i went to math camp and all i got was this lousy t-shirt.

A cool and crisp morning in Ann Arbor, the last thing I would expect from an August day in Michigan. So I threw on a pair of jeans and a button-down and headed off to Math Camp. Still wore flip-flops, though. West Coast, represent!

Math Camp was quite a production, featuring 200+ of my classmates, three full professors, and a slew of TAs. (As an aside, the concept of "TA" was foreign to me. At Middlebury, "TA" meant something all freshMEN pursued around the clock.) Today, we covered Ratios, Linear and Complex Functions, and a bunch of alphabet soup. I actually found it at once tremendously helpful and oddly comforting. It appears that putting myself through Stats and Calculus hell (not to mention prepping to slay the GMAT Beast) will be put to good use.

The other thing that struck me today was how pleasant I found my classmates. Everyone was full of energy, came from diverse backgrounds, and seemed genuinely positive about coming to Michigan. It was hard to find an I-Banker or Management "Consultant" among us.

Then it all made sense.

Math Camp is not mandatory. It's actually an exercise in self-selection. You see, Math Camp is for people (like me) who need a little brushing up on their quant skills. Which explains why I met so many interesting folks, and so few from Wall Street.

Off to bed. With visions of exponents dancing in my head.