Travelers insurance exam for employment

• Current cards: (list cards, limits, opening date)
  • Bank of America, Limit $4000, June 2022
• FICO Score: 740
• Oldest account age: 6 years (school loans), almost 2 years Bank of America CC
• Chase 5/24 status: 1/24
• Income: $110,000
• Average monthly spend and categories:
  • dining $250
  • groceries: $400
  • gas: $100
  • travel: $100
  • other: $800
• Open to Business Cards: No
• What's the purpose of your next card? Travel
• Do you have any cards you've been looking at? Chase Sapphire Preferred, Capital One Rewards
• Are you OK with category spending or do you want a general spending card? Ok w/ category

I want to open a card with a good points offer and where I can continue to earn points on regular purchases. I take 1-2 major trips a year with some smaller trips in between (based in US). I am looking mainly for airline perks (points, lounge access, insurance, etc.) I am worried about my approval because of my short credit history as well as low limit. I can call to increase my current BOA limit if that would help my chances of approval. I do pay off my credit card and my utilization is <5%. I have about $90k in school loans that I am paying off on time each month. I wanted to ask on here for any card recommendations for my specific needs. The Chase and Capital One seem to be the two most popular for beginners. I also wanted to ask about what I can do to increase my approval chances because I have seen some posts on here of people similar to me getting denied. I would hate to have that hard inquiry and get denies, making it harder to apply for other cards. Thanks!

Hi - hoping some intelligent doctors can help.
37 / male
I badly injured my back/neck at the gym yesterday. I couldn’t - literally - walk this morning. Pain has traveled from my upper back to my neck and along my right arm - which is now tingling - feels like nerve issue.
Went to doctor in NYC - specialist who suggested the below for pain, plus MRI and X - Ray pending my insurance. Diagnosis, he said, is muscle spasms and potential pinched nerve but won’t know for sure until we do images.
I was prescribed steroid / Medrol (Methylprednisone) - 4MG pack over 6 days, plus 500mg of Naproxen (2x daily) and 10mg Cyclobenzaprine/Flexeril / muscle relaxer (which I will take only at night).
He also said to ICE for the first 24-36 hours from start of injury then switch to HEAT.
QUESTION - is it safe to take the 3 meds together? Pharmacist says yes.
I’ve been reading taking NSAIDs like Naproxen plus steroids is bad for GI issues. Are those two often prescribed together? I am not a big pill taker but I’ll do anything to help - most pain I have been in.. maybe ever.
Does the benefits outweigh the risks? I only hope to take this until the pain cools down.
Thank you.

CREDIT PROFILE

• * Current credit cards you are the primary account holder of:
• Capital One Venture X ($20,000 limit, Opened 12/2022, Used for all spending other than gas and groceries
• American Express Blue Cash Preferred ($8,000 limit, opened 2/2022, Used for gas and groceries only)
• * FICO Scores with source (Equifax 809, Experian 820, TransUnion 803)
• * Oldest credit card account age with you as primary name on the account: 25 years Kohls Department card opened by my parents in my name
• * Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 6 months: 0
• * Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 12 months: 0
• * Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 24 months: 2
• * Annual income $: (Gross Household Income 175k)

CATEGORIES

• * OK with category-specific cards?: Yes
• * OK with rotating category cards?: No
• * Estimate average monthly spend in the categories below.
  • * Dining $: 500
  • * Groceries $: 500
  • * Gas $: 500
  • * Travel $: All travel paid for with Capital One Venture X points
  • * Do you plan on using this card abroad for a significant length of time (study abroad, digital nomad, expat, extended travel)?: No
  • * Any other categories (examples: phone/internet, insurance) or stores (example: Amazon) with significant, regular credit card spend (the more you specify, the better): N/A
  • * Any other significant, regular credit card spend you didn't include above?: Hobbies/Leisure $500
  • * Can you pay rent by credit card? If yes, list rent amount and if there's a fee for paying by credit card: No

MEMBERSHIPS & SUBSCRIPTIONS (delete lines that don't apply)

• * Current member of Amazon Prime?: Yes
• * Current Verizon postpaid customer?: No
• * Current member of Costco or Sam's Club? Yes Costco
• * Currently paying $13.99/month or more for Disney Bundle (Disney+ / Hulu / EPSN+) or other Hulu services? No
• * Current member of Chase, US Bank or any other big bank?: N
• * Active US military?: No
• * Are you open to Business Cards?: (these are an option if you have any kind of side gig, such as selling on eBay or Etsy) No

PURPOSE

• * What's the purpose of your next card (choose ONE)?: To get membership point reward bonus for big purchases that come with first time home buying.
  • * If you answered "first credit card", are you an authorized user on any other cards?
  • * If you answered "balance transfer", please give details as to why:
  • * If you answered "travel rewards", do you have a preferred airline and/or hotel chain? Usually fly Delta
• * Do you have any cards you've been looking at? Yes - I have been looking at the promo for Chase Sapphire Preferred as well as the American Express Gold (Just got email promo 90k membership points for $4000 spent in the first 6 months for Amex Gold)

MI/USA
So I'm in an..interesting situation right now. I am currently insured under my Significant Other's employer health insurance as a "Non-Qualified Dependent" because we aren't married, meaning the portion of the premium to add me is NOT tax exempt on his paycheck. If we're reading the policies correctly, he pays the Spouse Premium, the fed/state income taxes on that amount, AND the fed/state income taxes on the value of the Employer's share of the premium.
I then transfer him the difference every month (he's salary so it was easy to figure out, OldPaycheck - NewPaycheck = MyInsurance).
I know when you itemize your federal taxes, it asks about out of pocket premiums. I also understand that this is usually for people who purchase insurance directly from an insurance company.
Since 'my share' of his payroll deduction is taxed, and I am then paying him back with my after-tax money, can either of us claim this?

Hey guys (please excuse any bad grammar in this post I'm about to work out but wanted to get this post out of the way)
I'm a U.S. citizen, and I am convinced with absolute CERTAINTY that this place is not my home. At least, I know Texas isn't.
I don't actually have a problem with the way the U.S. is run, the system, etc., but I just don't see myself finding love, buying a house or starting a family here. I feel like I was meant to be elsewhere. Well, I lied I do have a problem with health insurance, school safety and how hyper car-dependent the states are. I also just don't feel like I belong here..
That being said, I'm 23 years old, and the only thing I have to my name is an esthetician license. I was planning on working as an esthetician on a cruise ship when I graduated high school but my dad psyched me out of doing it - told me I would hate it and I was putting myself in a position of slavery and being stranded in the ocean.
At the end of the day, I chose to listen to him and deply regret it. I really wish I had done my own thing considering that I still have a desire to work in the travel industry.
Anyways, fast forward to today - I'm back in school now getting my B.S. in business administration and working on my CAP certification. I also plan on getting ESL certified and a teacher's certification incase I decide to teach abroad.
My goal for now, is to work in administration at the DFW airport upon graduation - since I didn't go straight to college, I've discovered my vocational/career strengths and weaknesses. I worked at a lawfirm for a while and actually loved the insurance and stability it provided me, but quit because there was a slim chance to advance in the company. I also needed more time and energy to go back to school, and since I don't have any other skills or certifications to my name besides my license, I didn't want to limit my job prospects to just the firm.
If I work admin at an airport, I get the benefits of the flight crew, but the predictability of an office job, so I can use my time off to go travel and explore potential places to live - and have more earning potential. I also love the guaranteed company paid insurance. The problem is, when I end up finding a different country abroad to live in, I'll have to quit my landlocked admin job.
If my goal is to end up living abroad, I'm wondering if my U.S. Bachelor's degree will even hold weight/merit over seas - it probably won't even guarantee me a remote job at that. Most English teachers abroad don't even need a bachelor's anymore, just a TEFL certification. At the same time, teaching English abroad doesn't sound like a "secure" way to make money, and I feel like it would be best for me to keep working on my admin skills so I can have other options. The thing is, I don't necessarily need a degree to have admin skills. Even if I find remote admin work, I won't necessarily need a degree to do that - just the certifications.
TLDR: pursue a degree to land a peaceful, stable, landlocked job that I plan on leaving behind anyways to go start a new life abroad, or become an English teacher in another country without a degree?

recently, my application for group insurance through my employer (including life, single health, and single dental) was declined due to my medical history. i have a sleep disorder, and I'm currently on medication for anxiety and depression. the insurance company noted that due to this and the fact i haven't consulted a doctor for lightheadedness/brain fog issues, which they see as increasing the risk of a life and/or health claim.
i have the option to appeal the decision by providing additional medical details from my doctor.
has anyone successfully appealed a similar insurance denial? what kind of information or documentation did you provide?
what specific details should I ask my doctor to include in the appeal letter to strengthen my case?
any advice or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated. i'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. i don't need anything medical related immediately which is the only upside :/

Hi,
I recently switched jobs (I live in Idaho state) and my new employer health insurance is about to kick in. I currently use Omnipod 5 with dexcom G6, and novolog. With my new employer funded health insurance(Regence), it is looking like none of my supplies are going to be covered until I meet my deductible (about 3300), and then I will still have to pay 50% coinsurance until I meet my out of pocket limit which is 8k. I can’t afford this as most people probably wouldn’t be able to, I’m looking at thousands of dollars a month. Does anyone have any recommendations for supplemental coverage or getting supplies covered in ID? I am mentally preparing myself to have to go back on injections, but trying to avoid that. Any advice helps.

Hi,
I recently switched jobs (I live in Idaho state) and my new employer health insurance is about to kick in. I currently use Omnipod 5 with dexcom G6, and novolog. With my new employer funded health insurance(Regence), it is looking like none of my supplies are going to be covered until I meet my deductible (about 3300), and then I will still have to pay 50% coinsurance until I meet my out of pocket limit which is 8k. I can’t afford this as most people probably wouldn’t be able to, I’m looking at thousands of dollars a month. Does anyone have any recommendations for supplemental coverage or getting supplies covered in ID? I am mentally preparing myself to have to go back on injections, but trying to avoid that. Any advice helps.

I am working towards my bachelors in HR with WGU. I previously went to a local university that had an online program, but the classes were not asynchronous (despite being advertised as so). I work full time, so I started exploring my options at online schooling that was fully asynchronous.
Lo and behold I found WGU. I was a little iffy because some people have started saying employers don't recognize WGU degrees as a real degree, but I really beg to differ. The coursework is actually well thought out. I actually have to put in time and effort to learn and do well on the exams and papers I am writing.
I am on my third course right now (started in March), and am absolutely impressed with how much they actually want you to learn. I know that sounds so stupid, but I kid you not at my local university I was literally able to look up the answers for homework online. Writing discussion posts was just me literally skimming the required text and then writing thoughtless discussion posts filled with filler words to reach the word count. The material wasn't engaging, and I never truly felt like I was applying what I learned.
I'm currently working on my D081 task right now for HR, and even though I've been on it for 5+ hours, I am absolutely amazed that I actually feel like I am learning and applying the knowledge I have gained.
Also, can I just say that the resources they provide us are very well thought out?! I took Employment Law as my first class and my instructor gave me a cheat sheet on ALL the major employment laws, who they apply to, how many employees a company has to have for it to apply to them, and much more. That's something I'm keeping forever so I can look back on it when I actually get into the industry.
Anyway, long story short... Yes! There's a lot of annoying things about WGU, but I feel myself actually getting an education here and learning things. It's definitely not easy though, so if you come from a regular university online program and try to transition here? Be ready for a lot more work lol.

Based solely on the information below, what job should I take? Both are the same title.
Current role: -$63K a year base salary plus $5K bonus -15 days PTO and 6 paid holidays -10-12% profit sharing match in 401K l, 25% vested now, 100% vested in 3 years -$30 per paycheck for health and dental, $2400 in HSA from employer yearly, $3400 deductible -disability insurance and $50K life insurance policy employer paid -fully on-site
Job offer: -$75K base salary, bonus tbd -10 days PTO and 6 paid holidays plus 1 floating holiday -4% company match for 401K, 100% vested in 3 years -$100 per paycheck for health and dental, $2500 deductible, $600 in HSA from employer -$10/month for $50K term life -hybrid remote

Hello
I know the website only accepts 15 credits max from public high school, but i already have 19 from my previous public high school.
How much did yall transferred from public high school and how much was the total cost to get the penn foster diploma??
I want to get my diploma asap which i think i will be able to with penn foster but the cost is what im concerned about. Not sure if its worth spending over 1k just to obtain 6 more credits when i have already completed 19.. cuz they only accepts 15 max.
I do have local classes to help with ged exam for FREE but its not until fall of this year to even start. Basically i will be wasting several months when I could’ve started my program with penn foster and already got my diploma.
The reasons why im not just taking the ged exam either is that its been several years since i have gotten out of school.
What would you do? I know once i start my college and get my bachelors degree, the employer wont even ask about my high school diploma or grades. 🤔

From the outside, we look like we have everything. Great house, two kids (8 and 11), at a good public school. Together 13 years. Our careers are both flexible, allowing us to travel and have plenty of free time. But I'm not happy. I fantasize about other women. I feel lonely when efforts to talk to my wife are ignored. She is very ADHD and gets sucked into her phone and work stress all the time. She works from home, so it's all day every day work stress for her. And she procrastinates, so small tasks will occupy all of her time. And she is slow to act on anything, so we are in the routine where I get up first, do the whole morning routine without her. Same with dinner, cleaning, bedtime with the kids, and grocery shopping. It feels like she takes me for granted, although, when I bring it up, she reminds me that she does a lot of other stuff, like paying bills, taxes, insurance and doctors appointments. So we're stressed with the kids. She also doesn't get my humor most of the time. I feel like a comedian with a really bad audience. And when I'm serious about stuff, her normal way of speaking is to debate and she is really good at being right.
In terms of my healing, I met her when I was chasing after sex. I was 29. I didn't understand at the time, but I would get a panic reflex during intimacy and had toxic shame around showing attraction. So I was terrible at dating. I would fawn over women, trying to do what I thought they wanted, rather than thinking about what I wanted in a woman. The more I failed, the harder I chased. I worked through some of my issues and dating got better. Once I met my wife, she had so much more going on than anyone I had ever been with, I was thrilled. Beautiful, smart, successful, from a good family, with similar view on money, politics and raising kids. She has never been very good at intimacy, but that worked with my weakness as well. I hardly noticed it was missing. It was very easy going, and I went along with her need to start a family. Now that I see all that, I realize our relationship is molded by that imbalance of me meeting her needs, and her not even knowing what mine are.
At the time, I knew things weren't perfect, and I was afraid of commitment. So, before we got married, we talked a lot about having a non-traditional marriage. I was very sex positive, and wanted freedom to have needs met by other people, if they weren't being met in our relationship. And we agree that it's unrealistic to expect one person to meet all of your needs for the rest of our lives. And we agreed to something like a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy. We could do whatever we wanted, as long as it doesn't affect what we have when we're together. This was a very flawed idea. I do talk to other women, probably more than some wives would be comfortable with. And I love that I have that freedom. But I want more, and it's just not realistic. Once being married, from my experience, other women are very non-sexual. It feels very sterile and I really miss those flirty conversations with women.
I don't think I can change my wife though. I have shared these thoughts with her, and she seems to be making a tiny effort to be more appreciative of me, and has engaged in activities around the house that normally she leaves to me. It's just such a baby step. And we have kids, who should be exposed to parents who are happy. How can I address the relationship? Would I be crazy to leave? Am I crazy to stay?
TL;DR My life is pretty good, but it's boring, a bit lonely, and not funny, sexy or playful. I feel like it's an unhealthy example to set for the kids. Until now, the relationship has been basically: I meet her needs, which are very easy to meet, and neither of us realize that I have needs of my own. It's sort of like the classic business partner marriage, or maybe boss/assistant. We do have regular sex, thank god, but it's very vanilla. And now I am realizing I do have needs, and I want to spend time with someone who can be intimate, sexy, funny, appreciative, and generally be happy with. How do I get there?

Caption. I've failed the CO life insurance exam twice. My boss is really heated because I've been working there with just my P&C for over a year now. I'm averaging 80ish on my exam fix practice exams but I keep failing my exam in the 65-69%ish range. Any study tips? I love my job and I don't want to lose it :(

I’m considering putting in my two week notice on the weekend of June 1 or 2 in order to received medical insurance for the month of June. If my employer decides to make my termination effective immediately, can they backdate my termination to May 31 or will my benefits for June be safe if I submit notice my email the weekend of June 1 or 2? Thanks for your input!

I live in NJ-USA. I am single with kids with a girlfriend. We are not married. I am finalizing my trust for my 4 kids and want to make sure this is the best method to distribute my assets. The kids are 21, 18, 16, and 14. I have a life insurance policy, a few 401k's from different employers, an HSA from my current employer, a house, a Robinhood account, checking and savings accounts with small amounts, and a few vehicles. There are no family heirlooms or anything of that nature.
The trust would be set for my kids only. My girlfriend is the beneficiary of the life insurance policy and would receive certain assets from the house and the vehicles to sell.
I understand I cannot leave the 401ks to minor children and any assets left to my girlfriend would not be exempt from the NJ inheritance tax. or many other taxes.
My plan is to leave my girlfriend a significant amount of the life insurance policy as that payout is exempt from any taxes. She would also receive the vehicles to sell. The 401k and house would be put in the trust for the kids.
What is the best way to handle the HSA and Robinhood account to avoid taxes.

I saw someone else did something like this recently and thought that I might have something to add to the discussion to help people figure out whether they think this program is right for them, or for people currently in the program to help them plan out classes.
My background is very heavy in statistics and finance (I'm an actuary), so my grounding in calculus, statistics, linear algebra, and business topics was considerably better than most of the other people I interacted with in this program. Conversely, I'm sure my programming skills were probably about average or maybe a little bit below compared to someone with a more targeted background towards those skills.
I started in Fall of 2020 and just finished up this month, Spring 2024. I started out just taking one class a semester and never changed up that plan, would highly recommend doing the same if you're working full time alongside; there's no reason to rush this program. I got a 4.0 GPA overall, although I never really stressed that much about it and definitely did not shy away from "harder" classes in order to bolster GPA. I did this to learn, not to get good grades. The classes I took, in order (my memory of some of the earlier ones might be a bit jumbled as so much time has passed):

1. CSE 6040 - I mentioned how my programming background was weaker relative to my mathematical background. However, reflecting on my experience in this class, it was probably still pretty strong. This class is focused on generalized programming skills, you don't really get into the analytics and modeling that much; it's more of a primer on things like functions, recursion, computer memory management, etc. It's been a few years, but I don't remember struggling with this class at all, and most of the concepts covered (object oriented programming, things like byte encoding, hexadecimal forms, recursion, etc.) were things I was already familiar with in another programming language (this class was in Python) or was relatively easy to pick up. From what I remember, the assignments were auto-graded and you had unlimited attempts, not to mention the fact that most of the prompts were to produce some predetermined result... and, as long as you were able to verify that your code produced that result, you got full points. I didn't miss a single point in this entire class. I believe there were "final exams" which were really just timed window coding assignments much like the homework, and you could do the assignments at any point during a 4-day window or something like that.
2. ISYE 6501 - This class was R-based and focused on basic analytics models. The material was much more applied than 6040. Similarly, the material was not difficult, and I was familiar with a lot of the basic models already (such as GLMs) from having worked with them in my job. The grading was done on a peer-grading framework; based on who anonymously is assigned your homework to grade, you can get someone who's a stickler for every point on the guide, or people who are a bit more lenient. I never really worried much about how things were graded in this class; yeah, I did miss some points arbitrarily, but nothing that made that much of a difference. If you generally put in the work and understand the material, your peers will recognize that. I found this a bit more interesting than 6040 because, rather than a deterministic "right answer", there was some more creativity implied here to solve each problem. There was a final project for this class where you walked through a hypothetical analytics problem and explained how you would go about solving it. I found this an interesting thought exercise and enjoyed this class. The pacing felt a little fast, as you basically had an assignment due each week, but the assignments were small. Like 6040 I found this class to be quite easy but I didn't 100% it due to the peer grading thing.
3. MGT 8803 - I almost applied to be exempt from this class, as my background intersects a lot with the material. The accounting and finance modules for this class literally did not teach me anything new. Supply chain was new for me and I found it interesting. I'm trying to remember what the other module was. I think it was marketing? I didn't like it. Overall I found this class quite easy for the aforementioned reasons, however I've heard from a lot of the other folks without business backgrounds that this class was pretty tough so take my opinions with a grain of salt. Taking this in the summer cut out one of the modules, normally there are 5 but in Summer there are 4. I figured this made sense to take during the truncated semester because I was unlikely to cover that much new material, and it turns out I was right about that. Each module lasted 2 weeks (I think in a normal semester it lasts 3) and has a timed multiple-choice test at the end. A lot of people didn't like this format compared to ISYE 6501 and CSE 6040; I'm not really sure how else this material could've been covered. This class was OK, the material is not really that deep but it's a pretty good primer on a large number of business topics.
4. ISYE 6740 - The first class I took that was actually pretty challenging, which makes sense considering the first 3 courses were just the basic core. This is pretty much an intro to machine learning as a discipline, and the first time I remember digging into academic papers that discuss some machine learning topic and attempting to recreate the results (this is something we did a lot in the more advanced classes going forward and incidentally now that I have graduated is probably one of the best ways to go about learning a new topic). I remember this class as having a format similar to ISYE 6501/CSE6040 in that you had large programming assignments to do, as well as open-book "exams" which were really just timed programming assignments. Assignments are not auto-graded; TA's review each one and thus the assignments have much more of a focus on explaining your findings than producing the exact expected output (unlike 6040). Some of the theory questions have you applying complicated matrix algebra rules that I'm not surprised a lot of people struggled with. The TA responsiveness in this class was pretty good from what I remember, but your mileage may vary. I remember getting 3 weeks to do each assignment but I also remember not thinking that was a lot of time, these assignments are very extensive, have many parts, and take a long time to get through. Like with 6040 I ended up not missing a single point in this class but I did find it difficult and spent significantly more time working on it than in prior classes, probably 10-15 hrs a week, give or take.
5. ISYE 6644 - I was familiar with maybe 50% of the material we covered due to my extensive statistics background, however I was not aware of the exact mechanics of random number generation or the concept of a batched mean, for example. I remember this class having several "check your understanding" quizzes that focused on the mathematical foundations. Didn't struggle with this much in terms of difficulty and found the material very useful. Setting up custom simulation environments is very useful and arena is pretty cool even if it's unlikely you'll ever use it. Some assignments feature similar tools in Python (simpy). There might have been some coverage of R in this as well, or at least the accommodation for people that wanted to use it. There was a project for this class, but you didn't have to come up with the topic on your own, you could pick from a list, and you could do your project on your own if you wanted (which, given the option, was always the choice I made, due to the inherent randomness in picking the right members of a group). However you can do a group project if you want.
6. MGT 6203 - The first of the classes I took that required a group project. I recommend you are proactive in putting together groups in situations like these, posting threads on Ed/whatever the forum is as soon as the class begins. My group was alright; not everyone in it was great, but we had enough going overall to make up for the weaker group members. The project has some arbitrary guidelines from what I remember - you need to put together a midterm report and video presentation that is no more than ~2 minutes long or something like that (if it's 2:01 you get penalized) and the final report is 5 minutes or less, and everyone in the group needs to speak. I honestly don't remember much else about this class, it was pretty forgettable, but not horrible. Not overall that difficult, another business class so a lot of topics I was already familiar with, but there was more new here than in 8803.
7. CSE 6242 - Another class with a group project. Again, I was proactive, and again, overall, my group was... okay. Some people who were really good, some who were... not. This class is characterized by a lot of assignments that are autograded, like 6040, but the assignments are a bit more difficult. Overall not that difficult with the exception of the D3 assignment, but that's more due to the fact that I'm not really sure how the autograder works for that; it tries to determine based on some internal structure of your html code whether or not you're fulfilling the requirements. I got a perfect score on all of the assignments, and they give you the chance to score over 100% on I believe either assignment 1 or assignment 2. A lot of people bombed the D3 assignment (I think it's assignment 2) but still did well in the class because it's not that hard to do well on everything else, so keep that in mind. This class does a great job of exposing you to a lot of new technologies, but there isn't that much depth to it. That's not really the point of this kind of class though, it equips you with the tools to explore things deeper if you so choose.
8. ISYE 8803 - I was a big fan of this class. It's taught in MATLAB but you can use Python if you so choose, you'll see in reviews of this class that you should really just use MATLAB since a lot of the sample code etc. is not in other languages, so that's what I did. However, they must've recently added Python and R code for sample solutions, so feel free to use what you want. MATLAB was interesting, there were parts of one assignment I also used R for (grouped lasso in R is a lot more straightforward). This class is all about high dimensional data and representing it in a more simplified and comprehensive way, think about something like sonar which might have datapoints separated by milliseconds and thus a very dense representation of a signal captured over a short period of time. After ISYE 6740, I found this to be the class that taught me the most up to this point.
9. CS 7642 - Taking this class in summer is kind of rough. There's 6 homework assignments that are autograded, similar format to CSE 6040. There are 3 projects which are much larger programming assignments for which you'll write papers explaining methodology, results, etc. These projects take a while, particularly project 3. I did well on projects 1 and 2 and decently on 3, although I spent the most time on 3 by far; it involves reinforcement learning to simulate a soccer environment and train agents how to play against an AI developed externally. The AI baselines are hard to beat, and I didn't manage to beat them, but I wrote a decent paper explaining what I did. The final exam for this class should be dropped as it doesn't add value to the class, people regularly score extremely low on it, the average score in the class was something like a 45%. I scored a bit lower than average but still got an A in the class because it was heavily curved. Reinforcement learning is a very interesting topic, though, and I would highly recommend this class as a primer on the material. It's probably a good idea not to take it in the summer, though.
10. CS 7643 - This class was pretty difficult but I still think 6740 was tougher. The material is extremely dense. There are parts of programming assignments that are autograded, but also short answer portions that are reviewed by TAs. Grading on those were pretty subjective. This is the only class I can remember really needing to discuss things with TAs to understand what was being asked a little better. Unfortunately, the TAs in the semester I took this weren't the best. They seemed more concerned with unintentionally giving away a bit too much information in any of their responses. I can understand this, but it came off as intentionally opaque most of the time. There was a group project for this course as well, and my group was excellent, probably the best experience I had with a group in this program. I can imagine how much this course would've sucked if I would've had a mediocre/bad group. Based on discussions with my group, some of the grading seemed highly arbitrary, with some TAs grading similar responses to the same question differently. Like I said above, though, I never really worried about this. I never once in this program ever disputed a grade, and I continued with that in this class as well.
11. CSE 6748 - Practicum and final class. For this class you get to choose between a number of pre-determined Georgia Tech sponsors, or form your own project for your own employesome external entity. It was a lot more work to do this, so I just went with one of the pre-determined GTech ones. I really enjoyed this one, I had constant communication with the sponsor as I developed my project and came up with something that I was quite proud of. I wanted to explore a natural language processing task, so I picked a project that I thought would allow me to do this, and was very satisfied with the result. There's a number of videos you have to watch that explain some overarching aspect of analytics that were pretty interesting as well, you can watch all of these in a single day and then focus on the project if you like. It's possible to finish the entire semester's work in just a few weeks, I was able to do the entire project and write the final paper in about a month's time, at which point I coordinated with the sponsor to tailor the work I did to a format that they would be able to implement for their business problem if they wanted to.

I can't comment on the job placement prospects of this program, as I just finished it and was actively employed the entire time I was in it. As an actuary there's not much this program does that my exam certification process didn't in terms of career prospects. However, it did position me much better within the context of the expanding role of data and analytics in insurance going forward, and also opens me up to similarly mathematical roles with a firmer grounding in big data and also some business elements (quantitative finance/data science roles). There were also things I learned in this program that I was able to apply directly to my day-to-day work. If you're considering this program, I would recommend you think about a few things:

1. I'm pretty shocked at how many people I saw during my program who didn't really think that much about why they're doing this. I get that the barrier to entry is low, but it's a serious commitment if you're actually trying to graduate. Most of the people who start this program don't finish, so consider whether you're ready to spend almost 4 years going to school part-time, or if you're able to double up on classes for some of the semesters. Most of the people I know in the program doubled up at least once, I never did but I was never in a hurry. If you must double up, don't make it your first semester. Dip your toe in the water, see how it is, and then reassess. But, above all else, think about why you want to do this, and use that as your guiding goal to bring you through to the end.
2. Something I tended to see pretty much without fail in most of my classes - a lot of the graduate students in this program spend way too much time worrying about minute, particular details that don't really matter. Maybe it was just my philosophy that I would probably never dispute a grade, or that I was never really that concerned with getting a perfect GPA, etc. but I was always marveling at what I saw asked in Ed posts. People would ask whether they could use a certain programming language for an assignment, what packages they were allowed to use, would post screenshots of bugs and ask for TA's to help walk them through it, etc. Generally, without fail, the TAs would respond along the lines of: use whatever programming language you want, as long as you can display your output/submit it in a way that we can verify by running ourselves, we'll make the effort; use the debugger to step through your code to find the problem; etc. Generally, in most cases, the assignments and questions are designed in a way to teach you something, to get you to realize/understand some pattern or data concept that has some underlying logic that makes sense. For example, the idea of saliency maps on image processing takes the 3-channel RGB color pixel shading representation of an image and condenses it into a single channel, and, as a result of that, loses some resolution in suggesting parts of the image driving a model result that might be different depending on the channel; i.e., an image with a very heavily blue-shaded part that detracts from a certain result, but with a red-shaded part somewhere else that increases the probability of the modeled result. This was part of a conceptual question on how saliency maps differed from other pixel influence attribution methods in Deep Learning, and is part of what you should logically understand since it reduces the channels of the image representation from 3 (R, G, B) to 1 (usually grayscale). I think people tend to run to the TA the second they have difficulty with something and don't stop for a second to think it through, one exercise I might recommend is to consider: if you ran into this problem out in the world and you didn't have a TA/managesome other authority figure to explain the answer to you, what do you think it might be? Does the answer even matter? If it still matters and you have no idea how to solve it, maybe then you can go to the TA.
3. In every single group project I worked on, we had an initial planning session where we determined the scope of what we wanted to do. For most of the projects, this was an essential deliverable in addition to the final paper. However, in almost every case, someone in the group was always playing some game of runaway scope where they kept on wanting to add methods/questions to exploration beyond what was initially planned in ways that I intuitively knew would be impossible to manage in just one semester. I often had to say something along the lines of "if we have time we'll do that" or "when we write up our paper, we can put that in the avenues for future exploration section" or something similar. It turns out that we never had time to look into these things, and our initial scope was usually well-defined considering the time we had. I'm not sure why this was always so front-and-center in my focus, maybe since I used to work in consulting and project budgeting/scoping is so unbelievably important in that context. Whatever the case may be, understand that you won't be able to change the world every time you do a project. Make some incremental improvement, reflect on the results, and then include some notes in a "potential avenues for future exploration" section. I was pretty surprised at how many people had so much trouble putting the pencils down at the end. I can practically guarantee that, for the classes where I did a project on my own, I probably did substantially less work than other individual groups for precisely this reason. In general, you probably don't have to do as much work as you think you do.

So, would I recommend the program overall? Absolutely. It's not perfect, I found some of the formats annoying - CS 7642 has no business having that final exam, it adds nothing to the class at all, is arbitrarily extremely difficult and the class is good enough and complete enough with the removal of that exam that its inclusion to me appears to be the result of some arbitrary quota somewhere. I also don't really like the group project format and profoundly disagree with the reasoning that GTech and most other academic institutions give as to why group projects are even good or necessary, however I do acknowledge that from a logistics and resource standpoint it's unmanageable to grade individual projects for every single person in a given class and group projects do decrease the number of papers that TAs will have to read. Considering the scale of what GTech has managed to do, and how many students enroll each year, I'm surprised the program is as well-managed as it is. Yes, it does require a lot of self-teaching, but in most cases you can actively engage with TAs multiple times a week if you're struggling with topics and from what I've seen they were very responsive.
Anyways just wanted to give my perspective as someone who just finished this program and still thinks it's worthwhile despite its flaws.

Am not here to support the current government or any other government. And honestly speaking idk much about employment rates and how that really works.
So basically I want to ask people that when you haven't studied in any semester of your college, you were passing exams with 0 knowledge, then why are you crying now for low paying jobs?
Ok let me clarify my statement first through an example:
Am using my own name in example. So khushi was a very dull student. She never paid attention to the lectures in school. She got 70-75% in 12th standard by rote learning and cheating in exams.
Due to caste based admission (obc/sc/st) she got admission in a college of a reputed university. And Because she never paid attention to her school lectures her basic knowledge is incomplete now. She is facing difficulties in her higher studies. And due to that she isn't paying attention to her college lectures as well.
All she is doing is sleeping in her hostel room watching movies, series etc. Now it's the semester exam, again she is just rote learning and cheating in her exams to get passing marks only. She also thinks like the most of the students "academic knowledge doesn't matter" also "what matters the most is experience and practical knowledge". But she got none of them. It's the last year of college life and companies are here to hire students. Due to zero knowledge khushi got no job. She is blaming the education system now. She is blaming her college by putting a tag of 'shittiest placements'. She knows that she have 0 knowledge about the subjects she passed by cheating. But she wasn't aware that she can't cheat in an interview. Now khushi is working as a credit card seller or accountant for 10-15k a month. Now khushi is blaming government for low salary and low employment rates.
Now my question is, was the government really responsible for it?
In today's world many people are living in this same situation. My senior who was boasting about 14 backlogs in semester exams is crying because there are no jobs for her. She used to be like one of those 'CoOl sTudEnts' who believes in only clubbing and spending money pver silly things which are considered as cool kids things nowadays. And whom she is blaming now? The government. The education system. And yea her parents.
I saw a reel where ashneer grover answered a question asked by a student that "Is the knowledge we are gaining in college life really matters?" To which he answered that "This generation is the most stupid generation who thinks that only they themselves are the most logical people nowadays. For them teachers are fools, universities are fools, their own parents are fools. He also said that if you aren't attending lecture but you are somewhere doing something better than the lecture then it's a good thing for you. But if you are just sleeping in your hostel rooms, binge watching a series at the time of studying then you are the one who is fool here.
This was the most logical and simple answer i have ever heard. People will blame everyone and everything but not themselves, not their own doings. People with full knowledge are getting jobs. They are getting everything for which they worked hard in their school and college days when you were just clubbing and wasting your money over cigarettes and alcohol. When you were looking for casual dates amd hook-ups those people were keeping a check on their exam dates.
My brother (not writing the name or college's name for privacy) topped in his college and got 50+ LPA package from a well reputed company. His current salary is 4.5 lakhs per month. He is living his dream life. And all because of the hard work and time he putted in his studies (and yeah surprisingly not because of his luck.)
The whole purpose of this rant was to make y'all aware that unless you aren't working hard you shouldn't yapp about not having a dream job or dream life you kept dreaming of. Thanks. Have a happy and healthy life. And start studying MFs <3

Normally you need to apply to the New York board before you take the exam but I live across the river in Hoboken, NJ and took the exam for the NJ board and passed. Is there a way to apply for NY instead? My employer said they would prefer I just jump straight to the NY PE instead of wasting time on the NJ one. Can you submit an NCEES record to NY after passing the exam? Or is the only way to do this to apply in NJ then apply for reciprocity?

Hello! I am pregnant for the second time, and will be getting a new pump through my insurance. I used the Medela last time for a year and a half, and I like it, but it’s time for new one. I decided on Spectra this time, and my insurance will pay for the S2 completely or everything except $90 for the S1. I guess my question is, will the S1 be worth me paying an additional $90 out of pocket? I have the Willow Go which I am planning to use for travel, so I don’t really need a “portable” pump. I do like the idea of it being portable so I can carry around my house though. I appreciate your input! TIA.

Based solely on the information below, what job should I take? Both are the same title.
Current role: -$63K a year base salary plus $5K bonus -15 days PTO and 6 paid holidays -10-12% profit sharing match in 401K l, 25% vested now, 100% vested in 3 years -$30 per paycheck for health and dental, $2400 in HSA from employer yearly, $3400 deductible -disability insurance and $50K life insurance policy employer paid -fully on-site
Job offer: -$75K base salary, bonus tbd -10 days PTO and 6 paid holidays plus 1 floating holiday -4% company match for 401K, 100% vested in 3 years -$100 per paycheck for health and dental, $2500 deductible, $600 in HSA from employer -$10/month for $50K term life -hybrid remote

Age: 25 Sex: F
I have not been to the eye doctor for a standard exam in 5 years.
I waited 6 months for this appointment.
When I am called into the exam room, I am first asked to cover my left eye and read the letters from the slides that the tech is flipping through. She stops at the slide I start to have trouble with which is about 4 to 5 slides in. I repeat the same with my right eye covered.
I am then given some eye drops and she performs a pressure test.
Then, I am giving some drops to dilate my eyes, and I wait for the doctor to come in.
The Doctor looks at the health of my eyes using a series of bright lights and me looking in different directions. I had to rest my chin in some apparatus at one point. It was brief. He said my eyes look healthy.
I am then told that my tech will print out the prescription and that I'm good to go. The doctor leaves.
The tech prints my prescription. I try asking the tech while I was still in the room, why I wasn't giving a refractory test but she essentially ignores me, leaves the room, and I follow.
I then try to ask the receptionist if she might know why I was not given the test. She becomes a bit annoyed with me for asking, and says she'll call the tech back.
When the tech comes back, I just tell her that I was curious why I wasn't given a refractory test. She responds that I was just given the same as my previous prescription. I asked her, "wouldn't my eyes have changed in 5 years?" She responds, "not at our age." I stop pushing, say 'thanks,' and leave.
Is this standard practice to not be given a refractory test after 5 years of not having one?
I just don't see how they can know that my prescription is optimal. My insurance covers a refractory test. I've gotten one at every single one of my previous eye exams.
I have not been wearing my glasses for the previous five months because they're so damaged. I am unable to use them to gauge my vision in their current state.
I feel gypped, but I don't know if I should feel this way.
Thank you.