The Genius of Mudd (the smarty-pants I've met)

As I'm finishing up my first in-person year at Mudd, I couldn't be happier with my choice of school, and a large reason for this is the people at Mudd.

Mudders are definitely a very special breed of people. Like our buildings, we may not be the prettiest on the outside, but there is a LOT going on under the hood. In particular, there are some absolute geniuses at Mudd, and I am so happy to have been able to have conversations with them.

(for the purposes of anonymity I won't say names) First, we'll look at physics majors, and it's a clear pick who the mudderiest of the mudders is for this one. I've collaborated with this person extensively over this past year, and it always amazes me how hardworking and dedicated they are. I can honestly say I haven't met any other mudder that works as crazy hard as this person (at least to my knowledge). This person is a fellow triple-major like me (and yes we understand it's not technically a triple major because the math-phys major is technically one major, but if you look at the courseload it's just about a triple major), and we rely on each other literally every week, at least two days a week (sometimes, if not usually, more) to get through our physics classes. We've gotten to know each other very well, and they are one of my closest friends at Mudd. I'm so happy I get to go to a school where I can make this type of connection and meet these types of people.

Next, let's look at math majors. This person was in my math class last semester. I always thought that it was pretty cool that I taught myself a bunch of physics stuff, but I hadn't seen anything yet - this person was teaching themselves math stuff. Now, this math stuff wasn't the typical math that you can get a good picture of (like calculus, PDEs, lin alg, etc). No, this math stuff was the hard stuff, the stuff that I can't stand. This person was teaching themself Real Analysis and I assume way more high-level, abstract-thought math courses. It goes without saying that this person was likely the best mathematician I have ever met (in case you don't know, although I am a math major, I can not stand the more abstract math courses like Real Analysis, Complex Analysis, or Abstract Algebra), and this person was just eating up these courses like there was no tomorrow! They helped me out a ton so I could pass that course! And they were super nice, too! A true, upstanding mudder.

Last, let's look at engineering majors. In E80 this semester, I am in an absolute rockstar group of fellow engineering majors, and I couldn't be happier to be working with them. I rely on them frequently and know that I can trust them to do the job right. Furthermore, there's another engineering major I have met that knocks it out of the park when it comes to something that I can't stand: computers. No, I'm not talking about coding - I'm talking about terminal commands, different cables, setting up software, etc. Even computer science majors shudder when they think of different types of cables to plug into things, downloading and rearranging files on a computer, and using complex terminal commands to use computers to their absolute limit. However, this engineering major I met does all of that and more. They taught me a lot about what the different specs on a computer do (for example, what the heck is the difference between a core processor and a thread?! This guy knows), and just to flex they downloaded a 10 hour youtube video in about 2 seconds with no ads using some crazy terminal commands. This person is the real hacker man/woman, and it goes without saying that literally every company on earth needs a person like this on their team because this type of knowledge with computers is just something that isn't taught in classes - it's learned through a real passion for knowledge.

And there's so many more out there that I just don't have the time to put down. Here's to Harvey Mudd! The best undergraduate STEM experience there is.