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sevenfactorial · 5 years ago

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Info about applying to PhD programs in pure math

This is... basically what it sounds like. I’m sure a lot of this is applicable to other PhD applications but I’m only very familiar with pure math. This is aimed at current seniors about to apply, but there is a section about prepping for applications in advance.

The highlights:

Recommendation letters are the most important thing. Most schools ask for 3ish. Try to get people who know you well, not just a student in the class. Someone you've conducted research with and one from a different institution are ideal if possible

Ask for rec letters at least a month before the due date is a good rule of thumb.

Research experience is probably the second most important.

Get the opinion of multiple professors who know you in order to build a list of potential schools. Then widdle it down to your will-actually-apply list (probably 8-14 ish).

My opinion but please apply to at least 3-4 safety/match schools. Even when you're fully qualified, acceptance rates are simply low enough that a bit of bad luck means getting rejected or waitlisted from a few of them.

Most pure math due dates are in early-mid Dec but a few schools are in Nov and some are as late as mid-Jan.

Schools will generally have their own graduate application portals. Some are better organized than others. Some require you to submit all your material before you can send a request for submitting rec letters so plan accordingly.

Acceptance letters will very slowly start going out in mid-Feb but the vast majority of programs won't send out anything until like, March and not be done until later than that. Accordingly, wait until at least mid-March to begin freaking out if you haven't been accepted anywhere.

You should 100% be expecting a tuition waiver and stipend from a program if you're applying for a PhD.

The rest of the posts is.... ridiculously long so I’m putting it under a cut. I mention things to do in advance to help you decide if grad school is right for you and things that make your application look good, give a full time line of the process, a list of things applications commonly ask for, and some miscellaneous notes. (The points above are repeated in more detail).

In addition, some links to other resources math students may appreciate:

an old post of mine about grad school apps (overlaps a lot and features some ranting from during the application process)

about REUs including my addition specifically about math ones

summer programs for undergrads that aren’t REUs by @counter-example and @jungleuniversity

Tips for prospective grad student visits

Also about prospective grad student visits by @thisurlhasbeenleftasanexercise

Also for context, I went to a large state school in the US for undergrad. I started as a CS major and added on math as a secondary major after my first year and dropped CS during third year. I’m primarily interested in discrete and algebra, though I have a significant topology background from undergrad too. I got most of my advice from people around the department, as I became pretty involved during my third year. Now, I’m a first year grad student at another large state school in the US, generally considered pretty decent though not a “top math program” at all. Not that much else has happened so far.

Things in advance (aka things to help you decide if grad school is for you and things that look good on an application)

Take the standard classes. For pure math, this is at least one semester of linear alg, abstract alg, and analysis each. Linear and analysis are also good for applied math but I'm not sure what else if anything is considered standard.

Take some grad classes if you have the option. Most people are not ready for this until senior year, but some do manage as juniors. Talk to people who know you well and the prof teaching the class before you do this though.

Try to get involved with research whether this is through independent studies at your home institution, REUs, internships, or other stuff.

Be involved in your department. This helps with getting you more personalized advice for applying.

The rough suggested timeline (assuming junior yr is your second to last year and senior is your last of undergrad)

Junior April: Take the math subject GRE so you can take it again in Sep or Oct if desired (perhaps not applicable atm). The general can be taken kinda whenever; I suggest fall of senior year.

Junior April/May: Start talking to professors/post docs/mentors/etc. about programs you may be interested in. Write/type it down. Don't worry if it gets long, you will shorten again later.

Summer: Do some research if possible; an REU or research at your institution (if an REU, also get your mentor's opinion on potential schools towards the end as well)

Senior Sep: Start whittling down your list. 8-14 seems to be the "normal" range of schools to apply to but some people panic and do more. Remember that asking for waivers is completely acceptable but applying is still just generally expensive (I spent around $800 for 10 schools)

Senior Sep: Apply for the NSF GRFP. You can apply as an undergrad senior and once during your first or second year of grad school if you didn't already get it. The due date is in mid-late OC but ideally you'll have a draft of your essays and ask for rec letters by the end of Sep, if not earlier.

Senior early Nov: Ask for rec letters if you haven't already. The rule of thumb is a month before the due date. Provide them a list of schools you want to apply to including due date and where/how to submit as soon as possible (as well as anything else they request of course; many ask for a resume and a draft of your personal statement).

Senior Dec-Jan: Submit stuff! Pure math programs typically have deadlines in Dec or early Jan. I think the big days are Dec 10th, Dec 15th, and Jan 15th but some are earlier or later. (applied math masters tend to be earlier I think; in Nov). I suggest putting them all into a list or calendar. In addition, some schools won't let letter writers submit until all of your stuff is submitted so start applications early, even if you don't finish them immediately.

Senior Feb: Programs will slowly start sending out offers in early Feb and pick up in mid Feb, but don't fret until AT LEAST the beginning of March! Grad programs are just way too slow at getting out offers for it to be worth worrying until then (and even then, it's definitely not time to panic but mathematicians are frequently anxious people so I get it). Waitlists are slower to come out; usually starting in early March. Also note, there are many programs that don't actually send out replies to everyone unfortunately.

Senior late Feb-early April: prospective student days! They might be online in 2021 unfortunately but try to attend whatever form they're in if you can (only one of my visits during spring 2020 was online since the others happen to be very early and safely beat covid in the US). Be warned, it's very possible to get offers of admissions and to visit very last minute. I do not have advice for how to make that less stressful.

Senior April 15th: Common reply deadline. If you got your offer in the first round or two, this is probably your deadline to accept. In addition, this means more offers will likely come out shortly after once more people have declined.

Senior summer: graduate. Send a completed, official transcript to your new institution. Check your new email account for stuff you're suppose to do. Some programs have some sort of program during the summer for in-coming students. Most places have graduate student training of some sort for a week or two before semester starts.

Some common things to be asked for in applications

Not actually a thing asked for but many graduate schools have their own portal for which you will have to make an account to submit an application. A few use a common system that kinda sort shares a database of accounts? Some are fine and some massively suck.

Personal Statement/Statement of Purpose: Occasionally called something else and once in a while actually separate things; will usually have a prompt of wildly differing specificity. Sometimes, the prompts come from the department itself and sometimes from the university's graduate school. I suggest having one or two "base" essays then tweaking them for each school. Sometimes a word/page limit is specified but if it's not, around 2 pages/1000 words is pretty reasonable.

Transcript. Some accept unofficial but some require official but generally not an unsealed one. I ordered myself one official transcript and sent it to multiple schools instead of paying for them to be sent to each school during the application process.

Resume or CV: Most ask for either a CV or is fine with either, in which case I give them my CV. I sent more or less the same one everywhere.

Some other notes

Yes, ask for application waivers. Just be polite about it.

Your goals for your essays are primarily to show that you're interested in math and math research and are capable of like…. writing things that make sense

Do not start out an essay with either "I loved math since I was little" or "I actually didn't like math when I was young" or any variations of those. (I had one essay that started with a mildly humourous anecdote from undergrad combinatorics and another that talked about how my undergrad department has greatly affected me).

You should 100% expect to get a tuition waiver and living stipend as part of a TA fellowship (or more rarely, an research fellowship) as part of your offer of acceptance for a math PhD program (pure or applied). Health insurance is also frequently part of the package. This is not true of masters programs unfortunately.

How schools do waitlists depend wildly though most don't have super long ones like prestigious undergrads do. If you're still interested in a place you're waitlisted at, follow their instructions to confirm your placement on the waitlist then wait until April before following up again, expressing your continued interest and asking for an update. You might even want to wait until around the common deadline, April 15th. The number of people who declined before April is just really really low so nothing really happens until then.

#grad school applications #math grad school applications #math phd applications #math grad school application tips #math grad school application advise #seriously not qualified beyond i managed to do it #but hey it's good to have more people's advice for cross referencing!#seven stories #long post #grad school #god

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minhyukie · 7 years ago

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masters in comp sci wow amy??!! and tuition is covered? i'm so proud of you!! i hope it all goes well for you. what's your fave area of math? i love miss nonlinear partial differential equations and fourier transforms (i'm a science student and idk what to major in yet so i've just taken a couple of math subjects)

JFKDLSFD PLEASE THANK U!!! we’ll see how things work out :D and ooo that’s still pretty high level stuff!! i like fourier transforms too (at least the more basic concepts i’ve done so far... i might feel differently after taking some processing/analysis classes) ... im not rly sure what my favorite overall area of math would be (and i dont think i’ll get to take enough classes to explore things the way i’d like) but in particular i rly liked linear algebra (I LOVE HER) and also i found graph theory rly interesting!! :^)

#there's so many things that sound interesting to me but #to fulfill my minor im focusing more on statistics-based courses #i would love to take more like.. geometry.. number theory.. but there's not rly a reason for me to do it D:#or time fdjkslfds #Anonymous

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ss1986us · 6 years ago

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ncert solutions for class 7 maths

class 7 maths

Foundation of any subject is important specifically when you are taking about maths . maths is important subject for your academic journey and class 7 maths build your interest as well we as solid foundations in the subject in this class you start learning the algebra and its applications . so always take class 7 maths studies seriously . you must be wondering what is the best approach to study class 7 maths ? how to score good marks in class 7 maths ? so to answering to your questions lets discuss the right approach of studying class 7 maths .

Right approach to study class 7 maths

About class 7 Books: Selection of right books will help you to have better understanding of the concepts so always make NCERT maths book for class 7 your primary book , follow the sequence of chapters given in NCERT book don’t skip any chapters . after doing NCRET take a reference book or follow entrancei notes which are prepared such a way that it will build your solid foundation in class 7 maths

About class 7 maths class: Always attend the class in school or in tuitions never skip any class , if you have any work or family function or you are sick plan the missing topic during the holidays and be reedy your topics before the next class. In class listen what teacher wants to explain and make all important points notes in your note book . ask your questions don’t hesitate while asking silly questions in class 7 maths .

Brief descriptions about Important Chapters covered in class 7 maths

1. Class 7 maths chapter- NUMBERS

Natural Numbers: The counting numbers are called Natural Numbers.

Thus, N = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5,....} is the set of all natural numbers.

Whole Numbers: Whole Numbers are simply the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, …

Thus, W = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.....} is the set of all Whole Numbers.

Integers: Integers are like whole numbers, but they also include negative numbers ... but still no fractions allowed!

So, integers can be negative {-1, -2,-3, -4, -5, … }or positive {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, … }, or zer{0}

We can put that all together like this:

I or Z = { ..., -5, -4, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ... }

Rational Numbers: A rational number is a number that can be written as a ratio (p/q form). That means it can be written as a fraction, in which both the numerator (p) and the denominator (q) are integers and q not zero.

The number 8 is a rational number because it can be written as the fraction 8/1.

Likewise, 3/4 is a rational number because it can be written as a fraction.

Even a big, clunky fraction like 7,324,908/56,003,492 is rational, simply because it can be written as a fraction.

Equivalent rational numbers: Numbers that have the same value but are represented differently.

2. Class 7 maths chapter- DIVISIBILITY TESTS, SQUARES, CUBES,SQUARE AND CUBE ROOTS

OVISIBILITY

DIVISIBILITY TEST:

Test of Divisibility by 2 : A number is divisible by 2, if its units digit is any of the digits 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8.

Example: Each of the numbers 24, 36, 78, 192, 310, 214166 is divisible by 2.

Prime Factors: A factor of a given number is called a prime factor if this factor is a prime number.

Example: The factors of 42 are 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 14, 21 and 42. Out of these 2, 3 and 7 are prime numbers. Therefore, 2, 3 and 7 are the prime factors of 42.

Common Factors: A number which divides each one of the given numbers exactly, is called a common factor of each of the given numbers.

Example: 4 divide each one of 212 and 356 exactly. Therefore, 4 is a common factor of 212 and 356.

H.C.F. (HIGHEST COMMON FACTOR) OR G.C.D. (GREATEST COMMON DIVISOR) :

H.C.F. or G.C.D. of two or more numbers is the greatest number that divides each one of them exactly.

3. Class 7 maths chapter- ALGEBRAIC EXPRESSIONS AND IDENTITIES

In the previous class, we have learnt about algebraic expressions and their addition and subtraction. In this chapter we shall study multiplication and division of algebraic expressions in the form of monomials and binomials etc.

Constants: A symbol having a fixed numerical value is called a constant.

Variables or Literals: A symbol which takes on various numerical values is known as a variable or a literal.

We know that the perimeter of a square of side a is given by the formula, P = 4a.

Here 4 is a constant, while a and P are variables.

We may give any value to a and get the corresponding value of P.

Algebraic Expressions : A combination of constants and variables, connected by +, - , and is known as an algebraic expression.

Types of algebraic expressions:

1. Monomial : An algebraic expression containing only one term, is called a monomial.

2. Binomial : An algebraic expression containing 2 terms is called a binomial.

3. Trinomial: An algebraic expression containing 3 terms is called a trinomial.

4. Multinomial: An algebraic expression containing more than 3 terms, is called a

multinomial.

Factors of A Term: When numbers and literals are multiple to form a product, then each quantity multiplied is called a factor of the product. A constant factor is called a numerical factor while a variable factor is called a literal factor.

Constant Term: A term of the expression having no literal factor is called the constant term.

Coefficients: Any factor of a term is called the coefficient of the product of other factors.

4. Class 7 maths chapter- EXPONENTS

INTRODUCTION:

we know that can be written as that is read as two raised to the power three. Similarly, 10 times = , read as three raised to the power ten. In general, if x is any number and m is a positive integer, then we have

m times.

The number x is called the base and m is called the exponent or the index of the exponential expression.

5. Class 7 maths chapter- FACTORISATION

Factorisation:

When an algebraic expression can be written as the product of two or more expressions, then each of these expressions is called a factor of the given expression.

G.C.F. or H.C.F of Monomials: The greatest common factor of given monomials is the common factor having greatest coefficient and highest power of the variables.

G.C.F. or H.C.F of Monomials = (G.C.F. or H.C.F of numerical coefficients)

(G.C.F. or H.C.F of literal coefficients)

6. Class 7 maths chapter- SETS

Objects: Everything in this universe, whether living or non living, is called an object. Well-defined collection of objects : A collection of objects is said to be well-defined if itis possible to tell beyond doubt about every object of the universe, whether it is there inour collection or not.

Set : A well-defined collection of objects is called a set.

The objects in a set are called its members or elements.

We usually denote sets by capital letters A, B, C etc.

If x is an element of a set A, we say that x belongs to A and we write, .

If x does not belong to A, we write.

There are two methods of describing a set :

(i) Roster Method or Tabulation Method.

(ii) Description Method or Set-builder Form.

7. Class 7 maths chapter- QUADRATIC EQUATIONS

Quadratic Equations: A polynomial of degree 2 when equated to zero, gives an equations, called a quadratic equations.

Solving Quadratic Equation:

By solving a quadratic equation, we mean finding its roots.

Zero Product Rule:

If a and b are any two numbers or expressions, then ab = 0 a = 0 or b =0.

8. Class 7 maths chapter- LINEAR EQUATION IN TWO VARIABLES

In this chapter we shall we shall learn how to solve linear equations in two variables. For this we shall learn graphical representation of a point in a plane. We shall represent a point with the help of two numbers known as coordinates of that point. The concept of coordinates was given by the French Mathematician Rene Desartes, which integrates Algebra and geometry.

9. Class 7 maths chapter- SPEED, DISTANCE AND TIME

Speed: The rate of change of distance is known as speed.

When an athlete runs a race, the change in the time taken is directly proportional to the change in the distance covered. A change in speed is directly proportional to the change in distance covered. More the speed more is the distance covered in the same time.

Units of Speed: Speed is measured in i) meters/ second or m/s

ii) Kilometers/ hour or km/hr

10. Class 7 maths chapter- Simple Interest:

When money is borrowed, interest is charged for the use of that money for a certain period of time. When the money is paid back, the principal (amount of money that was borrowed) and the interest is paid back. The amount of interest depends on the interest rate, the amount of money borrowed (principal) and the length of time that the money is borrowed.

Simple interest is generally charged for borrowing money for short periods of time. Compound interest is similar but the total amount due at the end of each period is calculated and further interest is charged against both the original principal but also the interest that was earned during that period.

Interest = Principle x rate of interest x time

ORDINATE SYSTEM

#https://www.entrancei.com/concepts-ncert-class-7-maths-book

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in-mutual-weirdness · 8 years ago

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Elsewhere University: Wayward

AN: First attempt at writing a thing in a long while. I have a weakness for fae stories and urban magic-y kind of scenarios, and @charminglyantiquated‘s universe here caught me hook, line, and sinker. Still, didn’t think I’d write anything for it, until the library scene popped into my head while I was procrastinating. Hope you enjoy what it’s turned into.

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When you were younger, your parents had impressed upon you the importance of going into the sciences.

“Be practical,” they said. “We have three sets of tuition to pay for. You can't waste time on art or philosophy. Love is all fine and noble, sure, but debt is not.”

Your original reaction had been a slowly growing resentment. Now, you're glad for it. You wouldn't touch humanities with a 10 foot pole now.

Oh sure, you're no automaton. You can appreciate people with an eye for theory, ink-stained fingers, or the aptitude for composition. A good portion of your friend group chose to study and create beautiful things. You love hearing about what they do, seeing the way their eyes light up and their words run away from them in sheer enthusiasm. But interspersed between their conversations about theater or lit class readings, you heard...other things. “Weird and inexplicable” didn't even begin to cover it. You finally put the pieces together in the spring of freshman year, after Sydney disappeared and everybody gathered to drink in memory and mourning.

It spooked the hell out of you. No two ways about it. Elsewhere University had a reputation for weirdness, for sure. You'd be lying if you said that hadn't swayed you in favor of attending in the first place. But this went past weird. “Weird” wasn't going to get you killed or kidnapped. The only thing keeping you from just transferring straight away was the impossibility of trying to explain it to your parents. And your grades weren't exactly gonna convince any other admissions office to let you in. Nowhere comparable, anyway.

So you coped in the ways you knew how. Reading all the guides you could get your hands on. Finding source folklore. Your choice of major had already stacked the cards in your favor. And while you still hung out with your arty friends, by sophomore year you'd found another group. A group more shielded from the weirdness. Where things could be normal and nobody thought to ask doppelganger questions or carry old screws in all their pockets. Except that one engineer lady, but far as you could tell, that was just a personal quirk.

And then school brought the hammer down on you.

You knew that college was gonna get tougher. But knowing didn't mean you were prepared. Those grades that had kept you from transferring came back to bite you. That creeping unease from Sydney hadn't gone away, and it was showing up in your work habits and shattered focus. You'd talked to the student health services people about it, and gotten nowhere. Scholarship money was on the line. The second round of exams was coming. And linear algebra was the first one.

You’d done your best to stay away from Elsewhere’s weirdness. But that didn’t mean you weren’t aware. You remembered what your humanities friends had told you. There were things you could do, loopholes you could exploit. Options, options, always options. If you were brave enough to take them.

And so here you are, venturing into the lower floors of the library.

You didn’t know many specifics going in, but you did know where to look. The bio majors Facebook page didn’t explicitly mention their library base camps, but the “Spelunkers Club” did, and had drafted a map to boot. The printout is sitting in your backpack, right now, sandwiched between notebooks. You’d wondered about their ability to diagram a non-Real, inconsistent space, but the solution made you laugh in shocked delight once you saw. While the shape of the shelves would change every six days or so, even a fae-touched library was militant about the Dewey decimal system. You spot the Fashion books (746.92) and make a right, nodding at a dude you recognize from your Psych class. He gives a weak thumbs up in response. Not somebody you'd expect to come here, but the psych lecture is the morning after the exam. If any of you vanish, it'll get reported quickly.

You move off a ways, finding a row of empty carrels against the wall. All identical, save one, whose lone desk light throws shadows around the walls. The rest of the row has their lights off, but you can hear the ambient shuffle of papers anyway. Best avoid those chairs, then. You pull out your ramen packs, selecting the saltiest variety (verified with a taste test, once. And never again.) The remaining 2/3 of the packets you scatter about the table, and stash back into your pockets. Should work.

You crack open your textbook and a bag of chips, and get started.

Time passes. The sound of your pages joins the general rustling. The clatter of laptop keys cuts through intermittently. You pull out your phone to google a definition and glance at the clock--apparently it thinks you’re in Dubai. Well, at least there’s proof that the time dilation here is actually a thing. Or just that it screws with your electronics. You make decent progress through some of the practice problems, but stall whenever you hit the theorems. That's algebra for you. A lot of numbers and graphs and definitions that use letters like they're words you should understand. You don't. Which is why you're even in this part of the library right now.

It takes you a while before you realize that no letters make sense anymore. You're still thinking in English- at least, you're pretty sure it's still English. But now even the chapter headings in your textbook look merely like shapes. It might just be delirium. That's the reasonable conclusion. You’d downed your second can of Red Bull just trying to keep your eyes functioning. But...

On impulse, you try to write your uni name. (Not your real name, you're not stupid. Just panicky.) Descartes. Cogito ergo sum, and all that. It comes out successfully, but it's entirely due to memory. Making the individual letters takes as much effort as if you were writing them backward, every curve meticulously plotted and traced.

Your circle is undisturbed, thankfully. But the shuffle of pages has stopped. Wind howls from beyond the walls, and the shelves creak like old floorboards. For a moment you wonder about the psych kid. It's a moment too long. You see something move out of the corner of your eye, when you look back toward where he was.

Don't move. Nothing’s there.

Except the Red Bulls are doing a number on your system, and even though you were never the wordy sort you'd still like your language back, thanks, and even if you wanted to leave your suddenly too-small circle and brave your way back to the campus proper, that exam would still be there.

The memory of your GPA curdles your fear into anger. “I thought we were the kind of people you'd leave alone,” you snap, turning to yell over your shoulder. Your voice climbs an octave as you start to rant in earnest. “What's the deal? I'm a STEM major. Doing math. Algebra. You don't even like algebra.”

“Mayhaps,” comes a voice from behind the shelves. “Numbers and Logic are mortal things, it’s true. But you are not a number. You just work with them.”

“And other things,” you reply. You strain your eyes into the dark, frozen in your half turn, but the shelves reveal nothing. Whatever’s out there doesn’t sound like it wants to approach. Probably. Your brain is racing, just barely outpacing your heart. “What do you--is there something you desire from me?”

“Presumptuous.” There’s a cicada-like buzz behind the voice. It makes you picture some kind of massive chitin-plated thing waiting just out of view.

“I meant no presuming. Uh.” Your tongue ties itself in knots to avoid the word “sorry.” It’s surprisingly hard to come up with less dangerous words. “Tell me where I went wrong and I shall try to avoid repeat offense?”

The hum continues. It's starting to sound like laughter. Your spine shivers like a loosened spring. “I want nothing of yours, pupa. What use could I have for it?”

You're pretty sure that question is rhetorical, and if it wasn't, any answer you could give would only endanger yourself. “Then if that’s so, we may move on with our lives. I’m sure you have your own stuff to- to attend to.” You try to muster up enough courage to turn back to your desk.

“I don’t understand. My current business is talking to you.” The thing- the Visitor’s legs skitter about around the shelves, its voice circling around. It better not be getting closer. “You’re proving a rather difficult conversation partner. Most im-po-lite.”

“I did not come here expecting conversation,” you say, uneasily. God, you want out. You shouldn’t have said anything to begin with. You never know who’s listening. “I came here to study, nothing more. That’s where my lack of grace comes from, uh, good fellow.”

“Odd, that you should stroll right into somebody’s front parlor and not be prepared for conversation.”

That can’t be right. That can’t be. The map- You turn the chair fully around and reach over to your backpack, before pulling back at the last minute. Can you even show that to a fae? Is that allowed? You wrack your brain for details, and keep coming up blank. Meanwhile, your Visitor- or Host, perhaps, as the case may be now- waits patiently beyond. “I was told that this was neutral ground where I could complete my work undisturbed,” you say, finally. Your hands rest on your lap now, fingers aching from where you gripped the swivel chair armrests. “I was told that this was public ground.”

“Misinformed trespass is still trespass, hatchling.” Their tone of voice doesn't change, but something in the cadence of it makes your hand stray toward your ramen packs. “You've wandered across my threshold and barred the door. Surely even you know what that means.”

Deep breaths. Deep breaths. You raise your hands in a placating gesture. “I understand. I will-” Die? Get Taken? Tell the Spelunkers that their map is a piece of shit and they need better cartographers? “I will leave and remove the salt circle. I will find where the actual neutral zones are and leave your domain alone and not trespass on it again. And...”

And? Your brain insists that something is missing, but by now all you want to do is flee and never come back. “And yeah. Does that sound reasonable to you?”

There's a different sort of clicking now. It sounds like pincers. You swallow back the lump of shuddering fear and wait for their answer. The entire section of the library is quiet except for that awful sound. “Usually there are reparations for an offense such as this. But...” Oh God oh god what does it want now. “I see that you've already lost something. That would normally go to the offended party. But I have no use for your words. Go then, pupa.”

It’s already started to skitter away when you’ve finished processing what it said. “Wait!” You even reach out toward the shelves, almost tripping out your chair onto the salt circle. Your legs are practically wobbly enough to wriggle out of your own jeans. “My- the words! English. Do you have my words?”

“They say external ears are better for hearing. I think they're mistaken.” You don't have time for its coy amusement, but it has even less time for overt demands and careless students. You grit your teeth and wait. “I have no need of your words. But I know how to get them back. I could retrieve them for you, even. But, that would be a favor.” You catch a glimpse of something between a gap in the shelves and you look hurriedly away. There's only leather spines and library labels. There's nothing else worth looking at over there. “And I don't give those out readily, even to those who haven't offended me. That is my offer. You know what to do, pupa.”

Trade nothing you cannot afford to lose. But you've already lost- You screw your eyes shut and count to ten, in half-remembered high school Italian. Uno, due, tre... You get to “cinque” before you switch into Spanish by accident. Right. A peace offering. You look at your desk, at your backpack, glance down at your pockets.

Only one option stands out to you.

You pick up the map and throw it out at the room with a flick of the wrist. “Here,” you say, as it drifts down just outside of the yellow-y line of flavor powder. “A map. Designed by the best cartographers of my age.” In a manner of speaking. “Knowledge for knowledge. Use it to secure the borders of your domain.” You reach for your notebook, and while you can't read what it says, you recognize the formatting of the list. “Here is a copy, in my own writing. It is as a contract. Take it as confidence that I will learn and know the borders here, and not cross them, ever.”

There's a rush of movement and suddenly something with more legs than you can really perceive lunges out from behind the shelves. You can't help the scream of terror. (Nor the stream of pee either. Caffeine, what a diuretic.) The sheer speed of it blows your hair back, as if you were standing on a subway platform by an oncoming train. When it’s passed back into the shadows, you look down at your feet. The circle hasn’t moved at all.

“Do not let anybody say I am not fair,” it says. “I always give back equal to what is given in turn. You can have your letters back. I grant you 24 hours of grace period inside this building. That should be more than enough to settle whatever affairs you need to in here. Good morrow, pupa.” It slinks back into the library, the click of its legs blurring together like the sound of pouring sand. Once more, the only sound is from the phantom students on either side of you.

You collapse back into your chair, barely able to move. Thankfully, whatever that fae did seems to have worked. You can read your notes, and even the textbook again. The adrenaline rush of it all has thrown everything into sharp relief. You write with abandon, blasting through proofs and problems alike with new vigor. When you finally leave and walk back out into the late evening sun, you stumble back to bed and nearly sleep through your alarm. But the exam, after that ordeal, feels like a doctor’s visit. Longer than you wanted and a bit uncomfortable, sure. But nothing worse than that.

Psych dude doesn’t show up the next lecture, but you do see him during the break. Probably just came in late. You do that too, you know the feeling.

It isn’t until that weekend, when the exam comes back with a grade better than you could reasonably expect, that you get antsy.

When a about a row’s worth of people don’t show up to your systems biology midterm the week after, you upgrade to worry.

You really wish you could say that you contacted the Spelunkers Club before their page got shut down. (Part 2?)

#elsewhere university #fae #fairies #IMW #charminglyantiquated #elsewhereuniveristy

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