not particularly. very good university with a pure math background. then just a folder of students' accomplishments.

while I was competitive in my younger days, I never won any contests. If i did, I guess I could probably be making more as a quant. I had students that were most definitely smarter than me. and some more knowledgable than me. but having to talk to who can explain their thoughts is very important to them. For some students, i feel like i am more of a math therapist than a math teacher. I don't lie to them. I tell them I don't know the answer but some options. I have speak their thought processes and guided them to shortcuts they missed.

Imagine someone is driving you to a restaurant they've been to before. they sort of know the way but not really. but you have a map. step 1 - they know they need to get to the highway. you have no idea which highway but you can see on the map there are 2 choices. do they want to go north, south, east, or west. They don't know but they know they passed by a forest. you can see the forest on your map. you can now provide help to get to the correct highway. coaching can be like that. they know the way to the answer better, but i know the details better.