The Quizbowl Resource Center

The Minnesota Undergraduate Tournament will once again be available to run in Spring 2014. Questions will be written by Rob Carson, Mike Cheyne, Bernadette Spencer, Billy Busse of UIUC, Melanie Keating, and Andrew Hart.

Eligibility: Only undergraduate and high school students can play this tournament. If you are a grad student, you may not play.

Difficulty: The difficulty of MUT 2014 will be similar to that of MUT 2013, with (ideally) some of the difficulty spikes evened out. The goal is to provide something 

along the lines of past EFTs or MFT 2013--harder than ACF Fall, especially in the early clues and hard bonus parts, but below regular difficulty.

Mirrors: We would like to see this set mirrored across the country from the weekend of March 15th into May. Please contact me at [email protected] if you'd like to mirror this set and, if possible, put "MUT mirror" somewhere in the subject line. The mirror fee will be $30/non-house team.

Mirror list:
Northwest: 

Southwest: 
Claremont Colleges (April 12)
Midwest: Illinois (April 19)
Great Lakes: 
Ohio State (March 22)
North: Minnesota (April 26)
New England: MIT (April 26)
Mid Atlantic: VCU (April 5)
Southeast: Valencia CC (May 10), Louisville (April 26)
South: University of Louisiana-Lafayette (March 22)
UK: Warwick (May 3)
Canada: Waterloo School of Abstruse Canadian Inside Jokes (March 15)
Northeast: Cornell (April 26)
California: Berkeley (May 3)
Other: Kentucky (high school only, May 10/11), Stevenson (high school only, April 5), New Jersey NASAT tryouts (April 12), Massachusetts NASAT tryouts (April 5)

Please feel free to post here or send me an email if you have any further questions.

Does this tournament follow the ACF definition of "undergraduate" whereby if you are in your fifth year of study for a Bachelor's degree, you are not eligible? This affects myself and one of my teammates.

Galadedrid Damodred wrote:Does this tournament follow the ACF definition of "undergraduate" whereby if you are in your fifth year of study for a Bachelor's degree, you are not eligible? This affects myself and one of my teammates.

I will consult the other editors and get back to you shortly!

Ukonvasara wrote:

Galadedrid Damodred wrote:Does this tournament follow the ACF definition of "undergraduate" whereby if you are in your fifth year of study for a Bachelor's degree, you are not eligible? This affects myself and one of my teammates.

I will consult the other editors and get back to you shortly!

For the purposes of this tournament, fifth-year (or greater) undergraduates are eligible. Also, to clarify a related matter, anyone who graduates during the year is still eligible as well (in accordance with ACF rules).

We at Oxford would be interested in holding a mirror of this tournament.

Would it be OK if we let some novice (first-year) grads play this tournament if it boosted participation, since in the UK they'd still only be in their fourth year of post-secondary education?

We'll try and get a firm date sorted as soon as we know the dates of exams, UK terms, and BSQC.

Has a date been picked for the Illinois mirror yet?

Has a date been picked for the North Division MUT yet? This one is supposed to be hosted by the U of Minnesota, so if you happen to know the date and time that mirror will be hosted, please email me at [email protected]

Thanks!

Ewan MacAulay wrote:We at Oxford would be interested in holding a mirror of this tournament.

Would it be OK if we let some novice (first-year) grads play this tournament if it boosted participation, since in the UK they'd still only be in their fourth year of post-secondary education?

This sounds great and I'd be fine making that eligibility adjustment. Send me an email when you know more ([email protected])!

Charbroil wrote:Has a date been picked for the Illinois mirror yet?

Yep, see above (or the thread they just posted).

katmetzger wrote:Has a date been picked for the North Division MUT yet? This one is supposed to be hosted by the U of Minnesota, so if you happen to know the date and time that mirror will be hosted, please email me at [email protected]

Not yet; we'll email local teams as soon as we nail down a date. It'll likely be in late April.

Any info on the Cornell mirror?

Coldblueberry wrote:Any info on the Cornell mirror?

Yep!

Do you happen to have contact information for Ohio State? Pitt is interested in competing.

bis17 wrote:Do you happen to have contact information for Ohio State? Pitt is interested in competing.

Yes!

What is the question distribution of MUT?

KnicksRule wrote:What is the question distribution of MUT?

4/4 Literature (1/1 American, 1/1 British, 1/1 Euro, 1/1 World/Classical/Other)
4/4 History (1/1 American, 2/2 Euro/British, 1/1 World/Classical)
4/4 Science (1/1 Chemistry, 1/1 Biology, 1/1 Physics, 1/1 Other)
3/3 Fine Arts (1/1 Painting, 1/1 Music, 1/1 Other)
3/3 RMP (1/1 Religion, 1/1 Mythology, 1/1 Philosophy)
1/1 Social Science
1/1 Trash/Geography/General Knowledge/etc.
1/1 tiebreakers/replacements drawn from the big three

Is there a particular reason for the reduced world history distribution, or is it just the writers' taste/preference?

As someone who wrote all but one of the history questions, I can assure you that everything in the "world history" section involves something not in Europe so by classical, it means ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Latin America, Africa, etc. I believe all classical Roman/Greek (i.e. "European") questions are in the European history distribution.

Hello there, after discussions with Oxford we are now planning to hold the British mirror of the MUT at the University of Warwick on the 3rd of May.

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Is this set clear now? I might want a copy.