title	feature_text	feature_image	excerpt	aside
Other TAMS Stories	I wish I had more stories here lol	https://picsum.photos/2560/600?image=873		false

I originally for this website to have a proper follow up to TAMS Horror Stories, but honestly, most people my year were pretty good at keeping their activities fairly under wraps, at least towards me. I don't have enough details to write a long form story about anybody, but I did ask my friend who communicated fairly extensively with the following story's subject to write about him.

What Happens in Vegas Comes Back to Frisco

This tale involves one Cal3. Cal3 was of a somewhat mathematical inclination, but unfortunately became increasingly good at making increasingly poor decisions throughout his TAMS career, including introducing himself as “that guy in Calculus III.” Stories attributed to him include ceiling-high towers of energy drinks link as “tributes to the GPA gods” during finals week, arriving at a Chemistry final with 15 minutes left (already doing poorly in said class), and other assorted follies. He was also known for an online pool addiction, although he was rather poor at the real thing. But it’s a different type of antics that earns him his place in this document.

As is not uncommon, Cal3 was expected by his parents to make a 4.0 GPA to stay in TAMS. At the end of his first semester, it was just above 3.5 (enough for two electives at the time); his parents, however, were unaware of this. As any TAMS graduate has probably realized, the format of the grade reports that are mailed out is not difficult to replicate, and Cal3 did so, putting A’s for all his classes, thus convincing his parents that he had received a 4.0.

He proceeded to load up on math electives second semester, taking Differential Equations, Real Analysis, and Linear Algebra (in fairness, he took Linear Algebra from a particular recently hired and extremely sexy postdoc, Kostas Beros, who was notoriously difficult and had very high expectations of his classes). At the end of second semester, he had not a 4.0, nor a 3.5, but instead had barely missed the TAMS cut-off of 3.0 for his semester GPA. He would not be invited back for a second year, and by the end of his second semester was acquainted with this fact. As stated earlier, Cal3’s judgment was often less than stellar. At the end of second semester, he had planned out his solution to the problem of confronting his parents: the lam.

Among his circle of friends (admittedly, a motley and small lot), it was known that he intended to run away. Cal3 had been convinced that his family (including extended family) would disown him upon learning of his dismissal. It is said that his plan had been to fly to Vegas because, when scanning Craigslist, it was the cheapest plane ticket he could find, evidently not taking into account the obscene price of housing (the author would not put such foolishness past him). At some point that Summer, he fled Frisco for Nevada (it is worth noting that Cal3 was still 17 at the time), presumably with a credit card. Contrary to Cal3’s predictions, his parents, as well as the Classes of 2014-2015 were alerted of his departure, and collectively waited for him to come back. He was placed on “missing children” ads. Predictions among his classmates were that he would not last long, eventually running out of money and coming back home. Indeed, in the Summer he had been asking around his classmates for money.

Knowledge of the circumstances of his return is, of course, limited to his own accounts. His explanation is:

“Well unfortunately I was arrested... I was in a racist area and I was seen with a black person. I was arrested for looking suspicious.”

The author doubts the completeness of this explanation, but digresses. He expressed “disappointment” in his class, because he only received “donations” of $80 from three folks, none of which were TAMS. He also threatened to picket the “draconian policies” of TAMS, blaming them for “ruining his life” for a single C. He also requested copies of the 2014 Convocation programs so he could compose a list of people who had been “terminated.” He also claimed that TAMS ought to “crack down on evil professors.” His grievances also included that nobody tells prospective TAMSters that TAMS is “harder than Ivy League.”

Nobody that I have spoken to knows what happened to him. Some say he enrolled at UT Dallas, as they are known for accepting TAMS dropouts. Others say he went back to high school - this seems more likely. Either way, he has been seen at UNT since dropping out.

I must note that dropping out of TAMS does not ruin a student’s life, in fact, the administration takes great care to express that they simply did not “invite the student back for a second year.” UTD, UNT, and UH have all been happy to take TAMS dropouts as transfer students, and plenty of students that returned to high schools went to schools like UT and A&M, and many got UTD’s full tuition + $6000/year stipend; one dropout apparently got into Cornell. Dropping out of TAMS isn’t seen by many people of importance as being expelled from High School; really, it’s more of a lost opportunity.