Stark Differences Between Tufts and High School
At Tufts there is a prevailing sense of freedom, a freedom which was lacking in my high school.
To begin, you will likely not have classes from 8am…
Let me tell you, Physics 11 and Math 36 can pack a punch. As my first semester draws to a close, I am amazed by how much I have learned in such a short amount of time and how many fond memories I’ve accumulated from days that were filled with lectures and problem sets. In college, taking only four or five courses at a time and spending hours working on assignments outside of class makes them such a big part of each day that it’s strange to picture the semesters to come with different classmates, professors, and assignments than those I’ve gotten used to in the past few months. But even so, as quickly as I’ve gotten used to my life at Tufts and settled into weekly routines this semester, I suddenly found myself sitting in my final lectures and discussions last week.
The last physics lecture began as usual with power point slides, clicker questions, and lab demonstrations scattered between the professor’s lecturing and students’ input. However, eventually, the presentation evolved to encourage us to use our physics knowledge to question and understand the world around us. Professor Tobin pointed out a physically false statement President Bill Clinton had made years before, only to show how Tobin used his scientific background to kindly-but-sassily correct Clinton via letter. He went on to highlight the flaws in the physics of The Matrix — imitating the voices of the movie’s main characters to make his point — and I kid you not, this tenured, respected professor spent his last 10 minutes of instructional time putting on a theatrical performance for the 90 students in our section. The second-to-last slide, after months of energy theorems and conservation laws, posed the quintessential Matrix question: “Which pill do you take? The red one or the blue one?” …so that Professor Tobin could shout, “NEITHER! YOU TAKE PHYSICS 11!” *mic drop*
Sure, everyone groaned when he delivered that last line, but we also laughed and sighed and reveled in the utter Tufts-ness of the lecture’s end. I left Barnum smiling that sunny December morning, and I went on with my day feeling especially grateful for this university.
The next afternoon brought my final Applied Calculus II class, which consisted of around 35 students and one intelligent, encouraging professor. His classes almost always ended with a joke, so of course we knew he’d been saving a good one for the last laugh. What began as another silly story transformed into an elaborate, 10+ minute tale about a snake, Steven Spielberg, a lever, the world ending, and absolutely no math.
Again, I strolled out of class with a smile on my face and the feeling that as challenging as the class had been for me, I was so very glad to have had the experiences I did. I laugh so much at Tufts, whether I’m in an intro course, at a dining hall, or out with friends, and I am incredibly grateful to this school for setting me up to learn in the good company of such funny, sharp, and happy individuals.
Here’s to all of the laughs and lectures in the 7 semesters to come!
P.S. It turns out my math teacher's jokes didn't end there; the cherry on top came the night before our final, when our professor emailed his 6-stanza, calculus-themed rendition of "The Night Before Christmas" to all of his students. I didn't know it, but I guess one can be a mathematician, a comedian, and a poet!
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