A glimpse of what's to come

This will be the first in a scintillating series of photographs chronicling the rapid descent into snacking and paper stacking that will take place over the next few months.  The conference room doesn't look too chaotic now, but just you wait.  It will!  This little lilac 8 x 12 room is where we make all of our admission decisions. 

We spent eight hours yesterday in this very space, hammering out just what we're looking for in the class of 2015.  The Dean of Students, the Dean of Academic Affairs, and the college president all stopped by to weigh in and give us feedback on the successes and struggles of previous classes.  I found one of Jon Jacobsen's comments particularly helpful: thriving at Mudd isn't just about raw intelligence.  Sure, being smart is important, but what's more critical is the ability to get things done.  You know those classes in high school where you can just coast along without paying much attention to the homework or studying all that often?  Mmm.  Yes.  You won't have those here.  So if Mudd is your first experience having to accomplish many things quickly, well, your first semester will be a challenge.  Prof. Jakes and Maggie also rated the capacity to ask for help as one of the most key college survival skills.  Turns out your professors actually want to teach you, even if it means spending two hours reviewing your most recent writing assignment, and those Academic Excellence sessions are so well-attended because other students find Special Relativity confusing too. 

As for that Battle of the Bots event I mentioned in my previous post -- it was awesomeness incarnated, and I can't wait to share the experience with you here on the blog.  Unfortunately, it wasn't a good environment for taking pictures (dim lighting + big auditorium + TV screen like a rock concert) so I'm going to wait until the professional photos are available.  Until then I will share the potentially useful tidbit that while attaching an air gun to your autonomous vehicle may seem like a good idea, and certainly intimidates your competitors, it does not actually perform all that well in the arena.  Still, the ability to scatter pellets across the first few rows of the auditorium might be worth it, even if the robot tanks the competition.