn a salary even if the job is shitty and hateful. If I could go back in time and do things differently then I would abort myself.

>>5068 >hurr you vote for democrats I haven't voted for over a decade faggot. Get a life >>5069 >I only learned how shitty and corrupt that industry is But you learned something no? You learned the truth and have a good perspective on that particular aspect of capitalism and can provide input in that regard here or to leftist groups in general. >it's a scam <but then the whole economy is a scam so it's not like there's any better options That's the point TBH. Going to college gives some advantages in this capitalist world, even if from an objective standpoint capitalism is all shit anyway, but we can't go and live in the woods can we >learn a trade My uncle is a roofer and I help him and other folk on all sorts of construction jobs; carpentry, painting, landscaping etc. Learning a trade is good, but a college degree can raise your wages significantly in those areas. >student loans Which is why you don't go there unless you're super rich or super-poor. The poor can rely on the benefits they give out, and the rich have the monies. Middle-class people generally don't need the degrees anyway, since upward mobility is bullshit that doesn't matter in 90% of society

>>5068 >LARP Stop using words you don't understand

>>5073 It means roleplay which most college going "leftists" are definitely doing.

>>5075 >it means roleplay ... You fucking newfag. LARP: Live action role-playing, refers to people who do shit like pretending to be an uber Tankie IRL, with meme-tier ideologisms or ankids, "rioting" as parts of Antifa. Going to Universities and agitating is not LARPing. Going to universities to get a degree and live your life is not LARPing. FFS

>>5076 >Going to Universities and agitating is not LARPing. Going to universities to get a degree and live your life is not LARPing. FFS Yes it is because we all know that in a few years you'll be indistinguishable from other libs.

Should I stay in a Comp Sci major if I don't live and breathe this shit? I like going to class, and I find it engaging despite the fact that I also find it difficult and stressful yet I constantly have doubts about being able to get a job when graduating or if it's even what I should be doing My real passion is music, but after two years of that undergrad I kinda realized Arts degrees are basically one MASSIVE grift and since I'm fucking poor I really need some income that isn't the fucking grocery store I'm roughly in my second year with regards to the actual coursework and I haven't really killed myself out of frustration (yet) so I keep thinking I should just finish and see what happens

>>5077 Whatever you say ya neckbeard NEET, stay mad >>5079 >like going to class, and I find it engaging If your majoring it, then stick to what you like. >doubts about being able to get a job when graduating computer shit is the big bucks at the moment, so you're as likely to get work as you can get. >what I should be doing If you like doing it, do it. Doing work you like is important >real passion is music Make it minor and don't bother with much else. Degrees are meaningless in the musical field. If you have talent your best bet is finding musical connections to get work. >Arts degrees are basically one MASSIVE grift Yep >need some income that isn't the fucking grocery store Can't help you there, I'm looking for work too >Second Year Oh my sweet summer child. Make sure you prioritize and minimize the number of classes you have to take.

>>5079 Don't fall for their lies, they take any idiot who can write a fizzbuzz.

>>5081 I was born and raised in Soilicon Valley, doesn't that change things?

>>5079 I was in a similar situation. Don't worry about the imposter syndrome, there is a whole host of skills you can bring to places that these giga autists can't. >>5084 Na. Your degree is an investment, if you enjoy it and find it engaging then you're doing better than most of the world. Like the other guy said it's about as prosperous of an industry as it gets. While music is fun it is a lot more difficult. I couldn't even maintain the music hobby during the later years of my degree, so I find it difficult to say I would have thrived in a music degree. Uni sucks regardless of what you do and there is always an autist 10x better than you who makes it look easy. Don't worry if you're not that person.

>>5085 >skills you can bring to places that these giga autists can't. This. If you're able to engage and socialism with others in a non-creepy or autistic way you'll be leagues ahead.

>>5079 Well, unless you have rich bourgeoise parents, you don't really have a choice. Work hard, try to work on projects you care about, and focus on your passions on the side. My real passion is definitely not engineering, but I'm good at it and I make a comfy wage so I don't live in destitute poverty. Also, the revolution will need engineers. >>5085 >there is always an autist 10x better than you who makes it look easy. Don't worry if you're not that person. This. Just make good grades, actively learn, and maintain a decent social life. Easier said than done with COVID though lmao >>1109 >Did you guys go to university or any other forms of higher education? Why or why not? Yes, I have a bachelor's in aerospace engineering, probably will go for a masters in mechanical engineering. I was always interested in higher education/academics, so college was a natural choice. Did engineering because I'm good at math/science and it pays decently well. If I could choose any major though, I would've been a /comfy/ history major; too bad that doesn't pay shit. Thanks capitalism. >Did it help you achieve what you want to achieve? I have a job. So sure. Again, I wish I had a more liberal arts style of education, my real passion is in history and politics. >Would you go back in time and choose a different path? Yes, kind of wish I did civil engineering, god knows poor countries are in dire need of competent civil engineers. God aerospace engineering was such a shit choice, all the fucking jobs are in the military industrial complex or for startups that exploit the fuck out of engineer's labour. At least I have good experience in robotics, that's what I want to go to grad school for. Also wish I did a minor in history or something; I didn't do that because I was scared it would fuck up my GPA.

I graduated two years ago with a BA in history and I've been stuck in the same dead end job ever since. I gave up looking for work related to my worthless degree some time ago. A bachelor's just isn't enough for working at an archive, library, museum, etc. They all want people with master's degrees and connections for that kind of work. I know I won't be able to handle grad school. I had a hard enough time focusing on my work as an undergrad even without having to work while taking classes. Still, I've been thinking about going back for a second degree. I was considering pursuing a STEM related major (possibly electrical engineering), but the issue there is that I have zero math skills. Throughout grade school I was never taught math in a way that I could understand. I struggled so much that even in college I had to take remedial math courses, but in those classes I felt like I understood for the first time. Sorry for the life story, I was just wondering if anyone here who studied STEM was ever in a similar situation? I know it would be stupid to waste my time and money on a degree that requires math skills that I don't have, but I'm prepared to spend years relearning the fundamentals of math like a retard if it means that I can get a degree that will help me find a decent job.

hey ameribros, can some of you tell me if this is true? I was watching russian streamer Ubermarginal and he said on stream with Dasha Dugina (yes, the daughter of Dugin) that he used to be a marxist and that marxists get better grades in american colleges. Is that true? because if yes, I want to study in america https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKeImzclKhY[Embed] (03:11:00, if you know russian)

>>5141 Huh? What do you mean by marxists get better grades in American colleges? The environment is incredibly hostile to anyone openly calling themselves a marxist. You might be able to get away with it at more liberal colleges but this requires some nuance. Grades will be hard work no matter who you are. If you mean that being a marxist requires reading substantive books and developing critical thinking, then yes, that will help you anywhere including grades. Most people (read: burgers) don't read on /leftypol/ or anywhere in the states

>>5136 >uation? I know it would be stupid to waste my time and money on a degree that requires math skills that I don't have, but I'm prepared to spend years relearning the fundamentals of math like a retard if it means that I can get a degree that will help me find a decent job. Looks like you answered your own question comrade. You can do it :)

>>5141 >Ubermarginal The dude's a pseudo-intellectual of the same type as Ben Shapiro. The only way his phrasing is true is if you think liberal pandering to minorities in colleges is "marxism".

>>5145 idk, he says he wrote works about DiaMat and shit and even if the work was shitty he still got a good grade. but yeah, he probably talks shit again. my post was joke, I don't even have money to study in US :D

Marxists are going to get better grades in college just by virtue of the fact that aligning yourself with a weird textual ideology is something that, very broadly speaking, only weirdo nerds do. In most colleges just engaging with the material at all, and having been socialized into normative structure of what academic writing is "supposed to" look like, is enough to get you a decent good grade. The same applies to almost anything else, even to something as boring and incurious as Ben Shapiro-style conservatism.

>>5148 id believe it, but just because anything where you can sound smart and use a lot of jargon and expand on ideas at all will get good grades, depending on what you're writing for and what quality of school. Go to a rural community college and ull prolly get great grades, they're basically high school 2 its no secret that people can get good grades for absolute shit as long as it sounds fancy, what i did all thru high school

>>5136 I'm >>5079 I dropped out of highschool and am also the first person in my entire family tree going back generations to go to college so my math skills have never been very good. I went from taking middle school level algebra courses to getting a 100/100 on my calculus 2 final, so it's definitely possible, but it's very hard sometimes. You really just have to do lots of problems and really reflect on what you are doing wrong after each problem. I'm a complete dumbass so I basically just harass the professors non stop until it makes sense

If a freshmen majoring in molecular biology, thinking of droping out should I?

>>5535 Why you wanna drop out?

>>5535 "The political economy of human physiology" I don't know, only you can answer this, mate.

>>5536 feels like i'm wasting four years of my life

>>5538 We're a project of science, you've not wasted your time. You've just temporarily zoomed in on the specific area of study that is molecular bio, and you may have trouble tying this to the macrosocial scope of this political project. But I'd ask for you to consider the numerous transdisciplinary middle-grounds that exists. Due to the rare angle of input your specialization may even be more in need than the 90/100 revolutionary socialists that take something like macroeconomics, sociology, or history. Here are some transdisciplinary examples where one can find Marxists with a biological angle: Political ecology Environmental sociology Marxists adjacent to (or in) biology: Anton Pannekoek Richard Lewontin (biologist) Stephen Jay Gould (biologist) John Bellamy Foster Jason W. Moore

>>5539 I find the sciene that my major is in intresting, but their are so many generic courses that I have to kae that are really boring, and I'm getting D grades on all of them so I probly won't be able to get a job in the field I'm studying.

>Did you guys go to university or any other forms of higher education? Yes. >Why or why not? Because it is expected and you cannot get a job in my country without some sort of degree >Did it help you achieve what you want to achieve? No. I had no real goal and i hate the field i ended up graduating in. >Would you go back in time and choose a different path? Yes. Probably something in art or politics rather than STEM, i didnt learn shit in my course, 99% of what i know is pure self study.

>>5575 STEM is more valuable for the Time being than a Degree in Art or Neoliberal Politics. Mind if I ask which field you graduated in?

>>5577 Software engineering "more valuable" isnt much use for me if it makes me want to kill myself and i would rather try and make my living as an illustrator

>>5578 Can you switch to a different Engineering major? Or do you hate STEM in general?

>>5579 I already graduated. I realised that my depression wasnt caused by anything inherent but by programming too late. So im just winging it atm and doing teaching.

bumping this thread

I want to change of university subject (i am in classics and I can't stand studying litterature anymore). I hesitate between geography and computer science but I don't know wich one to take. A lot of people suggest me to take computer science but I found geography quite interresting. They're both "science", not noble science such as Maths and Physics but they both use scientific method. In my country (European country), studies cost nothing so taking a degree doesn't have the sam consequences as in the US. So wich one would you take between these two and why ?