Tim Sweetser ’07

I chose Clark for a few reasons. It’s fairly close to home, only about an hour’s travel away. I was offered a very generous Presidential Scholarship. Clark made it abundantly clear they wanted me to come here, and the opportunity to be a big fish in a small pond was very enticing. The other school I was considering was an enormous university, where I would not have been able to stand out in the same way. Furthermore, the academics at Clark seemed quite good. I recall the admissions literature making a big deal about Clark being a “research university.” I really didn’t know what that meant, but I did understand and like the University’s emphasis on close relationships between students and faculty.

I decided to be a math major because it’s the best choice, of course! I distinctly remember Professor Morris, the Math and Computer Science Department chair, making the point to me that “in many ways, math is really the ultimate liberal arts major,” because it prepares you to go into nearly any field. This is particularly true if you combine it with a minor or second major in something like economics or computer science. In fact, I came to Clark intending to study international relations, but got sidetracked during my very first semester. I took Calculus III and a couple of social science classes, nothing to do with international relations at all. I found the math to be utterly confusing and the social science classes to be very stimulating, but I continued to take both kinds. After three semesters of this, I found that my impressions had reversed. Now my math classes were interesting and engaging, but my social science classes weren’t as interesting to me. When it came time to declare a major, math was it.

The Math and Computer Science Department has no graduate program, which enables upperclassmen to assume serious responsibility in the department. The department offers a tutoring service, staffed by juniors and seniors, to students in calculus and lower classes. I was hired as a junior and am now in my second year as a tutor. I enjoy it immensely. Furthermore, this semester I am the teaching assistant for an upper-level course I took last year, Modern Algebra. I hold office hours for four hours each week, where students can come in and talk about the homework or ask questions about the material covered in lecture. I love exploring the material with people who are just learning it, because it forces me to know the topics thoroughly, and it’s very rewarding when students improve as a result of my work. I am proud to be so active in the department’s affairs. At other schools, graduate students would fill these functions. But at Clark, undergraduates have this opportunity and I am thankful for it.

There are many advantages to a small department. Small class sizes are chief among them—in introductory classes, there will be no more than 20 or 25 students; upper level classes have more like 10 to 15. Professors not only know your name, but notice when you miss class and really care about you! The value of individual attention really cannot be overemphasized. Another benefit of not having a graduate program is that the professors are really focused on undergraduate education, though certainly not at the expense of research. Professors are always happy to talk to students. If you can’t talk to them in person, they’re always available by e-mail, and usually pretty prompt about responding.

I plan to become an actuary after graduating from Clark. The department’s Probability and Statistics course has been excellent preparation for the first actuarial exam. Overall I am astonished with how much I have learned in four years. Thinking back to how lost I was in my first-year calculus course, and then forward to the sophisticated proofs I can now follow and occasionally construct, I’ve made tremendous strides and have the Math and Computer Science Department and its faculty to thank for it.