Tuck's Intensive Numbers Crunch

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More Fun

On the Wednesday of math camp, Regan invites his class to go kayaking. He insists, "I'm not your guide! I'm just going to be in a boat, too!" During the break that comes after balance sheets and before the start of marginal analysis, Regan's students casually flip-flop down the hill behind Tuck Hall toward the Ledyard Canoe Club.

Regan walks carefully in hiking boots with a noticeable limp. Less than a year ago, four inches of bone in his left leg were pulverized by an aggressive check during a "no-check, old guys" hockey game. The injury no longer hurts him, and Regan manages the descent just fine.

Down at the club, however, Regan is the last man on the river. He has been stuck making sure the students sign waivers and each one buddy-up to split the five dollar cost for one canoe. So much for not being in charge.

Regan has evidence his summertime effort pays off. During their second year at Tuck, students have more flexibility in the courses they choose to take. Regan teaches an elective decision science in the fall.

A Bit Too Much

Although the course is considered fairly heavy on quantitative and analytical work, about one-third of his class consists of students Regan first met during PEP.

"The students who were in math camp at that point are almost indistinguishable," says Regan. "Only a year later, they're taking a course they don't need to take, which is very hard. I look at that and think that from the boost they get in the beginning to where they are in their second year, is very, very impressive."

Student participants agreed that the program works. "The semester was immediately as rigorous and quantitative as everyone told me it was going to be," said Kristyn McLeod, shortly after beginning her first year courses. "Math camp helped me figure out what I know and what I don't know, and acknowledge the areas where I'm going to need to spend a little more time."

As for me, well, I know my limits. Several weeks after the term begins, I check in with Regan. "If you had stayed, you would be almost done with accounting already!" he tells me enthusiastically. Tempting it may be, but something tells me that staying on in Hanover would have meant much less kayaking and at least a few more math exam nightmares.

Tucker is an editorial assistant for BusinessWeek in New York.