Hi everyone, last year I was diagnosed through HSG test with blocked tubes (proximal) both of them. Dr said only option was IVF. I went to a functional medical doctor and she believed if we can reduce my inflammation than we can unblock my tubes. I also have hashimotos and hypothyroidism. I changed my life completely stopped smoking, drinking, and eating whole organic foods. After 1 year I did a repeat HSG and these were the results “Both tubes appeared normal in caliber with distal fill and showed delayed spillage of contrast into the peritoneal cavity.” - normal HSG results
Is it possible that I unblocked my fallopian tubes? Modern science says that this is impossible to do. Is it more likely that my tubes were never blocked to begin with?
I’m asking because I live in constant fear that my tubes will become blocked again. It’s irrational but I can’t help it. I was TTC over 5 years and never got pregnant so it makes sense. But why does modern science insist that there’s no way to unblock tubes naturally?!

TLDR: hollow purple will kill anyone who uses hax as a crutch to stay alive and fuga will kill anyone whos just a CE reinforcement+RCT merchant
Fuga is a finisher move used at the end of malevolent shrine. The heat and shockwaves causes massive internal (and external damage). Attacks that deal internal damage in JJK like unblockable drumming beat generally goes through CE reinforcement at least partially. This + the massive firepower means there really isnt a single character in JJK that can tank it through raw CE reinforcement+RCT. However, somebody like with hax like Gojo can ignore it. Limitless can target shockwave attacks as seen with jogos sound attack getting ignored.
Hollow purple is a rush of virtual mass. TCB translator notes from 205 tells us the same virtual mass term is used for both Yuki's CT and Hollow Purple. Virtual mass in jjk has the property of being uncontainable "semantically or pragmatically" which makes it immune to CT hax defenses that need to target virtual mass to work. EX: that special grade curse Ganesha kenny brought out against Yuki was supposed to havethis hax defense that lets it remove anything it considers obstacles by manipulating concepts its CT target. But since virtual mass cant be targeted, it just gets one shotted. This is corroborated by HP being able to damage Gojo through his infinity, which suggests that it cant be targeted by his CT either. However, somebody with insane CE reinforcement, RCT, and DA like Sukuna can tank it since at the end of the day its still just "lots of heavy shit moving towards you at high speed."
To summarize: HP negates hax defenses but you can tank it with raw stats. Fuga will kill you if you try to tank it with raw stats but you can ignore it with hax defenses. Theyre two different tools for two different jobs.
Addendum: - DA works against HP since it targets the CT and not the virtual mass itself, an analogy would be how you cant grab water with your hand but you can move the cup its inside of. But even so you wont block 100% of it as seen with Sukuna - Another example of virtual mass fucking up hax is how after Kenjaku gets his shit rocked by Yuki, he flew through Tengen's barrier then actually broke through the barrier itself "...broke through the Sunyata barrier's circular definition." Kenjaku is making this remark because thats impossible without manipulating the barrier. Tegen's bsrrier is supposed to be infinitely big, like those fractal videos you can keep zooming in forever. Again, virtual mass just kinda breaks...logic. - An implication of this is that Yuki might actually be able to hit Gojo through hit limitless. This doesnt really scale her any higher though so it doesnt matter.

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS NUMEROLOGY DECODE

Since we all know exactly who and what Spongebob is, I am going to do a Numerology decode.
When it comes to Numerology, there are many different things you can look into. I am going to look into the letters, patterns, and Numerology personality numbers.
SPONGEBOB has a personality #6. 6 is the number of compassion, work ethic, criticism, cleanliness, and productivity. In the funny show, we see that Spongebob is a workaholic. He has a 5 destiny number which shapes who you are overall. 5 is connected to youthfulness which explains the silliness of the Spongebob character. He is always laughing and doing things funny. The 5 energy indicates this. 5 also points to people, places, and things that are unique. He has an 8 soul urge which explains his undying ambition and creativity.
We can see that SPONGEBOB has 2 O's which has the numeric energy of 15 and numeric value of 6. 15 is the creative use of energy for productivity. Again, 6 is the number of routine, work ethic and productivity goes with this. This energy is not only his personality number, but also it is within his name. It's really in him.
SPONGEBOB HAS DOUBLE NUMERIC VALUES IN HIS NAME WHICH ARE, 7,6,5, AND 2. This explains why he is able to show his emotions and have moments of sensitivity(2). Very compassionate(2) but also childish and silly(5) and able to come up with plans that work(7). Since these #s has double influence, we must considered what they equal. 7 twice equals 14/5 which shows how he is responsible and can make work fun even though it is a duty(6). 6 twice equals 12/3 which shows his social skills, life, and creativity. Another youthful energy as well. 5 twice equals 10/1 which points to his bravery and capability to take action. 2 twice equals 4 which is home,family,responsibility, and structure on the home front and he would make everyone feel comfortable for the most part.
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My gf has a 14 and a half year old English lab, Sammy. Her quality of life is non existent. I’ll save you some of the details, but she’s unable to walk more than a couple steps on her own and even struggles to walk with assistance. She lays in bed all day, unable to get up on her own. She can’t control when she goes to the bathroom. I do my best to clean her and switch out her bedding at least once a day to make her as comfortable as possible.
Every single quality of life self-quiz I take scores her in one of the lowest percentiles. She still eats like a champ tho. As difficult as a decision this is to make, there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s the right one and most selfless one to make for our girl.
We talked to her siblings this weekend, explained the situation and the state that Sammy is in. They all agreed it was the right thing to do. It was important to me that everyone was on board before telling their mom and calling the vet. She claims that as long as she’s eating every day she still sees life in her eyes. I told her that I see pain and suffering every morning when I walk in and see that she’s helplessly laying in her pee and poo. My heart breaks every morning seeing her like that.
She told my gf that she would never speak to her again if we went through with it. I don’t want this to jeopardize their relationship, but we can’t sit back and do nothing. She won’t take the quizzes, she won’t engage in the discussion. I feel like this is making an already extremely difficult decision almost feel impossible.
Is there any course of action anybody can recommend? Thank you

You have been given the important task of designing your fighting game's final boss, now you just need to figure out the following:

• What theme are you going fowhat is your inspiration?
• What do they look like?
• what would their fighting style be?
• How impossible or easy are they to take down?
• Do they have a second phase? If so, how strong would the second phase be?
• Optional: If you want, you can get into specifics on how they're broken (death combos, specific moves that can chain into unblockables, how broken would the roster version of the boss be, etc).

This has been infesting my skull house for the past few days and I need to know what you guys would do.

Let me preface this by saying I love the ISE major here. It's far preferable to the CSE major in terms of difficulty and subject matter, at least for my purposes (respect to those who not only got into CSE but managed to stick it out to the end tho.) That being said, there are some select classes that were just awful this time around, and I happened to take all of them at the same time this semester. Now that it's over, I just want to whine and cope about it.
CSE/ISE 337 - Abid Malik

Boring, unengaging lecturer. Not the worst thing since that's most professors here, but still.
Inconsistent Homework - We had five homework assignments this semester, and each assignment was made up of 2-5 coding problems. The TAs came up with the problems, then wrote instructions for them that were often vague, inconsistent, and unrealistic. In CSE 214 with Ahmad Esmaili, he wrote his homework assignments and spent a lot of time outlining every detail, what classes he wanted you to create, what they should be named, what methods they'd need to include, what function they needed to serve, and what the output should look like. The TAs in this class basically said "Here's a challenge I pulled from CodeWars. Just kinda figure it out I guess." (Which, by the way, is super weird for a class centered around learning different scripting languages. This isn't a software programming class, and the purpose wasn't to invent and engineer new creative ways to solve coding problems. The point is to learn the syntax and rules of the language.) Students didn't even know if they were supposed to submit a class, method, or just raw code that solved whatever nebulous problem was assigned, because the TAs often didn't bother to specify that. We had no way of knowing how they wanted us to go about these problems. When this issue was raised with Malik during his office hours, he kinda just laughed and seemed exasperated, then changed the subject.
Inconsistent Grading Criteria - This one was really bad for a lot of students. In the beginning of the semester, the grading criteria gave the two midterms 15% weight each, making a total of 30% for them, then 35% weight for the final. Then, halfway through the semester and after the first midterm (like February 5th), Malik abruptly decided to change the weighting so that midterms were now 20% each, a total of 40%, and the final would be 25%. This seriously screwed over a lot of students, because a few days later we had our second midterm, which many failed. I still don't know why he did this, it basically destroyed any chances of students having a comeback for the final if they did well on the homeworks and not as well on the midterms. Very weird.
Disconnect with TAs - This connects back to the homework issue before, but it deserves a section of its own. Malik clearly didn't regulate the homework problems his TAs wrote, and worse than that, he can't even get them to remember the most basic of instructions when he does decide to get involved. There was a student who he'd approved to submit an assignment late without a penalty, and he claimed to have told the TA grading them not to take off points. Well, the TA still took them off, and that had to be remedied, but you know what the worst part is? When that student got their grade updated from the penalized one, they did the math and found out the TA took off roughly 30 fucking points. 30 points off for being late, and I don't even think they were a full day late at that. We also heard that another student submitted his assignment 10 minutes late, but because he hadn't been pre-approved by the professor, he got a 0. I shit you not. Malik looked this man in the eyes, shrugged his shoulders and destroyed his whole career. Homeworks are 30% of the grade (unless Malik changed it to like 50% while my back was turned writing this.) That man is cooked.
Piazza - Hoooly shit the Piazza showed Malik's most negligent and careless sides. For our upcoming final in a couple days, a student recently asked, "Can we get practice questions for Part 1.b everything’s after midterm 2?" Malik responded "yes". A day passed, and another person followed up on the post with "Are they posted?" and Malik deadass said "Practice the questions from the lecture slides. There are lots of short questions. Part 1.b will be from these questions." He's referring to the lecture slides we went over several weeks ago. Y'know, when someone asks "Can we get practice questions?" and you answer "Yes," typically that implies that there will be new questions you are providing to them. This wouldn't even be that bad if he had originally responded with "No practice questions needed, just reference the ones from the slides," but instead he let this student think that he was going to post new material to practice with. This isn't even that bad, just really comical. Another student said, "It seems like an impossibly large amount of information we need to remember. Are there going to be practice problems so we can get a sense of how much to study for each topic?" and Malik responded with the good old reliable, "practice the problems in the lecture slides." Another student even called him out on his misleading statement earlier, saying, "So practice problems for the midterm review won't be posted? I thought in [post number] you mentioned you would be posting short question practice for the new material." Malik kinda just shrugged his shoulders again here and went, "short questions + coding questions will be from lecture slides+jupyter files examples. Practice them" Again, not even that bad, but would it kill him to be upfront to begin with? Pretty much all the posts in the Piazza go this way. A student asks for a practice test, some questions, anything, and Malik tells them to fuck off back to the slides (there are almost 600 lecture slides, so this is pretty time consuming and inefficient.)
Overall: Weirdly brutal TAs that can't communicate their expectations, inconsistent grading criteria, and shitty professor that doesn't care. Plus a shit ton of students failed both midterms, so very stressful for an elective. Probably skip this class.

ISE/POL 369 - Robert Kelly and Shawn Kim

Brother is genuinely named R Kelly
Anyway, this class suffered the most from a lack of organization and communication. Kelly especially seemed confused, as was his TA.
Late Homework Grades: There were only 2 homework assignments, and to this day neither of them have been graded, despite them having been weeks apart (and the more recent one being due a couple weeks ago now.) They weren't very difficult at all, and they seem like they'd be very easy to grade, and there's only fucking two of them. Without homework grading, it's really hard to gauge how you're doing in this class before quizzes and exams hit.
Sporadic Quizzes: We had quizzes every other week or so in the class. I say "or so" because you never actually knew when you'd have a quiz-- they weren't pop quizzes, it's just that Kelly never bothered to put together a quiz schedule even when asked for one. His excuse was that he didn't know when quizzes would be since they depended on how fast we got through certain units. That would be a valid reason if his quizzes actually aligned with the units we were in at the time, but more than once the quizzes would be on something from over a week ago after we just got finished studying the most recent lectures, so it's kinda bullshit. Students basically found out about upcoming quizzes through word of mouth and if the professors decided to warn us in class with some vague statement like, "Well I don't know when the next quiz will be.... No sooner than Thursday maybe?"
Confused TAs: I only know of one TA in the class, and my first time hearing about him was when the other professor, Kim, was telling us, "Yeah, I know quiz grades aren't posted yet but you SHOULD get them back in class today... if the TA shows up..." The TA didn't show up. I am convinced Kelly hates that TA by the way, because more than once he would appear exasperated with him, accuse him of being on his phone, and appear annoyed that he hadn't submitted grades. They seem to be perfectly matched in their confusion and incompetence. That TA still needs to grade my fucking homework dude.
Lack of Midterm Info: We never got any practice tests/problems, study guides or even a basic bullet point list of topics for the midterm. At least on the Piazza, he said the final exam would be cumulative with a focus on topics after the midterm (bare minimum for the win!)
Professor Kim: Cool dude. He was doing his best in this mess of a class.
Overall: None of the topics were difficult, and the actual lecture slide contents were interesting, so this could've been a fun easy-A elective. Kelly's inability to hold his TA(s?) accountable or have any organization made this class more of an annoyance than anything else.

ISE/CSE 300

Please grade my assignments Marciano please please please please please please I still have shit from January that hasn't been returned please please please please please
Random group project for no reason
Overall: I just want my grades back. please

ISE/CSE 312

Random group project for no reason

BUS 340

This one technically doesn't count since it just filled a requirement for the ISE major (which they're also changing after this semester) but I just wanted to say
Random group project for no reason
PLUS 2 midterms and a final exam in addition to the group project?? I was expecting a coloring book for our final assignment, I was ready to color within the lines and everything

With all of that said, none of these classes would be that bad on their own (except 337. Holy shit dude how do you fuck it up that bad,) but the fact that I had all of them together this semester meant that every day was a tedious slog through various poorly-managed classes that I had to physically attend the lectures for due to their various attendance-taking methods (also applied inconsistently, like everything else) and it fried my brain. There isn't a single class I took this semester that I enjoyed. However, the semester before had a lot of enjoyable ISE classes, and I'm still looking forward to the coming semester. I just really enjoy making lists and being a hater so I needed to write this all out.

This is third version of an FAQ first posted several years ago by u/watts52 . The second version, posted by u/brassage is here. The primary changes have been to update links that have changed or are no longer active, and to add a few more resources and recent threads on the existing topics. Primary credit goes to u/watts52, the original poster.
This FAQ covers many common topics discussed on foreignservice . All answers have been pulled from public sources and without any information covered by NDA. Error reports, additions, and clarifications welcome in the comments. (Last update 11 May 2024)

Foreign Service Super FAQ

1. How do I become a diplomat? How do I work in the foreign service? The best place to learn about this is in the Careers Section of the State Department website. Start here.
2. What are the differences among FSO, FSS, LNA, CF, CS, and EFM?

• Here is an excellent general overview. {HT: zzonkmiles}
• FSO - Foreign service officers are generalists who serve, usually abroad, in one of five different "cones" (career tracks). Learn more.
• FSS - Foreign service specialists "provide important technical, management, healthcare, or administrative services" at overseas posts Learn more.
• LNA - Limited Non-Career Appointments are opportunities ranging from 15 to 60 months in a handful of specialized areas. Learn more.
• CF - Consular fellows (a subset of LNAs) work alongside FSOs and primarily "adjudicate visas for foreign nationals." Learn more.
• CS - The civil service is a part of the State Department, but is not considered part of the foreign service. Most civil service jobs are based in DC, and this sub typically does not deal with issues related to the civil service. Learn more.
• EFM - Eligible Family members - these are family members (typically spouses) of FSOs or FSSs who work for the State Department at the same post as the FSO or FSS. EFM jobs are not always available and sometimes subject to hiring freezes.

1. Is the Foreign Service the same thing as the State Department? No, the State Department consists of the foreign service (employees who are typically overseas) and the civil service (all other employees who are typically serving in DC). In addition, the term "foreign service" may also include:

• the US Foreign Commercial Service in the Commerce department.
• the US Foreign Agricultural Service
• the US Agency for Global Media (formerly the Broadcasting Board of Governors)
• the US Agency for International Development (USAID)

1. Where can I find answers to nearly any question I might have about getting in to the foreign service?

• This foreignservice sub (search archives)
• The FSOT Yahoo Group (search archives)
• The FSOA Yahoo Group (search archives) No longer in service. If anyone has an updated option, please comment, and I'll edit the post.
• Read the selection process brochure.
• The official State Department FAQ
• For FSS Applicants, the Foreign Service Specialist Careers Yahoo Group {HT: kaiserjoeicem}

1. Why should I consider the foreign service? Why not?

• Various reasons for joining.
• Here is a thread mostly involving reasons against joining.
• An FSO's reasons for leaving the foreign service. A more recent thread on why some former FS personnel resigned.
• Pros and Cons of the Foreign Service lifestyle.
• Pleasant surprises and biggest disappointments about life in the Foreign Service.
• Misconceptions about life in the Foreign Service.

FSO Career Tracks / Cones

1. Which cone is the best fit for me? Take the Career Track Quiz to find out. It's really important for you to pick a track that you have a passion for.
2. What are the differences among the cones? How do I choose a cone?

• Read summaries & detailed job descriptions of all the cones.
• Watch employee video interviews covering all different parts of the State Department, including all different FSO cones.
• Read these threads about job duties in each of the cones: Consular, Economic, Management, Political, Public Diplomacy
• A Day in the Life Series - Some of these are pretty tongue-in-cheek, but still insightful in their own ways.
  • Political Officer
  • Consular Officer
  • CONS - American Citizen Services
  • Economic Officer
  • ECON - Environment, Science, Technology, and Health Officer
  • Management Officer
  • Management - General Services Officer
  • Public Diplomacy - Press Officer
  • Diplomatic Security Special Agent
  • Diplomatic Security - Security Engineering Officer
  • Office Management Specialist

1. Which cone gives me the best chance of getting in? Which cones are hiring the most people right now? It depends on your background and your own desires and motivations, and it depends on the needs of the service. Even if we could tell you which cones are hiring the most people now, the hiring process can take one to three years and things may be different by the time you are eligible to receive a job offer. Do not make the mistake of choosing a cone based on what you think your "chances" are. Too many people make this mistake. If you choose a cone this way, you will probably find yourself in a job you dislike, and you'll have wasted a lot of time and energy "getting in" and you'll be looking for a way to be "getting out." Further discussion here...
2. Can I change cones? Would it be a good idea to come in as a Consular Officer and later switch to a Political Officer? In theory it's possible to change cones. In practice, it's difficult to do so, and you shouldn't plan on it. Some discussion here.
3. Can I choose one cone and then simply do out-of-cone work? Maybe, but that's a silly game to play and it's likely counterproductive to your other career and non-career goals. If you are really interested in one cone, choose that one when you apply. Too many applicants attempt to game the system by choosing an "easy" cone with some scheme to actually end up switching to or working in a different cone, but experienced FSOs on this sub have stated repeatedly that such schemes never really work out. That said, there is a lot of variety in foreign service work. Pick a cone that is of interest to you, and you will have plenty of opportunities to serve in different roles. More thoughts here and here.
4. I have a terrific idea for how to game the cone system that is not listed here. No, you don't. Somebody has already tried it and ended up being sad. Please don't try to game the system - it won't work the way you're hoping it will. Instead, just choose a cone based on your interests, talents, abilities, and passions, and work from there. You'll be happier and more successful in the long run.

Posts, Assignments, and Worldwide Availability

1. How do post assignments work?

• A great overview of 1st and 2nd tour bidding, post assignments, and language training
• First tour assignment thoughts
• First & Second tour bidding and More information, and more here.
• Second tour bidding
• Entry Level Office Management Specialist Bidding
• Bidding for third tour and beyond
• More mid-level bidding

1. I have an interest in working in country X or at least in a certain region of the world. How can I do that in the foreign service? During your first two tours, you're "directed" meaning you have a restricted list of places you might end up. Beyond that, you'll be responsible for finding your own assignments. It would not be uncommon for someone to develop regional expertise over time, but regional expertise doesn't mean you'd be bouncing between Paris and Geneva for the rest of your career. It's also easier to specialize in bigger countries or regions like the PRC or former Soviet Union than it is to specialize in smaller countries or niche sub-regions like Austria or the Gulf. Further discussion
2. I have a terrific idea for how to game the assignment system that is not listed here. No, you don't. Somebody has already tried it and ended up being sad. Please don't try to game the system - it won't work the way you're hoping it will. Instead, just be prepared to be "worldwide available" and understand that might mean Paris or Bangui, Caracas or Tashkent, Wellington or Bamako, Tijuana or Toronto. If you are not comfortable with that type of availability, this is not the career for you.
3. What are the popular or unpopular posts? It depends on the person, on the people you work with at a given post, and on environmental factors, among other things. A lot of people come in imagining they'd love working in a western European capital city only to find the cost of living, culture of the post, personality of their direct supervisor, commute to the office, or some other factor makes life less fun than it would've been if they'd simply visited that same city on vacation. Posts in other parts of the world such as sub-Saharan Africa or central Asia may have tighter-knit expat communities or post culture or better housing options or other benefits that make them more desirable for some people. One person's best post might be another person's worst. Many people on this sub have indicated that they've hated posts they expected to love and loved posts they expected to hate. One frequently mentioned bit of advice on this sub is not to think of Foreign Service posts as you would think of vacation destinations. Here is a good discussion of this topic. And here is a longer discussion of various posts that current or aspiring FSOs either like or don't like for various reasons.
4. Where can I learn about what life is like at different posts? Try reading these real post reports.

Hiring process

1. Why does the hiring process seem so opaque/confusing/mysterious/complicated? It's not really opaque, as State tells you exactly what they're looking for in candidates and provides study materials and resources for preparing for each stage. That said, a lot of candidates seem to feel frustrated or confused by the process for a variety of reasons. These may include:

• The process is long and does not offer immediate gratification. You should plan to move forward with life as usual and work through the foreign service hiring process in the background. There is simply a lot of waiting involved.
• Many candidates, surprisingly, seem not to follow directions and are then confused when they don't pass a certain stage of the process. By way of example, the instructions from the QEP about how to write personal narratives include the instruction, "Simple lists of accomplishments, recaps of candidates' resumes...are not effective." But one person did exactly this in the Leadership Skills essay and did not pass. This is not to say there are no other problems with this candidate's PNs, but if you make sure to follow each stage's instructions exactly, the process (and your results) won't seem so confusing.
• Many candidates, young and old, mistakenly assume that their work/life/school experience makes them more than qualified for an entry-level FSO role. In actuality, successful candidates translate that experience into the six precepts and thirteen dimensions during the QEP and FSOA stages, respectively.

1. How can I improve my chances of passing?

• FSOT - Be well-read on a diverse set of subjects, take the State Department reading list seriously, practice good test taking skills, know your English grammar perfectly, and be able to write in a clear and concise manner.
• QEP - Follow the directions exactly. Answer the questions exactly as written. Do not list your resume in bullet points. Do tell relevant (and verifiably true) stories. Have diverse life and work experiences that map easily to the job description of the cone you've selected and to the precept described in the essay prompt.
• FSOA - Practice, practice, practice ahead of time. Use the former Yahoo Group Files. Be relaxed and composed. Make every action and every word you use roll up into one or more of the 11 dimensions. Come across as someone that other people would want to work with. Smile. Oh, and practice.
• Security clearance - Before you get to the security clearance stage, make sure you've buttoned up everything you can think of, from past stupid behavior to credit reports to tax filings. Consider running a cheap background check on yourself. When filling out your SF-86, disclose everything. Don't make anything a surprise. When you meet with your investigator, disclose everything relevant to the questions and the time frames included. Make sure you understand what they're looking for and be proactive about bringing troublesome/questionable points to the investigator's attention.
• For all stages - read the instructions and do exactly what they are asking you to do, no more and no less. Do not try to guess what the examiners want to hear. They are telling you exactly what they want each time - whether it's demonstration of general knowledge and English expertise, clear and concise writing, demonstration of the six precepts, or demonstration of the thirteen dimensions. Whichever stage you're working through, assume that you're being graded according to a rubric that matches exactly to the instructions you're given.

1. Approximately what percentage of people pass each of the stages? No one outside State really knows exactly, and numbers can vary from year to year, depending on hiring projections, but based on various reports (example) and conjecture here are some approximate guesses. Feel free to disagree.

• Total number of people who take the FSOT in a given year: 17000, give or take. (Although in 2017, State reportedthe number had dropped to just 9519. This lower number, though, does not mean one's "chances" are any better or any worse this year.) Note that while these numbers are expressed as numerical percentages, they should not be interpreted as probabilities.
• FSOT - No longer pass/fail
• QEP - This can vary greatly based on the needs of the service by cone, the total number of applicants, and various other factors.
• FSOA - Approximately 40-50% pass
• Clearances, suitability & receiving an offer before timing off the register: 60-80%. Very few people are denied a security clearance (though getting the clearance may take a long time). More commonly, the people that pass the FSOA but do not become FSOs are those with low FSOA scores who time off the register after 18 months or those who choose to cancel their candidacy for one reason or another. Historically, about 2-3% of FSOT takers ended up as FSOs eventually.

1. How long will it take me to get through the process? Assuming everything goes perfectly, at least a year but possibly much longer. For example: if you take the FSOT today, it will be a couple of months before you get your results. You'll have three weeks to submit your essays to the QEP and then another couple months of waiting. You'll then have to schedule your oral assessment (another 2-4 month wait) and if you pass that, you'll enter the medical and security clearance stage which will take at least 6 months in most cases, but possibly much longer. (Yes, there are anectodal exceptions to all of the above.) You'll then go through final suitability review, which will take anywhere from a week to several months and only at that point will you be on the register. You will then have to wait for hiring to be authorized and to receive an offer. You'll be on the register for 18 months, and if you don't get an offer during that window of time, your candidacy will end. If an offer doesn't come through (or if you fail any of the steps of the process), you'll have to start over by taking the FSOT again the next time you're eligible. So if you take the FSOT today, the best case scenario would be for you to be joining the foreign service a little over a year from now, but a more likely scenario is that you'll be working through this process and doing a lot of waiting for a couple of years or more. Use the time productively - there's no benefit to sitting around and stressing over the what-ifs of State Department hiring.
2. How can I use my time productively?

• Learn a language to improve your register position
• Engage in meaningful work to improve your demonstration of the 11 dimensions.
• Start another candidacy in parallel. In most cases, you are allowed to take the FSOT once per year, so take it every time you have the opportunity.
• Take this advice.

1. What if I fail one of the stages? Then you are human and you've had an experience not unlike ~98% of applicants each year. If you're interested in the foreign service, try again. Some people have taken the test more than ten times and many of today's FSO's were hired on subsequent tries because they persisted and improved themselves each time.
2. Is there a hiring freeze? Should I wait to apply until after things return to normal? Whether there is a hiring freeze in effect or not doesn't matter. As one person said, "It'll take a long time from test to diplomat, so I don't think the temporal minutia will really matter by the time we're on the register." If you're interested in the Foreign Service, go take the test and get the process started. It's free. Worst case, you fail and you'll take the test another time (which is what you would've done if you had tried to wait out the hiring freeze). But it might be that you succeed and find yourself well-positioned on the register in time for the next big round of hiring.
3. Is there going to be an A-100 soon? Will [cone] spots be available? How should I interpret the remarks of [important person]? Are they really only going to hire [number] of people this year? I can't deal with the stress! Why are they making me put my life on hold? Why won't they extend my time on the register? How many people will retire/resign/take an early buyout this year? How many Rangel/Pickering fellows are there and what percentage of the jobs will they take? What is the status of [funding legislation in congress]? Does [random thing I read in the news] mean we should expect to see a new A-100 now? Why does FSI have training classes on their schedule if no invites have gone out yet? etc. As an exasperated someone humorously posted on another forum, "Seriously chill. Even if you were provided this information, which isn’t likely, it has no effect on whether there are spots left for you. Enough with trying to predict what happens this year. Wait it out like any job interview."

FSOT - The Foreign Service officer Test

1. What is the difference between the FSWE and the FSOT? The FSOT is the Foreign Service Officer Test. Its predecessor was the FSWE, the Foreign Service Written Exam, and is no longer administered. You can sign up to take the FSOT here.
2. What are my chances of passing? There is no way to know without trying. If you're interested, take the test and see how you do. People on this sub won't be able to tell you how you're likely to do, and if you try and fail and then try again, you may find that you perform better and pass the second (or third or fourth) time around. Remember: taking the test is free. (You only have to pay if you sign up and then fail to take the test.) So you have nothing to lose - get out there and give it a go.
3. How can I prepare?

• Take the practice test.
• Read the Suggested Reading List.
• Set your expectations that this process will take a long time. If you are just now getting ready to take the FSOT, chances are you will not be a new FSO next year at this time. Most people will not successfully become FSO's on their first try. But that doesn't mean you should give up! You will try, you will try again. You will need to maintain a positive attitude. You will need to be patient. Don't make Foreign Service your Plan A. Move on with life while you are working your way through the foreign service hiring process.

1. Where can I find more information about the FSOT? Try the FSOT Frequently Asked Questions on the Pearson site. (Pearson is currently the company that administers the FSOT and some of the subsequent steps of the hiring process.)

QEP - The Qualifications Evaluation Panel

1. What is the difference between the QEP and the PN's or the PNQ's? People use these acronyms to talk about the same part of the process, even though they mean different things. The QEP is the Qualifications Evaluation Panel, and its job is to evaluate, based on a set of short essays, the likelihood that someone who passed the FSOT will also pass the FSOA. FSOT passers write one essay (a "personal narrative" or "PN") for each of six prompts (each a "personal narrative question" or "PNQ").
2. When will I know if I made it to the QEP? You will get an email from Pearson a few weeks after the close of the FSOT testing window. Your results will also appear in your online account with Pearson. When you are notified that you made it to the QEP, you will have approximately three weeks to write your essays and submit them through the Pearson interface.

FSOA - The Foreign Service Oral Assessment

1. Where is the FSOA held? As of May 2024, it is now held virtually, over the course of two days.
2. When will I know if I made it to the FSOA? You will get an email from Pearson a few weeks after you submit your personal narratives to the QEP. Your results will also appear in your online account with Pearson. When you are notified that you made it to the FSOA, you will have the opportunity to schedule your FSOA date through the Pearson interface.
3. How can I prepare?

• The FSOA evaluates your demonstration of the 11 dimensions. Know them inside and out.
• Take advantage of the old Yahoo Group FSOA files.
• Contact your Diplomat in Residence, as many of them hold FSOA info sessions.

Clearances

1. What is the process for getting my security clearance?
   1. After you pass the FSOA, you will receive a packet of information describing how this process works. Basically, within 30 days you will fill out a lengthy questionnaire electronically on the e-QIP system. (Read e-QIP FAQs here.)
   2. The e-QIP is the electronic version of the "SF-86," a standard PDF/printable form with essentially the same questions. Although not necessary, some have recommended using a printed SF-86 form to collect all of your responses to the e-QIP and then transcribe them into the electronic system when you are ready. (The e-QIP system does allow you to save and return to work again later.) Start early: many have reported that tracking down all their foreign contacts or previous addresses has taken a long time.
   3. You will wait for a period of time (say between a few days and a few months) and then you will be contacted by an investigator from Diplomatic Security. You will set up an interview with him or her. The investigator will let you know if additional information is required; you can speed up the process by disclosing everything up front. Don't try to hide the negatives; be up front and transparent.
2. Will X affect my ability to get a clearance? It depends. Here are the guidelines.
3. What percentage of applicants are denied a security clearance? Only about 0.1% of initial cases, per the 2015 ODNI report. However the report notes State may discontinue security processing due to automatic disqualifiers found during a suitability review before the case reaches the security clearance adjudication phase. These cases are cancelled by Human Resources before security clearance determinations are rendered and are not, therefore, categorized as security clearance denials. {HT: Christabel34}

Register

1. Where can I find the shadow registers? How can I be added? What is my position on the register? Contact the volunteer maintaining the shadow register for your career track or specialty

Languages

1. Do I have to know a foreign language to be in the foreign service? No, but if you do know a language well, you will receive bonus points and may be hired before a similarly-qualified candidate without language ability. Also, every new FSO must learn a language within the first few years of service. You are on so-called "language probation" until you have passed the appropriate language exam. FSI will provide the language training for any language-designated position in which you are to serve.
2. How do language bonus points work? When you pass the FSOA, you will have a score, usually between about 5.3 and 6, though scores can be as high as 7. You will be ranked by score against other people in your cone, and the higher scores will be hired first. So if you have the highest score for your cone. The only way to improve your score (unless you are a veteran) is to pass a language test. Most languages will get you an additional .17 points if you can demonstrate a "general professional proficiency" on the Interagency Language Roundtable Scale. For examples of the level of proficiency you would need, watch these videos. Harder languages that are in higher demand by the State Department can get you either .25 or .38 points. A list of languages for which State offers bonus points is here. And this thread has some excellent advice on languages.
3. If I speak language X, will I get sent to a post where that language is needed? Not necessarily, unless you received language bonus points for a super critical needs language. In that latter case, you can expect to serve in a position designated for that language at least twice in your career. The super critical needs languages are listed in the bottom table on this page. But if you come in with a fluency in, say, Spanish (which is not a super critical needs language), there is no guarantee that you'll be sent to a Spanish-speaking post.

Life & Work in the Foreign Service

1. What is it like to find out what your next post will be? Read many flag day stories here.
2. How does pay work? How is my salary calculated? What allowances do I get? Read this excellent Foreign Service Officer Salary Guide. You can also look up information about various posts, but be advised that the data on this site is not necessarily official and may be out of date.
3. Will I be required to serve in an unaccompanied post? You are "worldwide available," so in theory it can happen. In practice, there are a lot of people who volunteer to serve in unaccompanied posts for various reasons, and it would be unlikely that you would be forced to serve in one if you didn't want to.
4. What is it like to be LGBT in the foreign service? Review GLIFAA's website and resources, read read real post reports, which have a specific section for LGBT info, by post and these threads - LGBT, Foreign Commercial Service LGBT, same sex marriage, Robyn McCutcheon's book about her career Foreign Service, including as the first trans FSO.

Will it help/hurt my chances if...

1. ...I have a graduate degree from a really good school with a high GPA or I have no degree at all? No, it really doesn't matter.
2. ...I did drugs or committed a crime or did something stupid a long time ago? It could hurt you, but it really depends on what you did, how you dealt with the problem, and what you've been doing since then. Go ahead and apply.
3. ...I did drugs or committed a crime or did something stupid recently? It could hurt you, and if you're continuing to show poor judgment in life, it's going to be next to impossible for you to join the foreign service. However, no one on this sub will be able to tell you definitively what your outcome is likely to be. Fix whatever it is and try again. You won't know if or how this will affect your candidacy unless you try.
4. ...I have dual citizenship? Your clearances will take longer, but it's not a deal breaker. Read details here.
5. **...I have a foreign-born spouse or I have many contacts overseas or I have lived overseas for a long time?**Same answer: your clearances will take longer, but it's not a deal breaker. Read details here and here.

Miscellaneous

1. What happens after I receive my Orientation offer? Orientation 101 is the initial training class you take when you officially start work in the foreign service. Congratulations! It is a time of a lot of changes. Here is a description of what happens.
2. How can I become an Ambassador? You probably won't become an ambassador, and it's not worth the brain cycles to try to plan for it. But even if you have the right set of skills, knowledge, and luck through a career spanning many decades and you end up as an ambassador, you will still have spent far more time as a rank-and-file career employee than as an ambassador. So make sure you are interested, first and foremost, in the job and lifestyle of a foreign service officer, which is where you will spend the entirety of your career.
3. I am outraged over what the President / Secretary / someone else in power just said / did! Nothing wrong with feeling outrage, but what you do with that feeling may matter. And while you may dissent through the appropriate (private) channel, no matter who is in power and no matter who you voted for, your duty as a foreign service officer is to publicly advance the interests of the U.S. As a simplistic example, take a look at who came in first or second in the presidential elections going back ~20 years. Any of them could've been your boss (with small differences in electoral returns for the runners-up, of course): B. Clinton, Dole, Bush, Gore, Kerry, McCain, Obama, Romney, H. Clinton, Trump. Those individuals hold a pretty diverse set of policy views, and the next twenty years of presidential elections will probably result in a similarly diverse list. So if you want to be in the foreign service, think of your job as representing the U.S. regardless of who is in power. If you can see yourself representing the U.S. when person A is in power but not when person B is in power, this may not be the best career for you in the long run.

Additional Resources

• Department of State Careers
• Global Community Liaison Office
• American Foreign Service Association (AFSA)
  • Foreign Service Journal
  • AFSA's Foreign Service Statistics page
  • Foreign Service by the Numbers
• Tales from a Small Planet
• Path to Foreign Service
• American Diplomat podcast
• Modern American Diplomacy podcast

made this for my narrative essay in american literature, but one of my friends said i should share the story
“But I Still Need You” Throughout my life, I had always fallen easy for girls. The elementary mindset of, “she’s cute, so I have a crush on her,” prevented me from developing a legitimate relationship with any girl I tried to talk to. The few times that my feelings were reciprocated, I had no idea because I was already on to the next girl, and this continued until I was left with a multitude of friend-zone situations and a list of “crushes.” My charisma already lacking, it seemed each year that passed, previous to 3rd grade, I grew in weight and therefore awkwardness. The struggle to interact with women lessened as I grew up, while the fat remained. So, by the 8th grade I was the ideal guy friend; easy to talk to, kinda funny, understanding, and unintimidating. My approachable “funny fat friend” nature had its ups and downs. While guys, for reasons I still don’t fully understand, suspected me to be gay, girls found it intriguing and it made them want to be friends with me more. Back then I didn’t know, but now I know that by being forced to be friends first, after finding out I was in fact not gay, the right woman for me would want to be with me for my personality. In the winter of 2021, I fell hard for a girl named Madeline. Maddie was no different than many of the other girls in that she had a bland personality and I thought she was cute. She had brunette hair with bangs, big glasses, way too much makeup on, and a unique fashion sense. Her sense of fashion was one of the few interesting things about her, yet it was disregarded by the public. Not too many guys found her appealing, but I did, for whatever reason. I was dead set on getting to know her better in hope of becoming more than friends. Unfortunately, she hardly paid attention to me, but I didn’t give up. I merely slowed down because of my interest in her friend, Isabella. Isabella is the Spanish and Italian variation of Elizabeth (derived from the Hebrew name Elisheba). The meaning of Elishiba can be translated to, “God is my oath.” In Arabic, the beginning of Isabella, “Isa,” is the classical Arabic name for Jesus, while in the French language, the shortened version of Isabella, “Belle,” translates to “beautiful.” I had met Isabella in the sixth grade, and grew a tiny crush on her, in the elementary sense, before we all went into hibernation (COVID). I barely knew her though, and she had no idea who I was, so when we interacted in my last two classes, if we did at all, it was like two strangers who kept running into each other. I sat by her in my sixth period, and one seat up and to the right from her in seventh. We only ever made small talk and the occasional joke, but when I spoke with her I felt content. Still barely knowing her, all I could admire was the little things in the way she laughed and spoke. I longed to know more about Isabella, she was mature, intelligent, and very opinionated, but still light-hearted and made time pass at the speed of light. It wasn’t until she was in my group in sixth period one day that she began to open up a little by sharing the details of her current long-distance relationship. The shards of my heart stabbed and crushed my stomach; hope, the oxygen to my mind, depleted faster than the air of a broken space shuttle; palpitation, nausea, asphyxia, and neurosis bombarded me like Persian arrows on the Greeks. Then, all at once, the excruciating tidal wave evaporated, but instead of calm waters, I was left with a drought. Every emotion muted or gone, my body went numb while everything I cared for vanished from my mind. I didn’t speak throughout the rest of that day, and went directly from the bus to decaying in my bed. I was devastated, so I retreated to my pointless crush on Maddie. Unrelated to the rather sad lovelife, my anxiety and depression worsened throughout 8th grade, and while I was going to therapy, most of my issues wouldn’t and still haven’t been worked through. Throughout the school year I had developed a toxic system of self pity, in which I would spend hours a day cycling through the feelings of hope, anger, and despair- never that of joy. I knew what I was doing, gathering enough hope to face the school day just before I reflected on the doubts and grievances going on throughout my life. I’d bring myself up just for a greater fall because honestly, overtime I became numb to the natural pain. If I were going to fall into the pit that is depression, the higher I peaked in terms of optimism the more excruciating the freefall of nausea and the heavy flow of salt water. At that point in my life, I saw no point in getting out of bed to do anything, school or even my own mother’s birthday. By the end of eighth grade I had spent almost a total of six weeks absent, two of which were from me being quarantined. Typically over the span of one or two days, others up to four, I would be in my bed “sick.” During these mini-vacations I would sleep all morning, if my mom let me, and stay up all night, oftentimes listening to Radiohead or Cigarettes After Sex while staring at my ceiling. I wanted to stay up, I wanted to feel the bags grabbing and pulling towards my cheekbone, I wanted to feel empty, emotionally and physically. During the day, my anxiety attacks became panic attacks and I would get sent home for vomiting. I'd throw up to give Mom a reason to let me stay home. I’d throw up to feel something, anything. I’d throw up to keep my stomach empty. I’d throw up because I had to, because the nerves and overthinking forced me to. Every morning, I’d drag my black air force ones across cement, carpet, tiles, and marble, each step leading towards Mrs. Clements’ homeroom. For every step, a different worry or insecurity flashed through my brain. But then, out of the blue, I’m “Lincoln” again. I walk into homeroom with an ear-to-ear grin and dap up “the boys”. I’d spend the morning building up hopes of making Isabella laugh today, or maybe calling her once I got home, but I knew that nine times out of ten my hopes were delusional. To “Lincoln,” this was no problem, he would make a gay joke, join the boys with teasing a cute girl in my class, and laugh until just for a moment, the despair was gone. Finally, the sixth period would come and I’d get to see Isabella. In here I got the least work done out of all my classes as I would find myself strategically planning my next interaction with her, just for said plans to go out the window when I was brought face to face with her. Typically seventh period followed the same pattern except Ms. Shirley Davis could never allow small talk in her classroom. When the last bell rang, I went straight to the buses. I’d sleep on the way home, dreaming of a call that would hardly happen. On the off chance my phone didn’t reach its feared 11th cry, we’d talk for hours at a time. On a weekday or not, it seemed that, when we did call, it was guaranteed to go into the early morning. It’s hard to put my finger on a specific topic, or even general. In our conversations, we discussed anything and everything. Everything, except her own love interest. I admired this, as my inability to keep who I’m thinking about at the time a secret is a major flaw of mine. The more that me and her spoke, the more I grew to love her. Our talks were so honest, so raw, that the secret I held began to eat away at me. My core collapsing like a dying star, each day it felt like the pain got worse. To cope with the feelings I had buried deep inside me, I’d turn to my friends. At first, they said to come forward with my feelings, but I knew that’s what any friend would’ve said. The relief I got from venting the conflicting hurricane within me was brief. Overtime, their words of encouragement turned to annoyance, and understandably so. When people grew sick of the same old sadistic untold love, I turned to Isabella. I wrote a text so full that, to read it, one needed to tap on an arrow at the bottom right corner of my message. The essay was compiled with the confliction I had, developing feelings for a friend, and the sorrow that filled me each day that passed without her. I described the perfect imperfections that I admired about her, how life was complete when I spoke to her, the beauty that paralyzed me every time I saw her in person, and the character that I felt God had curated specifically for me. Sitting there unsure if I should press send, a fear grew within my chest that Isabella would see right through me. I could hear the music that so often triggered tears; the vocals of Thom Yorke or the beats of Kanye West, they faded in and out. What if she didn’t even respond? What if she thought I was a creep? What if- then she responded. Suddenly, the ominous 808s & Heartbreak pounding vanished, my respiratory chaos became paralyzed, and time stood still. I couldn’t breathe until I finished reading, and once I did, my sigh was all but relieving. Isabella explained to me how unhealthy my habits were; even in comparison to the anguish that would follow, I’d suffer far more and far longer should I suppress my emotions. She told me how that level of affection, in the context of the warped concept of romance most men had, was something she had only dreamt of. Isabella said that holding these feelings would eat away at me, exponentially increasing in severity, until I broke. Not only would I be hurting myself, but I would be depriving the person I care about most from the appreciation they deserve. I became bloated with fear of the friendzone, those insecurities, all based upon inference, became a reality with Isabella’s last piece of advice. She said, “If she doesn’t reciprocate those emotions, then don’t worry. I’m sure there’s a girl out there who can appreciate your compassion.” The blame had no other place to go than my shoulders, after all, I got what I asked for, advice on another girl. Isabella, even if she saw the crush I had on her, is far too kind to address it. She cared for everyone, and to her, she was merely boosting up a friend who’s down. For the rest of the night her text echoed through my mind; pain, regret, and admiration caused my mind to sporadically leap from conclusion to conclusion. Two years later, those words still haunt me, reiterations of that phrase torturing me when I least expect them. The school year progressed, but my aspirations with Isabella didn’t. Over time, the frequency of my writings grew to be weekly, at times reaching two a week, and the weight of my confessions depleted. I opened my audience to a mutual friend of Isabella’s, Miley, with the intention of acquiring useful advice. Eventually, my choice to try concealing what I felt for Isabella became too heavy of a burden, weighing down on me in forces I had not endured before. Soon, the love I had for Isabella turned to hatred for myself. I was relentlessly criticizing every aspect of myself and my mind. I hated how fat I was, my smile, my voice, my laugh, and most of all my personality. What I had thought was my greatest strength, was revealed as my worst trait. The gullibility I exhibited when thinking for a second Isabella could possibly like me; the lack of confidence that caused me to chicken out of confessing my feelings to her; my insufferable need to make people laugh; the hyperfixation I would develop for those that I love. Everything about me was wrong. I stopped eating, stopped sleeping, stopped caring, and eventually I stopped living. The “Lincoln” my friends had grown to recognize, the only remnant of the joy I felt when I was younger, died, and I was left with only my love for Isabella and resentment for myself. I began testing the limits of what was left of me, praying for relief. At first in the middle of the night, an anaconda would find its way to my throat, wrapping around my neck. Its cold black scales gracefully gliding across my skin before silencing my cries with the swift tug of its metallic USB head. The snake would maintain pressure until I let go of it, the entire time whispering into my ear, begging me to hold on. Some nights it came with what must have been a full stomach for it was drastically wider, it was brown these nights, with leather skin, and a slight warmth, but it behaved the same. Most visits from the snake ended with my vision blurry, my breath short, or my head dizzy. The only consistency of our transactions was Asia’s Death Lake that streamed down my face from start to finish. Eventually, the snake seemed closer and closer to silencing me forever, but I also became used to its visits. I began writing letters to everyone I loved so that, should the snake come out victorious, they’d have a final goodbye. Once I had sorted out my notes, I called the snake to my room. This time it came striped with shades of blue, its skin a soft fabric. For once, I controlled the snake, because our intentions finally aligned. I locked the door, sent out my texts, placed the written notes on my dresser, and joined the snake at my closet door. Holding onto the doorknob, the snake wrapped itself around my neck just as it had done in nights of the past. It whispered to me, “let go,” for I had been on my knees in hesitation. I followed the snake’s order by making a sort of plank with my body, the bottom half resting on a stack of dirty laundry and pillows while the top was supported by my elbows. Pressure swiftly fell down on my neck and didn’t stop. “This is it,” I thought to myself. My eyes seemed to pop out of my skull, and my tears, falling down like summer rain, became blurry dots as my vision went dark. Next thing I know, I’m waking up, snot, saliva, and tears strung between my face and the carpet floor. My head pounding and my eyes burning, I looked up at the “snake” that was the tie my mom had gotten me for Sunday service. Although my mind was more clear, it was not out of revelation, but from a muted sense of the world around me. Other than Isabella, nothing mattered anymore, and the little emotion I felt was squashed by my immortal love. The following day I get called to the counselors office on charges of suicidal thoughts and self harm. I said what I had to in order to escape her grasp, but left infuriated. Not only had my own friends betrayed me, but the lady who was supposed to guide me essentially scolded me for being sad. Throughout the day my anger faded out and my focus became making an excuse as to why my parents got a weird call from my counselor, then I’d find the traitor who sold me out. That afternoon, I lost two friends, and for the first time ever got mad at Isabella. Apparently, Miley, Maddie, and Isabella all reported me to the counselor that morning. They said I had been traumatizing them with what was going on in my life, being normal and messing around at school, then detailing my thoughts and actions to them outside of school. I felt like I had been tricked. I thought they were my friends. I thought they understood me. They asked me if I was okay, they said they wanted, cared, needed to know, but now I had scared them? I addressed what had happened with Miley first. She immediately lashed out at me, saying I should be thanking them, not be mad. While I didn’t want to accept it, I understood the core of her choices. On the other hand, Maddie’s response to my confrontation was disgustingly cruel. She said I had been unfair and just seeking attention, that no thirteen to fourteen year old should hear about what I was going through because it was unnatural. Before she continued, I apologized, that’s all I could think to do, because deep down I believed her. She told me it wasn’t all my fault because my brain was messed up, and that opening up to the girls would only make them not want to be friends with me. The one word that rang through my head then, and still does today, was “creep,” she claimed that what I felt wasn’t love, but I was just mentally unstable and creepy. Any remnants of the sweet kid from elementary school who just wanted a friend and loved everyone were obliterated. Maddie was right, all I had done was hurt and scare them, it didn’t matter what I thought. I told her all I could, that I didn’t know what to say other than I was sorry for the damage I had done, and I would try and get better. Her response, like a branding iron on my mind, was, “It’s not damage, it’s baggage. Imagine if the roles were reversed.” It was only then that I stopped texting back. I wish I could say it was out of frustration or self respect, but the reality of my manipulative traits is what silenced me. Shockingly, the response that hurt the most was from Isabella, yet it somehow meant the most to me too. Isabella told me that she needed me in the world. She told me that if I ever got those thoughts again, to think about her as well; to think about the pain I’d be causing her; to think about the trauma she’d live with for the rest of her life. After repeating the phrase, “I need you in my life,” she acknowledged how selfish it was, but still didn’t care. Isabella continued elaborating, she didn’t care because no label of selfishness outweighed the value of my life. What she said that night has been vivid in my mind since, but my only wish is that she had needed me as I needed her. Tears began to hide my freckled cheeks as I texted her about how much her words meant to me, how much she meant to me, and I apologized to her. I said sorry for the baggage I caused, the “creepy” behavior, and any other ways I had wronged her. I said sorry for loving her, and told her I’d do better. She disregarded my apologies, telling me that I could always talk to her because no matter the baggage she could carry, it’d be worth taking the smallest bit off of me. Her words meant so much to me, yet hurt me just the same. I hated myself for it. I couldn’t see a life without an affection for her, it was pathetic. If I truly loved her, I’d let my feelings go, right? What kind of person did that make me? Summer came and went. Hoping that time would kill the crush I had on Isabella, I prohibited myself from contacting her. Instead I spent time with my family and a few friends, but Isabella never left my head. Even when accompanying my dad to Berry College for the Governor’s Honors Program, she’s what filled my head. At first I felt frustrated because before I had come forward to her, she had known about the feelings I had. I came to the conclusion that she had been dragging me along, but even then I knew how easily that thought would be abandoned. First day of High school, I got in touch with her. For maybe two weeks, I maintained a platonic relationship before free falling into the ominous pit once again. This time felt different though, it felt like what I had thought about everyday, for what seemed eternity, could be more than a daydream. We texted each other throughout the school day and facetimed after her cheer practice and my band practice. Eventually, Isabella was falling asleep on call. Before, we’d talk long into the night, and it began to drain the energy out of the both of us. Now, we were listening to music, playing Roblox, watching Netflix, or just sitting in silence. I had never felt comfortable with silence, but she made it seem better than having a conversation with anyone else. It’s a beautiful thing when words aren’t required to appreciate someone. The moment I had the courage to do so, I asked her out to Steak n’ Shake. It’s just my luck that the restaurant was hardly a shell of what I remembered as a kid. At first the conversation was awkward because we hardly spoke in person, but as time progressed so did we. I still remember the tightness of my cheeks as I failed to suppress my ear-to-ear grin. The euphoric nausea and beating heart that disappeared throughout our conversation. I remember the booth we sat in, the fact that she wanted me to swap seats with her because of her creaky seat, the way she giggled, how I fought tooth and nail to pay for such a small bill, the way she smiled when she said, “next time you’ve gotta let me pay,” and the shared excitement for our next hangout. Even though Isabella and I were still friends, even though the restaurant was a disaster, even though the fries were stale and the milkshakes chunky, that moment is one of the best in my life. With how well things were going, I thought that it was my best chance at making something more out of this friendship. So, I shot my shot. I told her that despite my efforts the summer before, she still held a special place in my heart. Isabella responded with her own struggles with recovering from a past relationship, detailing the trust issues and pain she still felt almost a year later. I was yet again, devastated. Then she added that despite her own feelings, she had to be careful and the risk of losing our friendship scared her. I understood her reasoning, but it made me sick to think of how close I was. In response, I expressed how I could relate to those feelings, and the conflict I had with them. It felt ridiculous having opened myself up once again, to just be friendzoned. Her response struck me with both hope and devastation, “I f*cking love you a ton Lincoln, but I’m struggling to differentiate my admiration as a friend and as something more. I’m terrified of losing you.” Previously I would have seen this as a sign to keep trying, but at that moment, I couldn’t see past the blatant friendzoning. After pursuing her for so long, it felt cruel of her to continue dragging me along like this, even though she was being honest. My reaction to the straw that broke the camel’s back is one of, if not, the biggest regrets in life. Homecoming was a little over a week away and she was going (as friends) with my buddy, Davis, so in a storm of hatred for myself and the situation I was in, I gave up on her. Our conversations grew to be minimal and far apart. Soon, I started to resent her. Each day since then, I have somehow felt more remorse than the last for not asking her to Homecoming. Homecoming night is when I began flirting with Claire, a sweet redhead from gym class. We connected on not going with the person we had hoped for. All it took was me joking that I should’ve spent more time around her, instead of leaving the dance early, for Claire to lose her mind. Over the next month or so, I was becoming closer and closer with Claire, despite her irritable “quirks”. I only spoke to Isabella if she reached out to me first with the only exception being when I would ask her for “advice” about Claire, which was a shameful habit I started as petty revenge on Isabella. Eventually, Isabella blocked me on Snapchat, but it didn’t matter. Things with me and Claire were going great, she made me feel like I didn’t need to starve myself to be good enough for her. She made me feel like I was enough. For the next two and a half months, life was great. After the first couple months of ignorant bliss, I was sick of her. Sure, there were a variety of reasons to find her annoying, most people I knew could list more than they have fingers and toes, but she didn’t do anything wrong. I shouldn’t have gotten into the relationship in the first place not only because of Isabella, but also the speed at which me and Claire started dating. She was still growing out of the elementary relationship phase, so while it was nice to connect with someone so quickly, it was rushed. Another issue being that I was her first real boyfriend, the baggage that followed me was detrimental to her and I couldn’t give her the attention she needed. As me and Claire began our month long drift apart, I was unblocked by Isabella. She and I caught up, and we quickly began to talk trash about Claire while on call. It was unbelievably toxic, and I’m embarrassed of how I handled things to this day. Eventually, with the support of Isabella, I decided it was time to break up. The only issue was the guilt I had in such a terrible choice, I could never do it. So I began to get more distant by the day, ignored texts and calls, and stopped walking her to classes because “I had to pee.” Eventually she caught wind of my plans and called me after school one day. Sobbing, she told me what she had heard and how she knew it wasn’t true, but it still worried her. I began to get ready to break the news, but she was already crying so what's the worst that could happen? I wish I had never asked myself that, because next she told me she’d been cutting herself. My heart sank in remorse for what I knew I would do. If I led her on longer, the aftermath of my cold actions would lead to even more catastrophe. I was scared, but knew the lesser of the two evils I had to pick from. I calmed her down, quickly notified her friends to be keeping an eye on her, and then dumped her. To this day, I am disgusted by my actions. Throughout the past three months, Claire expressed how she had loved and trusted me, yet I threw that all away. There are so many ways I could’ve handled the situation differently, but two stood out the most. Showing respect by speaking to Claire the moment I realized my feelings had fleeted was the bare minimum that I disregarded, but the second was far simpler. I had known from the start that I was still in love with Isabella and that love never faded, but was only suppressed. The entire relationship we developed, while we both enjoyed parts of it (her more than me), was a lie, and essentially a cruel joke played on Claire. There’s no excuse for my actions, and even worse, I could’ve cared less back then. It was only when time had passed that I began to understand the damage I had done. Without Claire holding me back, my newfound freedom led to a closer friendship with Isabella. I dove headfirst into the familiar pit all over again. A friendship was not enough, I appreciated every interaction I had with Isabella, but my life depended on a future with her. It’s likely she felt this as she slowly began to drift away from me. Before I had stayed up speaking to Isabella, but now I couldn’t sleep out of the tormenting absence of her voice. The only path to good health was time; distance was best for the both of us, and I knew it. For the rest of that school year, everything around me was going, but I stood still. It was like my life was just a sitcom, and I was no longer the main character. The summer that followed was just the same, I was living but dead, moving but still, speaking but silent. I was dissociating from my friends and family, but the absence of that violent snake made my depression insignificant. Living a life without her was more punishment than death itself, and I didn’t deserve relief. Even now, I think of that summer and remember almost nothing, for my life isn’t worth remembering without Isabella in it. Sophomore year began, and so did my conversations with Isabella. This go around, I was subtle with my feelings for her. The excitement I had for speaking with her was under control, but it was because the spark inside me had faded, even when it came to Isabella.The years of self pity and depression had left a toll on me that could never be reversed, and it didn’t help that Isabella began to build a relationship with another guy. When we spoke, if we did, Isabella’s concern for my mental state outweighed the friendship we were struggling to preserve. I had come to the conclusion that pursuing Isabella would only make things worse, and I needed to just be her friend. Since I couldn’t lose the feelings I had for her, I just sat in them. While I sat in the pit, Isabella and I had one particular Facetime call in which I brought up how much I regretted dating Claire. To that, Isabella added, “Yeah, she’s so annoying. I can’t remember if you told me why you got together in the first place, what led you to her?” I paused with the thousand-yard stare of an American private fresh out of West Point. “I guess I was just so disappointed with myself for not being able to go to homecoming with you and being stuck on you for so long that I impulsively got with another girl to forget about my shortcomings,” I said with reluctance and stuttering every few words. She told me that she would’ve said yes to homecoming without a second thought, but I knew she meant as friends. Then, to my dismay, Isabella revealed that whenever I got with Claire, she still had feelings for me. It was me talking to Isabella about how great things were with me and Claire that led her to block me and cut contact with me. The piano melody from “No Surprises” by Radiohead began looping through my mind as tears ran down my face. I forget how I ended the call, but once I did, I broke. I lost my breath, my head got light, my eyes became blurry, my stomach was nauseous, and my insides sank as far as they could. Everything I wanted, dreamed of, needed had been so close, and I blew it. Everything was my fault. Later I would ask her why she lost them, and her answer proved how much better she was than me. Isabella answered, “I had been hurt, so I moved on. Just got over it.” We hardly spoke anymore, but one text message has found a permanent home in my mind. After asking me how I was, Isabella wasn’t satisfied with, “it’s complicated.” She asked that I explain it to her so that she could try to understand. I told her about all the issues going on in my life, except the torch I still held for her. She wrote, “I know you’re not religious, so it may not mean anything, but I pray for you every night, Lincoln. Even though it sounds bad, I think that I've known you weren’t in the greatest mental place for a while. I want you to know I'm not judging you, I want you to feel comfortable enough to share that with someone. You have to be able to recognize how you’re feeling in order to even fix it.” These words broke me despite their simplistic appearance. Reading that she prayed for me hit me hard as she had always tried to get me to believe in God again. I’m agnostic, and nothing has come closer to bringing me back to faith as Isabella did. The idea that if God were real and I could see her in heaven was appealing, but should Christianity be the wrong choice, I wanted to be wrong with Isabella. In the following days, Isabella told me about Alex, a guy she had been talking to a lot, and how they were at most a month away from being together. I hated everything about Alex, which is a stupid name in the first place. I hated his choice of friends, I hated how white-washed he was, I hated how he dressed like a conservative cowboy, I hated the underbite that made him look like a pug, I hated his short curly hair, I hated the fact that he was a diehard Trump supporter while people of his race were being oppressed, I hated how he pretended to be someone else when he was around Isabella, I hated how he hid unhealthy habits from her, I hated that a guy like him garnered Isabella’s affection when I couldn’t. I barely knew the guy and I was wasting my energy with hatred for him, when in reality, he was just a mind-numbingly basic douche among the hundreds just like him at our school. Isabella regularly complained about Alex, but hardly did anything. Instead she stopped bringing it up, saying that talking about her issues with others only makes it worse and that she was just wining. The monotone delivery of her reasoning hurt my soul, it was like she was reciting a text from Alex. Each day that passed, I felt the urgency of expressing my feelings one more time rising. Soon Isabella and Alex would be official, and I would lose my chance to try and express how I felt one more time. I reached out to Isabella and asked if she was free to hangout that friday. On November 10, 2023, Isabella picked me up around 5:30 in the evening. She kept the inside of her SUV looking brand new in contrast to the familiarity of her smile. My nerves left me winded after every sentence and shivering in her passenger seat. Quickly our conversation became more natural as I cracked jokes to ease my anxiety, but my shaky breathing never stopped. We went to Publix to grab some snacks and drinks and headed right back to my neighborhood park. At the Grove Point Park, we found a swinging chair to sit in. Due to the time of the year, the sun had already set, but Isabella’s beauty was indifferent under the moonlight. I haven’t the slightest clue how long we sat there together. When I’m with Isabella, even Father Time gives me grace, for he knows that he is as powerless as I am to the frequency of these moments. After a while, I mentioned that it was getting late and she agreed. On the ride back to my place, I mustered the bare minimum of strength it took to confront my feelings. As she drove over the speed bump before entering the roundabout, I began to open up. I briefly told her that I still felt the same way I did two years ago, that I had tried to forget about the feelings I had with no success, and that I was sorry to once again ruin our unstable friendship. She told me it was fine and my feelings were natural, nothing to regret or be ashamed of. Her words meant nothing to me this time because I had already heard them. Defeated, I paused for a moment, then said, “Isabella, you reciprocated my feelings in the past, so after Alex, do you think that maybe we’d have a chance?” She looked at me with pain in her eyes, not for herself, but for me. She quietly said, “I- Lincoln, you know I can’t answer that. I’m with Alex now, it wouldn’t be fair.” All I could get out was, “Oh- I- I’m sorry. Uh yeah no, you’re uh- you’re right.” Everything in me pulled and begged at my lips to say what I wanted to, but I couldn’t. I still look back on that night and wish I had said the few words I never got to tell her. What if saying them could’ve changed something? Realistically, it wouldn’t have, but the regret remains. I doubt Isabella would have even remembered where my word choice stemmed from. Regardless, the words rang in my head then, and never stopped. All I wanted to say at that moment was, “but I still need you.” Today, 1,725 days since I first saw Isabella, 822 days since I first facetimed Isabella, and 178 days since that heartbreakingly beautiful night, I still love her the same. Looking back on my experience with her, I regret many things (oversharing, Claire, the snake, etc.), but the one thing I have never regretted was meeting and loving her. It was only recently that I realized that loving her has been one of the biggest mistakes in my life. For three years, day in and day out, I’ve thought about her. Three years where I could have met other people, worked on myself, enjoyed my friends and family, but instead I’ve loved her and nothing, nobody else. The one lesson that was essential for me to take away from my experience was impossible. In eighth grade I was 5’7 and 215 lbs, today I’m 5’10 and 165 lbs. In eighth grade I spent time with my parents, today I hide in my room. In eighth grade, I told people how I felt, now I’m too scared. In eighth grade, I talked about my depression, now I am left alone to deal with it. In eighth grade, I had many friends, now I rarely speak to them. In eighth grade, I needed Isabella, but the one lesson I should’ve learned never took effect. I still need her.

So, I'm pumped for this season. Seeing the schedule, I can see an 11-6 or 10-7 season. That should put us in the playoffs. Key word is SHOULD. Last year we had the same optimism, and look how that turned out. So in order to save us from that this year, here are some very realistic possibilities that can lead us to disappointment if we aren't realistic.

1. A Montez Sweat injury. The defensive line is still a massive weak spot. Counting on Zacch Pickens, Gervon Dexter, Demarcus Walker, and Austin Booker to consistently get to another team's QB? Especially in our division with the Lions featuring probably the best OL in the game with Minnesota also carrying a great unit? That scares me. I also don't have huge confidence in any of the guys I mentioned outside of Pickens and maybe Dexter to be able to stop the run. When we talk about how much the "Tez Effect" helped our defense, it scares me to think about the "Reverse Tez Effect" where losing him takes a huge toll on our defense. Now I do love the Washington hire as DC, so I think this is going to be a well-coached, hard hitting unit. But there's no denying that at this very moment, our DL is a very weak unit.
   
2. Underwhelming OL play and injuries. Realistically, Jenkins could definitely get hurt again, Davis could underperform again, Jones could play at his meh level like I seem to remember he did last year for a bit. The center position also give me zero confidence, and it seems like new-age Lucas Patrick/Cody Whitehair group. Veteran guys we were excited for and then... We should've taken Schmitz last year when we had the chance. Oh well. Only guy I really trust is Wright. He was very good for a rookie last year and I can predict more ascension for him this year.
   

I love Jenkins and I think he's probably our best guy when healthy. Hopefully he stays that way, but there's definitely injury risk there. Nate Davis I know had some very tough off-field stuff last year. With a clear head this year I could see him going back to his Titans form. Fingers crossed. As for Jones, I was pounding the table for an Alt trade-up with next year's Carolina 2. Seems like the Chargers loved him as much as I did. To be honest he does need to take a next step up. In this league average LT play (which being honest is usually what we get from him) just will not cut it. If your left tackle isn't great, he's terrible. All of these could lead to the worst one of all:

1. Caleb Williams has a Justin Fields rookie season. Fields getting murdered off the unblocked rush in his first preseason still gives me PTSD and really summarizes his career in Chicago honestly. But he also was not very good in his rookie year. He looked like a deer in headlights at times. Caleb we know is super confident and not afraid to make the impossible play for his team. I fear his confidence breaking after something like a 6-sack, 2-INT, 1 lost fumble game (which lets be honest, that is definitely possible). If we somehow turn Caleb into a one-read pocket passer robot I will have a hard time watching games. That would be coaching malpractice.
   
2. Matt Eberflus remains the coach of the Bears through 2025. Guys I'm sorry, I think I've seen a lot of Eberflus support on here. He seems like a good guy. I do NOT want him as our HC. Not hiring Brian Flores was such a bad mistake at the time and it still is now. Eberflus coached our defense well, but Flores turned the HORRIBLE Vikings defense into a legitimate headache with his blitz schemes (see the game where we played them at Soldier Field w/ Fields constantly pressured until he got hurt for reference). Eberflus could definitely be a high-level DC, but I don't trust him as our HC. The situation reminds me of Nagy-Fields year 1. I though Nagy should have been gone, but they kept him for Fields... who knows how much that hurt Fields' development. I get that the locker room likes Flus, but they liked Fields, and they will love Caleb if he turns out to be the guy. IMO we should've started with a new HC, new OC, new QB this year. Flus is only here cuz of the late season win streak. I'd hate to have another year this year where the team underperforms until the last part of the season and his skin gets saved again. Suffice to say I definitely wanted him fired after this year. He needs to step it up big time.
   
3. Our new OC is a huge toss-up. He can't be worse than Getsy but I'd hate for a player as special as Caleb to be put in a system as out-of-tune with his strengths as Fields was with Getsy. Just please cater to our guy.
   

IDK why I felt the need to write so damn much on a Saturday morning. Just had to list some ideas I had. TBH I am tired of constant disappointment. Even if one or two of these things happen, I'm still hoping to go over .500 and beat the Packers at home. Bears are gonna Bear LOL. I'm gonna return to this post around midway through the season and probably at the end of it to see if I was right or not. I'm hoping to be wrong.
Also FGB.

I can't get pass liu kang, the fucking sandstorm debuffs makes it impossible and he has so many +frames and even with -20% unblockable chance since he's on +frames you can't block at all, you can't strike him back and it's overall Just a very tilting fight.
I can kill the others via Scorpio passive proc but Liu Kang is immune to everything so GG's i guess

Warden: Has a bash 50/50 that stamina drains that chains into itself
Conq: BS orange attack spam no skill
PK: 30 damage GB, impossible to counter soft-feint attacks
Lawbringer: He can keep on spamming his finisher heavy into itself (like 30 damage btw)
Cent: Same shit as warden but now he can drain all your stam with a gb
Glad: Worlds most safest neutral, stupid skewer that can do 40 damage
bp: Stam drain zone, stupid 50/50s with no counterplay
warmonger: broken feats, bash is overtuned, has an unblockable from neutral
Gryphon: 50/50 that can drain your hp, op feats
raider: literally has a 50/50 with every fucking attack holy shit
warlord: has frame advantage for every move and can just abuse his hyperarmor
zerker: hyperarmor carrying his kit fucking pussy ass bitch
valk: too OP light spam, sweep is undodgeable, uncounterable bash
highlander: same issue as warden but now it's 30 damage for every attack
shaman: soft-feint from neutral, 40 damage bash, broken kit
jorm: 30 damage bash accessible after any attack, broken feats
VG: OP crushing-counters and a 50/50 after it
kensei: 30 damage wall-splat
shugoki: stupud bash that ignores for honor's rules, busted charged heavy timings
orochi: op light spam, a fucking goldfish can play him and do well
nobushi: 'way of the shark' is the most op snowball-y mechanic ever
shinobi: kit full of 50/50's, impossible to punish
aramusha: soft-feints are impossible to punish, 50/50 from the zone
hitokiri: heavy, bash, heavy, bash, charged heavy, bash, heavy, charged bash, heavy, heavy
kyoshin: "just gb him!" [he throws the light when he sees the gb icon]
tiandi: stupid 50/50 from neutral with his bash/undodgeable light
JJ: orange spam, soft-feint that's unreactable, and has huge hitboxes
shaolin: massive sweep hitbox
nuxia : literally fucking breaks the game and ignores the For Honor rules
Zhanhu: unblockable light attack what???
pirate: unblockable from neutral wtf
medjay: 1200ms heavys fuck off
afeera: literally shinobi but better
ocetotl: noob crutch character shit design op feats

Context: Studying for Biology Exams
Hello, I am a first generation college student. I would like to preface this by saying that I am genuinely at a point in my college career where I want to focus on genuinely learning and working smart and hard. I've noticed that in my upper level biology courses, professors tend to ask a few number of questions on foundational material from lower level courses, or recently, how to calculate pH, testing me on the order of wavelengths on the visible light spectrum.
I have not had a linear path throughout college, and it genuinely takes me quite some time to write my pre lecture, lecture, and post lecture notes. I also am planning to be more strict with attending office hours to go over anything I did not understand in class, along with genuinely asking questions in lecture when I am super lost.
I think one of the last things that can help me truly ace my biology exams is learning what knowledge I am already expected to know that is relevant to the course.
For example, in one of my exams for Cell/Molecular Biology 230, we were tested on our knowledge of our second lecture, which was the Chemistry of the Cell. We were expected to calculate pH without a calculator when he had not gone over this in lecture. I try to give my professor credit because I guess she was kind enough to give us a small quiz at the beginning of the semester which pretty much served as a direct/indirect way to tell us that we would be tested on foundational material, but more so on certain topics such as calculating pH (without a calculator). On the lecture slides, there was just a slide with a picture of the pH scale, that is it. There was no indication that we might be tested on it, but I guess I should have taken the big fat hint when we were given the quiz at the beginning of the semester (which did not count for a grade). None of the chapter review questions included pH calculations.
For another exam question pertaining to the same lecture material, we were expected to know the order of wavelengths, for example that green wavelengths are higher in energy than red. This was such a small detail mentioned in lecture. I genuinely focused on the main idea of the diagram from the textbook, and the example that sunscreen is important because UV waves are strong enough to break some covalent bonds. None of the chapter review questions included anything about comparing wavelengths on the visible light spectrum. It's such a small detail and it gives me so much anxiety that I did not know to study these small details. Also, when I asked the Professor about this question, part of what she asked me was did you forget your rainbow?
I guess, I should have also gotten the hint that we would be expected to know how to work mathematically with diagrams, equations, patterns, etc. after the first exam. I think I have come to accept that it is nearly impossible to get a perfect score on Biology exams, but that does not mean I should not try hard. I am just so tired of getting A minuses when I work so hard and these small, foundational questions make me so anxious that I sometimes ruminate on them. As much as I used to get upset that the Professor has such high expectations of us, I don't know if I am weird for it but she genuinely inspires me to stay curious and work as hard as humanly possible in her class. I think there is barely enough time to cover all the content in classes, that I want to try being smarter about the foundational knowledge I might be tested on in future upper level biology course exams (I am taking Immunology in the fall).
I plan to attend office hours every week, and ask my Professor hey these are foundational topics I thought were helpful to review. Are there any others you would suggest, or any subtopics in particular?
Are there any ideas you would suggest? I know in any class it is normal not to know everything, but my Professor for Cell/Molecular Biology did not curve at all and when this is the case, I get anxious. I also plan on taking upper level courses that she might be teaching soon, and if you were in my situation, how would you approach a class like this? I guess something I can do in the future for any courses she teaches is avoid registering for her section if there is another Professor available, and/or go to her Office Hours every single week and ask her what foundational topics/small details she might suggest reviewing.
I don't know if that would be too straight forward a question. Any suggestions and help would be greatly appreciated.

I just need some tips and advice plz.

I just want to say before I start rating the classes that everyone is different in a way, some people find some classes easier than others and I just want to give a rating that reflects on what I think was hardest classes I’ve taken to ones where I think were the easiest. This can give you a general understanding of what you can expect from the class. I’ll also be sharing what professors I’ve had and rate the class on a scale from 1-10 in terms of difficulty and list the from the hardest to the easiest. I’ll also list when I took the class (fall 23 or spring 24), credits hours, core class or not, and say whether it a full semester class or half a semester class.
Alright here are my rankings:

1. Civil engineering 274 (Statics), core class, 3 credits, full semester, fall 23, professor: Harntaro Wibowo. Difficulty: 9.5/10 All I can say is listen to the rumors about this class. When I was in CE 160 everyone was saying that statics is going to be the hardest class you’ll ever take at ISU, even the TA’s were telling us that. I have always been optimistic and never really thought of it until I took the class. I mean what can I say, first 80% of your grade are the exams and the other 20 is homework, Top-hat etc. Second the material of this class especially in the beginning is kind of hard to keep up with as everything builds up with each other but you do get used to it. When I tell you that you can’t fuck up one exam you really can’t, it’s almost impossible to get a good grade if you fuck up one of them. You’ll have 3 midterms and 1 final, 4 questions on each exam and 90 minutes. The exams are not impossible to solve obviously but they do try to trick you by for example finding the mass instead of weight, unit conversions, and complex wording. Pros about this class is platoons are really helpful for this class (TA’s giving out examples and showing you how to solve them, once per week for 50 min) and if you do go to all of the platoons you do get 2% extra on your final grade. Also SI was helpful as she did give out a lot of examples from previous exams and would recommend going to them. Wibowo wasn’t a bad professor he does recommend printing out the practice example sets before each class because that’s what he goes over the whole class period but I wouldn’t say he is the best at all in terms of 1 on 1 conversations. Also the graders of this class in my opinion are kind of harsh when grading your exams, they can deduct you up to like 5 points for wrong units or wrong answers which I found ridiculous. Overall be prepared for this class, get up to date with 3D related material,Fy,Fx, and moment equations, and a lot of trigonometry.
   
2. Civil Engineering 206 (Engineering economic analysis and professional issues in civil engineering), core class, 3 credits, full semester, spring 24, professor: Jon Matthews Rouse, difficulty: 8.7/10 If you told me back when I was applying for this class at the end of fall that CE 206 was going to be hard as fuck I would’ve laughed at you, but holy fuck it is. Firstly I want to get this out of the way, I wanna say that some classes are hard not because the material is hard but because the professor makes it hard. CE 206 falls into that category where the material is basically high school maths with plugging and chugging numbers into formulas but holy fuck does Matt make it ridiculously hard in his exams. Matt is a great guy and an excellent professor (top 5 coolest professors I’ve ever met), gives dad vibes when you meet him, but he is no joke in his exams. Some of his questions are ridiculous where he really tries to trip you up with the wording and his work out problems are really long and tedious. He also admitted that he does plug numbers into a calculator to see where students might trip up (like squaring your answer when you’re supposed to multiply) and puts the number as one of the multiple choices. He also doesn’t post anything on canvas at all which I found ridiculous since the first page of each exam is solving true and false questions, full in the blank, definitions, etc..Oh yeah you only got 55 minutes for the midterm exams, which I found hard to even see how you could ever finish both the midterm exams (especially the second one) on time. His second exam was so bad, 60-70% failed the exam, and had to curve it by 10%. The homework’s weren’t bad but his graders are really tough graders, I mean I never got a full mark on any of the homework’s and I had 13 homework sets. No wonder why this class is the 5th dropped class at ISU, it’s literally impossible to finish both midterm exams on time, graders for the homework are tough, and no room for extra credit (beside doing only extra credit homework but still).
   
3. Engineering mechanics 324 (mechanics of material), core class, 3 credits, full semester, spring 24, professer: Oleg Zarechnyy, difficultly: 7.7/10 The content in this class is arguably way harder than what you take in statics but when it comes to grading and overall the class structure, this class is not bad. If you take it with Oleg (great professor) his method of teaching is TBL (team base learning) and the class structure is to watch the lecture videos before attending the class, as what you do in class is 2 top-hat questions on the material you watched at home. He also recommends to do the homework before each lecture but I never did and it was fine. The team you are with the whole semester are picked at random and you sit in the same place during the semester. The top hat questions aren’t tricky but if you did not watch the videos you won’t get the answers right. Each question is about 25 min, the first 12 min you do it alone, then the remaining 13 min you discuss your answers with your teammates and submit them together. You do also submit your answers when you do it alone. Exams are easier than statics exams by a mile, I mean some of the questions they give you the moment of inertia, sometime they give you the forces, etc… basically all the calculations that you might trip up they will give you. The formula sheet is essential to this class, so understand where everything is. There are 3 midterm exams, 3 questions, and 90 min (30 min avg each question), very doable. They never try and trick in any of the questions like in statics and it’s pretty straight forward. The final will have 4 questions but you got 120 min so again doable. You have also 3 homework’s each week due Monday, Tuesday, and Friday on Willyplus. Overall a very doable class (class avg on each exam was about 75-80%) and shouldn’t be hard to pass.
   
4. Deferential equations 266 (differential equations), not a core class, 3 credits, half a semester, spring 24, Professor: Domenico D’Alessandro, difficulty: 7/10 Out of the math classes I’ve taken so far at ISU, Calc1, calc2, and Def eq 266, I would say that def eq is definitely the easiest out of the 3 I have taken. This class is supervised by the one and only Steve butler so I already knew it wasn’t going to be batshit hard like the calc department but don’t think it’s a walk in the park type of class. For me this class is all about proving that a certain problem is right by proving it with a set of equations. What I like about this class is 3 things, first and most importantly is that the exams are fair not ridiculously hard like the calc exams but not easy to the point where you didn’t have to study, second you could theoretically not attend a single lecture like I did 99% of the time and just go to the quiz review (more on that in a moment) and try and understand what they are talking about (which wasn’t hard to comprehend) and do well enough on the quizzes to be ready for the exams, and thirdly there’s a fucking formula sheet thank god. If it wasn’t for the formula sheet I promise you this class would be 10x harder cause you do need a lot of equations for this class. Exam wise there will be 2 for 266, 6 questions each, and 75 minutes, which I think is fair considering some questions are really easy and fast to solve and some do take time but I wouldn’t say it’s like a 20 minute question more like 7-8 minute question. For me quizzes were the best as like in calculus you have a weekly quiz 25 min, 2 random questions from the practice quiz you have to solve, and as I said if you go the quiz review and understand what is happening it’s Literally a free 10/10. Exams are 60%, quizzes are 25%, Homework are 12% (you only need to do 3 questions form the sample set to get full credit), and the remaining 3% is basically free points if you do the weekly review where it asks how are doing in class, recommendations, etc. overall very doable class with a lot of chances to get a good grade as he does drop your lowest 2 exam questions, 1 quiz, and 4 homework sets. I can’t tell you if the professor is solid or not as I rarely went to class besides doing the quizzes but from what I gathered he is ok.
   
5. Statistics 305 (Engineering statistics), not a core class, 3 credits, full semester, spring 24, instructor: Troy Meyers, difficultly: 6.7/10 This is the exact reverse of CE 206, the content here is hard, in my personal opinion, but Troy makes his exams really easy. First off I wanna say that Troy is one the funniest professors I’ve ever met, he tells us cool and funny stories, he really wants you to succeed in this class by helping and asking questions, and he really is passionate about statistics. The material is hard but his exams are literally the example material he posts on canvas along with of the homework questions. I mean if you can memorize the practice material on canvas you’ll be just fine as most of the time he doesn’t even change the numbers in the exam (keeps it the same). The first 2 exams were really easy, the third exam I failed it just because I stoped going to lecture and didn’t even go to the exam, but the avg was really high just don’t be a dumbass like me, the final is recycled material from the 3 midterms along with questions from post 3rd exam. The homework is really easy if you understand what you are doing. Honestly this class could be hard if you don’t take it with Troy. Oh yeah DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS ONLINE! I heard they make the online sections of this class ridiculously hard, just take it with Troy he teaches like 7 sections of this class, so you should find more than enough seats to be in his sections.
   
6. Chemistry 167 L (chemistry 167 lab), not a core class, 1 credit, full semester, fall 23, Instructor: Krishna Suresh, difficulty:6.2/10 This class for 1 credit is absolutely bullshit. Firstly the “professor” for this class is named Sarah Pistolesi but you never actually meet her or even talk to her ever, even if you tried to send an email she will never respond. So what you have is a post graduate instructor and about 15 other students in a laboratory doing chemistry. What I was hoping for this class is to do dope ass chemistry experiments and overall have a chill and easy time but nope this class is the literal definition of aids. You do about 13 experiments throughout the semester and I would classify 1 experiment as cool and rest absolutely ass, you have to do a fat ass report on your experiment, and you also have 3 in class experiment exams throughout the semester, you have a pre lab quiz, post lab quiz, and post lab EXAM each fucking week (all online though). I mean all that for 1 credits is insane and they weren’t easy quizzes or exams nah they were the ones where you actually had to read the lab manual thoroughly and do the labs precisely to do well on them. The pain in ass really was the lab reports, some of my lab reports were like 8-13 pages long as they ask you a shit ton of questions about the experiment you did that week along with a review on what you did, you had to make graphs from excel, and solve stoichiometric questions which as I said before is insane for a 1 credit class. I mean I put more effort into this class than fucking Calc 1 and that’s not even a joke. Now the instructor (Krishna Suresh) is really cool though and does understand our pain for this class I mean this was her first time teaching this class and was astonished by the amount of work you had to put for 1 credit. She did her best and did sometimes allow us to go early because for some reason there is no fucking chairs to sit on and the lab was 3 hours long so you had to stand up to 3 hours straight with no breaks at all. Smh that class was a joke on god and unless you are a chem major you aren’t going to get an A on this class, also some of the questions were ridiculously hard to solve unless you know chemistry for real for real.
   
7. Speech com (Speech communication), not a core class, 3 credits, full semester, fall 23, Professor: Michael Wettengel, difficulty: 5/10 Out of all the classes on this list this class is the dullest class I’ve taken so far. In fact it’s so dull I can’t even tell you how the grades were distributed because he goes off by points, and not by percentage but what I can tell about this class is that you have to put effort into your speeches. In this class you will have 3 major speeches, 3 or 4 mini speeches, lots of homework, and in class activities. For your mini speeches all you have to do is write a speech 2-4 min long on a index card-s and read it to your fellow classmates, obviously it’s not that straightforward as you need to come up with the plot and stuff but that wasn’t bad. For the major speeches you had to make a PowerPoint for your first two speeches along with references and research to prove on what you are taking about and obviously a rehearsed speech you have to prepare and present to the class. You got a lot of homework you have to do but honestly they were just stepping blocks for the presentation and speech you were going to give for your major speeches so it wasn’t bad. Finally the in class activities weren’t bad but they were silly especially at the beginning. Oh yeah for this class you have attend as there is attendance points and also for the in class activities you had basically each class. The main speeches were an informative, persuasive, and special occasion. The first one (informative) was in my opinion the most annoying one as you had to do a lot of research for your topic along with pictures, slides, references, etc. The second (persuasive) was actually not bad as you would want to keep the same topic from the informative one and just persuaded on why your topic is important. For the third one (special occasion) it was the easiest as no research was needed and you can really talk about anything you want. For the first two speeches you had to get your topic approved by the professor but the third one you don’t have to as long as you and another class mate aren’t talking about the same topic. Michael wasn’t a bad professor at all, he actually made the class quit fun it was just the material and over overall speech com is boring. He is a tough grader though and does take the speeches seriously and will deduct points accordingly to the speeches rubric. Honestly the only reason I give this class a 5/10 in difficulty is the amount of effort you have to for this class and not because the material is hard.
   
8. Civil engineering 170 (Graphics for civil engineers), core class, 2 credits, full semester, fall 23, professor: Stuart Nielsen, difficulty 4.25/10 What made this class instantly easier than the rest of the civil engineering classes is that the class is online and even if it wasn’t I think it would easier than the other civil engineering classes. Firstly no exams in this class which is already great, secondly it’s easy to follow up in this class meaning you don’t have to watch the lecture videos multiple time to understand what’s happening you can watch it once and easily see what he is talking about. There are 12 homework sets, and 2 projects that’s it. The homework sets are: first 2 weeks you do sketches, 2D, and 3D drawings with building objects. You also learn how to draw thing on a side view, top view, etc in 2D and 3D. The next 5 weeks you will use AutoCAD learning how to use it and using its tools, a bit surveying, etc.., then 1 week to do the final project on AutoCAD which is literally what you did on the app for the last 5 weeks compressed into a final project. The the next 5 weeks you do Revit which was actually really fun in my opinion, you learn how to design and build a building on Revit, floor plans, put objects, sceneries, etc…, and then 1 week to the final project which was basically to build a house with a few requirements. Honestly this class is really easy and I would say the hardest thing about this class was the AutoCAD final project was a bit tricky but once you get used to AutoCAD it’s only honestly cake. Revit is in my opinion easy and simple to understand, its tools are not complex and the rendering on the app is great. Stuart is a great guy and although you don’t really meet him he does put a lot of effort into his videos and does respond to emails.
   
9. History 202 (Introduction to western civilization), not a core class, 3 credits, half a semester, spring 24, professor: John Monroe, difficulty: 3.6/10 I never thought I would enjoy learning about history and this class did not disappoint. It’s a fun class to learn about European history (Napoleon, French Revolution, WW2) and John’s videos are fun to watch. It does get boring sometimes but that’s when some of the history was boring but I wouldn’t say I slept or anything like that. You do quizzes weekly but honestly if you do watch the lecture videos then you shouldn’t have any problems. You might not take an A on this class as some of the questions are detailed (you need to read the questions carefully) but you will definitely enjoy the class.
   
10. Anthropology 230 (globalization, and the human condition), not a core class, 3 credits, half a semester, fall 23, professor: Sedi Azirani, difficulty: 2.8/10 Im going to make this short and simple, watch the lecture videos, do the weekly quizzes, do a essay every 2 weeks, review the course for the final exam, take the final exam and you’ll get an easy A. The only tricky part about this class is the essays as you have to watch a video (usually there will be 2 to choose from) get a reference source and write an essay about the video topic. Quizzes are easy if you watch the videos and look at the slides, and the final exam is easy if you review the material. Honestly an easy A.
    
11. English 250 (written, oral, visual, and electronic composition), not a core class, 3 credits, full semester, fall 23, professor: Paul Kimumwe, difficulty: 1/10 If you have taken any english class from ISU you should know that they are an easy A. I put literally 0 effort into this class and still got a 98% on it. You literally do 4 or 5 major essays of your liking as long as you follow their simple requirements and you do 1 power point slide towards the end of the semester explaining your future plans with your degree and I would say thats about it. I mean the only way to fail this class is literally not to submit anything but you really do need a free A from time to time to boost your gpa and luckily this class is a requirement for any degree you take here.
    

Final thoughts:
This year, I tried to get out of the way the bullishit classes like my SSH electives, and the easy classes so I can get to the good stuff in the future without a annoying and unnecessary class that I’m forced to take that literally isn’t a engineering class, so I would say that this year was a smooth sailing but probably won’t be next year as I’m going to take some tough ass classes. I hope I have given y’all some insight to these classes if y’all ever gonna take them especially for future Civil engineers.

The game needs more polish and more develop time. Controls are infuriating.

• Some attacks you can roll cancel, some you can't. It even changes mid-combo.
• Backstab is finicky and doesn't work a lot of times even though the indicator is shown which leads to unnecessary damage.
• Staggered enemies (kneeling down) can't be interacted with (what's the purpose if you can't do a cool finisher or is this also a bug?), instead they are just one big trap. Because instead of slowly standing up they go instantly into an attack combo (please learn from souls game, the reason enemies slowly get back up is exactly for this). So it's better to wait for them to stand up instead of attacking.
• Then there are attacks from some enemies that come out so fast, it's nearly impossible to dodge them. Which is fine if they wouldn't deal 2x the damage then normal attacks (a shove from an enemy that is quick and leads to an unblockable/dodgeable combo dealing more damage than the same enemy hitting you 3 times with his weapon?).
• The light weight dodge is worse than the next heavier one because the dash animation covers a lot less distance than the roll.

Just so so many bad interactions it seems the developers haven't played a single soul's game before or didn't understand why certain things are the way they are in these games... If the combat isn't tight and predictable with a clear set of rules, the game isn't fun. This is just what I found after 3h of play time, before I gave up (killed 3 bosses while being almost nacked with just the first weapon I found).
I still have high hopes that they can sort this stuff out.

I am coming into this game fresh after playing sekiro for 2 months and beating the game.
I am really struggling with parry and dodge timing.. and I have them both upgraded.
Gigas has been wrecking me for hours… I can party about half of his attacks, but perfect dodging is near impossible for me. Any tips on this timing?
When the yellow circle pops up, is just the single next hit unblockable, or the entire combo?

My now ex-fiance (pwBPD) and I broke up the other day. It started when she started dragging me away from my friends. First she said one of my friends of 11 years held her hand down for four seconds while I was turned around. I was cutoff from this friend for months, and she didn't really care. She just didn't want me around him because he's now a threat in her eyes and I couldn't choose sides. She threatened to cut her lip off and hurt herself for over a week after she got a coldsore and I didn't want to kiss her because of it. She kept telling me that I didn't love her over it which was so not true, I showed my love. I kissed her everywhere but her mouth, constantly reassuring her of how much I love her and the small and big things she does, and she just kept looking at me with a sad face telling me"You don't love me, or you would kiss me."
She constantly invited her former drug-addict mom who also threatened to send people after us and hurt us a year ago. She kept bringing her over to our house even when I was telling her no, and that I was uncomfortable with her being over, and that I needed to gain her trust somewhere else. She called me a pussy for not talking to her mom at our house. She also kept putting words in my mouth telling me that I hate her mother when I've never said that. She went through my discord DMs and saw some pretty bad things I've said about her because I was hurt. I admit that it was not the best thing to do, but she constantly yelled at me, no matter what I was in the wrong. Talking to her was impossible, and after she read my messages with another close friend of 13 years about her. She left the house and I invited two of my friends up and apperantly one of them grabbed pepper spray for her protection after my Fiance said she was coming home. After she got home, she ran my friends of and she basically gave me the choice of: block my 13 year long friend to gain my trust back or to end the relationship.
I ended up blocking her, and during this time all of my friends were becoming worried about me. All I heard about was how I was in the wrong for venting to her about everything, but not actually owning up to any of the things I called her out for in the DMs. One of my other friends of 8 years messaged her, calling her manipulative and abusive. She then blocked him, she talked shit about my friend who stole the pepper spray (understandable, that was pretty stupid) and so the 8 year friend messaged me and told me that my friendgroup collectively agreed that they cannot be my friend as long as I'm with my fiance. She then got on my phone and blocked this 8 year long friend for me. She also went into the other room of our house and poured the 13 year friends gfuel all over our bed out of being petty.
Anyways I ended up unblocking my friend of 13 years and told her that I was hurt but I did stand up for my fiance. I basically told her that I might be silent for a while, but I'm not talking anymore shit about her because I still wanted to try to make the relationship work. My fiance glanced at the messages but didn't entirely read them and then she exploded and told me that she hated me and started packing all of her stuff. She told me that I had no reason to cry and that I've done what I did to myself. She told me that she's only ever standed up for me and that shes only ever loved me which really did hurt because I know in a sense it is true.
We met up at like 2am last night in person and talked. She told me that she hated living with her mom and that she misses me. That she put so much effort into our house and that she feels like she still deserves to live there. She acknowledged the things that she did and apologized for them. She promised me that if we ever got back together that she would change for me and make compromises. I want to just run but at the same time..... I think I'm blinded by love. I've spent the last two years with this woman and it's weird to think of life without her. Thank you for the read.

Hey there.
I've had my Oneplus 5 for something like 8 years I guess, and I've been loving it, doing the job for a very long time. Unfortunately, it's starting to get too old, battery life has gone to the dumps (100% barely gets me through the day with modest usage), it's getting slower, the reception is becoming faulty as well as the GPS. Not complaining, it's been working great for many years (and actually, it's still working right now, but for how long?). When I look around my friends and family, it seems like keeping a working smartphone for 8+ years is unreal, so I've been plenty satisfied with it !
I've been reading a bit and it seems like I probably won't keep my next phone this long, even if I take really good care of it, so I'm not getting my hopes up. From Europe btw.
What I use my phone for :
Mostly browsing internet, watching videos/movies, music (a lot), maps, social networks. I don't use it at all to play games (or maybe the occasional quiz game, nothing fancy).
So I'm looking now to get a new one, here's what I would like and what I don't care about :

• Solid battery and performance longevity, I would like to keep it at least 3 years, not a fan of getting a fresh new phone very year. I don't care that much about updates, since the updates on my OP5 stopped a LONG time ago, and it still worked great (I might be naive about that, correct me if I'm wrong !).
  
• Big enough and efficient enough battery, hate to have to charge it as soon as I go home everyday when I have something like 2-3h SOT. For example in the early years, my OP5 lasted up to 2 days and a half, as really glad with it. Fast charging is a plus, but I don't care either it charges to full in 20 minutes or 1 hour.
  
• Would something fluid and snappy, preferably with a nice enough display.
  
• Good modem and GPS.
  
• The least possible bloatwares. The one thing I like a lot with my OP5 was that I didn't have 54846 apps already installed and impossible to remove. It goes along with customization possibility (not planning to get a custom ROM though for now, android stock is good enough for me).
  
• I don't care much about the camera as long as it takes good enough photos and videos. Anything above my OP5 camera quality is good enough. I don't take many photos. Let's say if the camera is good, it's a nice bonus. Goes along with the fact that I don't need big storage.
  
• Any perks like waterproof, sturdiness, etc is always nice to have, but not what I specifically look for. I'm not planning on swimming with it, or toss it on the floor to see if it bounces back to me. I'll get a case and probably a tempered glass protection anyway.
  
• Don't like much curved screens, but I guess if everything else checks, I can live with it.
  

Would like to stay under 450€, anyway I don't need a big ass flagship to use it the way I do.
I've been looking at Oneplus Nord 3 (400€ ~~), 10T (280 €), Nothing phone 2a (400€ ~~) for now. At the moment the Oneplus 10t seems like exactly what I need, but I'd love some feedback ! Any suggestion would be appreciated since I don't know much past this. I just would like to avoid Samsung/Google phones and definitely avoid iOS.
Thanks a lot for your input !

It’s two days into the summer semester and I’ve already missed a quiz because of the stupid due dates the professor chose This classes due dates are all at 1pm?? Like why??? And to make it even better it was scheduled when we had a mandatory orientation which ran til one. I haven’t even had a class with this professor yet since theirs are Wednesday and they’re already making my life miserable lol.

Hey guys. I've been doing a couple AM2Random runs lately on hard mode, without saving - trying to test myself and face a good challenge. But this seed seems to be impossible: I'm stuck behind Speed Booster or Ice Beam obstacles.
Believe me when I say I checked complete maps over and over again trying to find any items I didn't pick, but I could not locate anything left. I have a 70% completion so far, but that's because the remaining items are either blocked behind Speed Booster, Ice Beam or the endgame are (which I can't unblock because there are two metroids left in the Robot Factory - and I can't fully explore it without Speed Booster). I also tried to find any shortcuts that allowed me to go to blocked areas, but failed miserably.
Can anyone help me? The seed is 4278581958.