Twitter? Yes, me too..

Yes, I've been drawn into Twittermania as well, but to my defense I plan to make my Twitter account as functional as possible. Here's a brief article, titled "The Six Twitter Types" about the various types of Twitter users. I'm aiming to be a cross between a Brand and a Maven. You can follow me at @malcolm_evans.

The downfalls of an attending an Elite Institution?

Have you ever taken a second to consider the downsides of attending an elite institution such as UPenn, Harvard, Yale, etc.? Aside from the strongly held, "If I was going to a different school, my GPA would be better" belief, I posit that few of us, including myself, have had this conversation. The other day at work, my co-worker, Daniel Patton, shared an article with me titled The Disadvantages of an Elite Education. The article explores the reality of the aforementioned question while also offering myriad possible disadvantages. Although I don't agree with all of the author's theories, there are a few that I believe to be worthy of mention. The first possible disadvantage is that an elite education "makes you incapable of talking to people who aren't like you." While this may seem extreme, there is certainly an "homophilic" effect that occurs amongst elite spheres, which makes it difficult for certain people to relate to those outside of their social circle. The best example that comes to mind is taxes. Many of my peers struggle to see the benefit of taxes due to an inability to relate to the primary societal and individual beneficiaries of tax increases. A second downfall is that "an elite education inculcates a false sense of self-worth." This is perhaps the most obvious downfall. There is nothing wrong with congratulating oneself, and in fact self-gratulation has been shown to increase one's well being, however, it has been my experience that many Ivy Leaguers often parade around with an elitist viewpoint. A paradigm that we are in some way "better" than others. A final disadvantage is that elite educations often tend to deter students from pursuing non-high paying jobs, thus essentially closing a world of possibilities. As the author mentions, students often ask the following questions: "How can I be a schoolteacher—wouldn't it be a waste of my expensive education? Wouldn't I be squandering the opportunities my parents worked so hard to provide?" In the process of answering yes to these questions, students may miss their "true calling." In all, although I'm not certain about the validity of everything the author posits, the article does effectively bring awareness to an aspect of elite education which is rarely touched upon.

Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize

Barack Obama recently won the Nobel Peace Prize, marking yet another historic day and accomplishment in the life of our 44th president. With the award, Obama became the first sitting president in 90 years and the first president in history to earn the honor during his first term. In essence, Obama was awarded for "his work to improve international diplomacy and rid the world of nuclear weapons" in addition to other efforts. When I initially read the news on my iPhone (shameless plug) I was not only shocked but also slightly uncomfortable with the notion of him being awarded one of the world's highest honors. I shared his sentiments when he said "To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize." However, after giving it some careful thought, I realized that although his tangible accomplishments may not necessarily merit the award, he captured it perfectly when he said (of the Prize) "It's also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes." Obama's election gave legitimacy to his cause, the Nobel Peace Prize will provide the necessary impetus to transform his ideas into the palpable, corporeal change that we need. Oh, and to all those who are upset that Obama won the award: remember, you don't apply for the Nobel Peace Prize. Don't be mad at him, be mad at the committee!

The Importance of Fall Semester

School is back session and Penn has a newfound energy - atleast until midterms arrive. Nonetheless, its exciting to be back at school, especially as a junior. My first two years at Penn have been tremendous and have definitely taught me a lot of bout myself and life in general. That being said, I wanted to make a quick plug about the importance of the first semester. In general, I think first semester is more important than second semester. I say this for a few reasons; First, when applying to summer opportunities, potential employers will most likely only see your grades from fall semester. Needless to say, its important to have strong grades and demonstrate that you are focused and off to a great start academically. Second, its easier for your grades to go down than to go up. I think of it this way, each additional class you take has a decreasing marginal impact on your overall GPA. Therefore, the classes you take second semester have less of an impact than those you take first semester. Lastly, (and this is a serious thought) if you're like me, there's an inverse relationship between my ability to do work and the quality of the weather; the better the weather, the harder it is for me to be productive (good weather = more distractions). Gameplan for good weather by giving yourself a cushion via your fall grades. That's just my two cents; good luck everyone.

Forum of Huntsman Hall

...And I'm Back

After entirely too long of a hiatus, I've made my return to the blogosphere. For those of you who keep up with my blogs: I apologize for the long time in between posts. Intensely studying for finals lead to an overwhelming need for a break from most activities that require some sort of analytical thinking. But now I'm back, mentally well-rested and eager to blog. Stay tuned for upcoming posts.

The Twitter Movement: Mixed Reviews

Twitter has become a new social phenomenon. Everyone is quickly moving towards the service whether its creating an account to tweet(post messages) , or logging in to follow friends, families, celebrities and/or companies. However, I have very mixed feelings about the movement. On the one hand, Twitter provides a quick, convenient way of reaching a select group of people. For instance, I can use twitter to let all of my "followers" know that I have new Blog posts. Or if I'm a company I can let everyone know the release date of a new product. However, in contrast to these benefits is the fact that Twitter is open to anyone and as such people are free to tweet about whatever they want—and they do. For example, I read someone's twitter feed and over the course of 4 hours they had 'tweeted' 5 different messages all stating where they currently were inside of a club (just walked in to the club, chillin in the back of the club, sitting at the bar come find us). Needless to say, tweets like these bother me. I almost feel as though its an abuse of the service. In an article titled "With Oprah Onboard, Twitter Grows" briefly touches on the problem with these types of tweets. Essentially these tweets make it hard for people to filter out the important messages. To quote the article, when the system becomes overflown with useless messages “People can no longer digest the content, [and start to think] what am I really getting out of this service?” While I'm a big fan of the technology that twitter is employing and feel that it can, and will be, an extremely useful means of quickly disseminating information, I hope that people start to use discretion when tweeting—it'll make it easier for everyone to find information.

Penn Previews

So, its that time of year. Spring is in the air, the end of school is near (no rhyme intended) and college campuses all over America are being populated with excited families, eagerly analyzing the their surroundings to determine if the school is a "good fit" for their child. Here at Penn we call it Penn Previews. Aside from us students having to occasionally "run in circles around confused and wandering families" (a phrased borrowed from a friend), previews is generally a great time. The families add a palpable buzz to the air, providing a sense of affirmation that you school is a great place to be. Looking back at my time here so far, It definitely has been everything I expected plus more. I think this is a sentiment that the majority of my classmates (shout out to Penn '11) share as well. Although we may complain about teachers, classes, etc. there is no doubt that we have all grown and matured as individuals during our short stay at here. Being around great people (students and faculty) who are constantly doing amazing things puts a sense of creative pressure on us as students—forcing us constantly strive for our best. Simply put, my time here at Penn has been amazing by challenging me to grow in ways I never thought possible and the main driving factor behind this has been the people I've been fortunate enough to interact with. That being said, I want to publicly congratulate all of the students accepted into UPenn '13. You are all bright and will undoubtedly add value to whatever school you choose to attend, but of course I'm pulling for Penn.