What Makes A Maths Degree

It all originally started through mathematics, but soon there was more to it.

Such as cooking. I remember I could make a cup of tea and boil an egg when I started at Warwick. Not bad for a university with limited catering options where most people end up cooking for themselves every day.

After two months I finally figured out how to cook rice. Throughout the whole time there were frequent defeats and occasional little victories, but somehow - four years and twenty-seven fire alarms later - I can actually make Sunday dinner without my housemates complaining too much; which makes me think that anything can be done, if you make effort for long enough.

Or cycling. I took up cycling to university two years ago, when we moved off-campus and I did not want to spend over an hour on the bus each day. I knew how to cycle - but the real challenge was to create a daily habit and not quit when the weather gets worse in winter. While keeping the habit was rather difficult at the beginning, over the two years, cycling has almost become my second nature. And not only did the one little decision provide for many great moments (such as when I learned how useful mudguards can be) - but it also turned out that cycling is most of the time in fact superior to public transport!

And timetabling. At university there is a lot of room to work your own way - but while it is easy to get excited and work very hard for a day or two - it is rather difficult to produce consistent results in the long run, day in day out - which is exactly what is required to tackle large tasks or projects. This is the reason why a good daily routine is necessary - with time for sleep, time for work, time for rest and time for whatever keeps you going. If you find one, however, then the sky is the limit.

Of course there was mathematics too. We covered a range of topics, going from the basics to many wild beasts such as algebraic geometry or elliptic curves - which should prepare us for anything between research in mathematics and real world applications.

However, partly due to how university works and partly since Warwick is far from all-inclusive, there were many more than just mathematical problems and situations to deal with. True, that time could be spent in the library instead. However, it was especially during the non-academic moments that you would see things from a different angle, come to appreciate something taken for granted or learn something fundamentally new. And at the end of the day, I think this is at least as important as all the theoretical findings and degree certificates.

Thank you.