52 Comments
The latest in our continuing Senior Wisdom series: CC valedictorian Maxim Pinkovskiy
Name, School:
Maxim Pinkovskiy, CC
Claim to fame:
I was the 2004 M&M Peanut Minute Student of the Year in Xavier Sala-i-Martin’s Intermediate Macro class!
Post-grad plans:
Ph.D. in economics at MIT, then – I hope – professor at Columbia University.
Preferred swim test stroke?
Walk three lengths on the bottom of the swimming pool on my hands.
What are three things you learned at Columbia?
1. How to reconcile Thucydides’ interpretation of history as guided by characteristics of people as a whole – desire, hope, pride – with his deep interest in individual leaders.
2. How to prove the Central Limit Theorem.
3. “Everything has an economic intuition.” – Xavier Sala-i-Martin
Justify your existence in 30 words or less.
Cogito ergo sum (1/10th of 30 words)
What was your favorite controversy in your time at Columbia?
Once, a Spectator editorial criticized the way economics is taught at Columbia…my friends and I had a fun time talking about how to respond.
What Columbia memory best exemplifies your college experience?
Falling off my chair in Econ Forum while arguing about the New Deal.
Which prof do you think would be the best kisser?
Sophia Kovalevskaya (1850-1891)
What percentage of seniors do you think are virgins?
That must be an imaginary number.
Would you rather permanently give up oral sex or cheese?
In the dictionary, the word “turophile” has my picture next to it – I vacuum-clean all the cheese at formal events. I hope this answers it.
Days on Campus memory?
I stayed up having a philosophical conversation with some people until midnight – this was the first time I had done this, and would prove not to be the last.
Regrets?
Columbia has been a blessing to me all four years, and I am sorry that this phase of my life is coming to a close. I also regret that Professor Seidel moved to California before I could take more of his classes.
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52 Comments
@anon maxim is a nice guy down to the bottom of his heart. shame on anyone who takes pleasure in trying to denigrate him.
if you spent 2 minutes talking to him and you’d regret ever saying a mean word.
@I give it 20 years max before he wins the Nobel prize. Mazel Tov, Maxim. I can think of no one more worthy of being valedictorian. Good luck at MIT.
@Hmm I wonder… was he the guy whose nerdiness/dress style I just couldn’t believe in my Probability class last semester?
I do share his joy for the Central Limit Theorem. How amazing and elegant, that any sum of iid random variables with finite variance converges to a normal distribution. This shows up everywhere!
@random I’ll put my 1 in your 0.
@random This guy needs a girlfriend.
@agreed maxim is truly a remarkable and fascinating guy. Socially terrible, but in a way that makes him socially brilliant. I love talking to him and never tire of his slow, earnest, and overly polite answers to my questions.
also agreed george olive and jason bello need to next in line for senior wisdom…
@Little Liverbird “Columbia has been a blessing to me all four years.” Right on. Congratulations, Maxim! You’re incredible.
@me too i join the i love maxim bandwagon.
cheese rules.
@adorable So refreshing to hear some honesty!! Maxim, I love your unrelentless nerdiness and the fact that you admitted you’d rather give up oral sex than cheese (I’m totally with you). Best senior wisdom yet!!
@haha i have great respect for him because he didn’t simply say “I’m the motherfuckin’ valedictorian” for “Claim to Fame”…because that’s what I would’ve done.
@hahaha i’m with you man.
@Anonymous Jason Bello for the Senior Wisdom! Go Bwog, go.
@yes! agreed!!
@agreement His answers were great. I love someone not jaded and cynical, a rare breed at Columbia.
@nothing would inflate david judd’s ego more than to know that haters are hating on him on the valedictorian’s bwog comments…
that is if he had an ego, which he doesn’t
your hateraton simply proves how relevant judd is compared to all other mofos in the 2008 w/ exceptions of maybe christein tompkins, michelle diamond, chris kulawik, and jon siegel.
@omg! more jon siegel!!!!!
@Maxim is adorkable awww.
get George Olive to do Senior Wisdom!
@fed up can people please stop hating on David Judd? Is it really so threatening to all of you that someone might have political convictions that you do not share and that these convictions might be an important part of that person’s life? And Maxim, you seem like a cool guy. Congratz on being Valedictorian. Honestly, I think all the haters on Bwog simply can’t stand the idea that anyone could care passionately about anything besides being snarky on the internet.
@hating on Judd has less to do with his political convictions and more to do with how he expresses himself.
@love I have a crush on him
@... Aww… makes me wish that i could be this genuine(ly nerdy)
@yay Maxim is awesome. And I love the answer to the Columbia memory question.
@i want to read your lithum essay, maxim! e-mail it to us
@Refreshing While I can’t say this Senior Wisdom leaves me wishing I got to know the guy, it was nice to read answers that were clearly genuine. Congrats, Maxim.
@@his maybe i’m sounding sarcastic, but i’m actually serious.
also, i have never heard the word turophile and had to look it up. he wins.
@his choice of a women dead for over a century as best kisser wins me over. nothing wrong with having a crush on a dead person. perfectly normal.
@Not Not just any woman, a Russian Mathematician.
@maxim! marry me!
@the implications of the percentage of virgin seniors being imaginary are profound! that means the square of the percentage of virgin seniors is negative…perhaps implying that no senior is a virgin and the overflow extends to a portion of the junior class?? someone help me with this
@mathematician Well, if each virgin senior coupled with each other virgin senior (and once with his or herself) there would actually be a negative amount of some being got… that’s kind of a surprising corollary
@not bad but get laura klienbaum to do one. that chicks is hilarious.
@agree get Laura to do one
@Cute hehe i like him.
@amazing and true What percentage of seniors do you think are virgins?
That must be an imaginary number.
@soo forcing socialism into every answer makes david judd reprehensible, but forcing economics into every answer makes maxim adorable.
@3>3> there’s a difference
judd the socialist is a whining douchebag
maxim the econ nerd is like a cute puppy
evidence:
Judd: “There is no demonstration so innocuous that it will not be controversial at Columbia, nor is there any statement so shamelessly callous that some “liberal” Columbia student will not take proud ownership of it.”
vs.
Maxim: “Once, a Spectator editorial criticized the way economics is taught at Columbia…my friends and I had a fun time talking about how to respond.”
Maxim: “I stayed up having a philosophical conversation with some people until midnight — this was the first time I had done this”
lol
@yeah you’re right, Judd might look on libertarian radical with pity and disgust, while maxim would look on any other flavor of nerd with understanding and respect
@this was by far the best senior wisdom yet. well, maybe becky abrams is a close second. but this one was great.
as per usual, lots of dbag bwog commentors
@alexw Fuck anybody who does not think this guy is awesome.
@agreed he seems like a great guy
@it makes me so sad that people feel the need to be mean to this dude.
Maxim, you’re all right in my book.
@unfortunately... your book happens to be “A Child Called It”
@well now we know at least one senior that’s still a virgin…
@Nerd, but Nerd, but I give him props for not being afraid to show it.
@He is light blue
@shut up haters! this guy is absolutely adorable.
@perhaps but by my count he used at least 7 words to justify his existence. Fallible after all?
@omg i love this guy
@NERD ALERT.
@ugh just ugh
@ugh ugh to you.
@Mercutio Ugh on both your houses!