It's May, which means the thesis is making hundreds of seniors miserable across campus and is beginning to have its way with juniors, too. For overly ambitious underclassmen, researching topics and sucking up to advisors can never start too soon.
But really, how important is the thesis? I don't even know if my parents wrote them; the best college achievement I can chalk up to my dad is that he saw the first American performance of The Who's "Pinball Wizard." But given Programming Board's recent record, my chance to impress my future brats is limited to large volumes of printed text. And I'm guessing The Mirror won't translate well over the years.
So every year you see the huddled masses -- in the library, in Collis study rooms, in 1902 with Craven Laycock -- sacrificing their last terms of college for what? Honors at graduation? Academic glory? Or maybe just street cred? Maybe we Dartmouth kids relish the chance to finally focus on something for more than 10 weeks: the Thesis as Academic Aderrall. Something about the thesis, be it heft or status, must make all of those missed pong games worthwhile. Or does it?
This week The Mirror takes a look at the many ways Dartmouth students seek to open their minds and what, exactly, the paths they choose say about them. One thing we learned is that a good title is key; comp sci titles in binary don't grab the eye quite like a good pun. My academic niche is genocide, so if you have any ideas just shoot me a Blitz.
