I Can't Believe It's Already Been a Whole Year Since I Was Sitting in the Stats Shack Ready

Dear Mr. Micek,

I can't believe it's already been a whole year since I was sitting in the stats shack ready for my final semester of high school, listening to you read these letters. And now, I've already finished an entire semester of college and I'm sitting in my dorm writing this email in the middle of midterms.

I am currently attending Brown University in Providence, RI. Brown is an extremely challenging college, and I have met some of the smartest people I've ever encountered. College truly humbles you, as you realize that there are so many talented and brilliant kids in the world. I'd say more than 3/4 of my friends here were valedictorians or salutatorians in their graduating classes.

Among my premed requirements, I must take a statistics course, so I am currently enrolled in Introductory Statistics. I am relieved to say, after five weeks of lectures, that this class is easier, albeit more boring, than your AP Statistics class. The book and homework assignments are similar to yours, but the TA's do not require as much analysis as you did on the homework problems. Sometimes I feel like I'm doing something wrong because the problems are a bit too easy. They don't even ask to CSSO any graphs!

Although Oak Park High School does prepare its students well for college, your class was one of the only few AP classes at Oak Park that was actually harder than the introductory course here at Brown. Chemistry, Calculus, Physics, and English classes are all harder than their AP counterparts. The notes I took in the stats shack are so much more detailed and useful than the ones I take in lecture. You officially have my blessing to tell people that your class is harder than the stats course at an Ivy League haha. Most of the time I don't bother to take notes in class because the lectures are so boring and I have better things to do, like sleep. I also have notes from your class too, so I don't really need these new notes. It's really quite a relief to have at least one of my classes be easier so I can focus on my other classes, and it's all thanks to you.

I want to thank you not just for giving me a solid background in statistics, but helping prepare us for college in general. Although college is great, I do sometimes miss the high school learning environment, and your class was one of my favorite ones during my time at Oak Park. I'll be sure to visit you when I get out in May!

Hope all is well,

Darius Chyou

Brown University Class of 2016

P.S. Tell your students not to take high school for granted! College courses are so much harder. The teachers in high school pay more attention and push their students so much more than the professors in college do. You have to do everything yourself here! Tell them to enjoy their last few months of high school and not to slack off! Senioritis can carry on into college and I've seen it ruin the GPA's of many first years (not me of course haha).