Student Life Archives

In many ways, I am looking forward to returning to the Washington University campus in mid-August. While seeing my friends and enjoying the fine cuisine of Bear’s Den (particularly the chicken quesadillas) are two of the many reasons I am eagerly awaiting my arrival in St. Louis, the main one is to return to the simple pleasures of college life-joys I have come to recognize and cherish after spending a summer working harder and learning more than I ever have before.

Now my experience as an intern on Wall Street might be atypical of most summer jobs. While I did become proficient at answering three different phone lines at once, making runs down the street for bagel sandwiches, and printing endless copies of reports, I was given actual projects to work on that were being used by my mangers with their clients on a day-to-day basis. Furthermore, I was thrust into the trading floor at one of the top firms-a place comparable to the monkey house at the zoo minus the bars.

Here, I saw grown men throw Nerf footballs around like they were back on the elementary school playground while yelling all kinds of obscenities into the phone and at each other. The energy was intoxicating and I think I’ve found my calling in life, but I did not think the hours would be quite so long or that people actually worked quite so hard at their jobs.

Most days my alarm was buzzing at 5:45 a.m., and after braving the crowded subway and walking past vendors hawking t-shirts and other bric-a-brac tourists in New York seem to crave, I was sitting at my desk drinking the first of many cups of coffee at 7:00 a.m. No day at my job was ever the same, and each offered me the opportunity to listen, learn, meet some incredibly smart and witty people and do all sorts of interesting things with Microsoft Excel.

Lunch was a quick sprint up to the cafeteria (which I never actually had the opportunity to eat in) and back down to the floor, where I gobbled up my food at my desk. Up until the stock market closed, everything moved at a breakneck pace, and even after the bell sounded at 4:00 p.m., things were still busy. Finally, I headed out the door at 7:00 p.m. at the latest, and after stopping for dinner, picking up dry cleaning, and other such errands, I collapsed at home-tired, hot and counting down the hours until I would do it all again.

Basically, work is work-there’s really no play involved while you’re at the office. On the other hand, college is a giant playground of opinions and experiences. At Washington University, I definitely have my fair share of work, projects, and 15-page papers to write, but there’s always a social element to many events. Whether it be a study group or an extracurricular activity, there are always people actively engaged in the exchange of ideas. Sometimes a job can lack this form of academic energy, proving that the divide between college and a career is often greater than one would imagine.

For the most part, you move at your own pace in college. No one makes you go to class or study. I suppose you could adopt the same attitude towards a job, but most likely you would quickly become friends with the people at the unemployment office instead of being put on the fast track in your chosen career. If you fail a test, for the most part you are the only one who suffers, but if you make a mistake on the job, millions of dollars could be lost and other people could be adversely affected by your decisions.

In essence, college can give you the tools needed to think critically in a fast moving world, but it does not exactly prepare you for a work environment. This summer has proven to be a great learning experience because I’ve realized that in a “real” job, there’s no sleeping until the late afternoon or extended lunch breaks; no deep conversations about war, politics, or religion over coffee; no watching endless hours of Blind Date, Elimidate, or Dismissed on cable.

While at the University I have done and will continue to do many of these things; only now I will appreciate them more and realize that they will not continue indefinitely. Because next time I try this work thing it won’t just be about the summer-a full time offer will be in order.

It’s almost not an exaggeration to say that every new Washington University freshman is pre-med. If you are one of those potential pre-meds, I ask you to seriously reconsider your academic career.

I’m not going to focus on the realities of practicing medicine versus pre-meds’ conceptions; suffice to say my parents, both physicians, strongly encouraged me to study anything but medicine, citing HMO control of medical decision-making, paperwork, and inhumane residencies.

I wish I had listened to them sooner and not spent three semesters as a pre-med. The reality of pre-medical studies here is that it is not fun. I’ve never heard people describe a pre-med class as enjoyable. Some statistics from the Spring 2003 course evaluations guide: one Chemistry section was hardly recommended by 59% of survey respondents. General Physics was no better. In one section, 75% did not recommend the class. Remember, respondents were the people who were involved in the class enough to show up on the last day, so the actual figure if all students responded would likely be grimmer.

High on the list of student complaints were the difficulty of the classes and flawed grading procedures. About 40% of respondents said that pre-med classes were too difficult. Organic Chemistry I, a major pre-med weed-out course, was rated “too difficult” by 66% of respondents! You might be thinking that this also happened in high school, where your less intelligent peers complained about the same AP science courses that you breezed through.

The University, however, is filled with high school geniuses, so you won’t be as smart in comparison to your peers as you were last year. Since many pre-med classes are graded on a curve, your grades in these classes will probably be lower than you’d like and have grown to expect. The mean exam score frequently maps to a C+. I suspect that one of the pre-med classes will be your first “C” ever.

The University says that the chance of getting into medical school with a GPA under a 3.0 is 17%. Thus, the mean pre-med student only has a 17% chance of being accepted. To have a better-than-even chance of getting in, your GPA must be in the B+ range. And medical schools are particularly interested in grades from the hardest classes, like Organic Chemistry.

About two-thirds of students say that grades in pre-med courses don’t accurately reflect their understanding of the material. Of course not. These classes are foremost designed to weed you out, as my professors admitted. Thus, I was tested on material barely covered in either lecture or the textbook, did chemistry labs that required no understanding of the chemistry behind them and attended “lectures” where the professor just copied examples from the textbook.

Competition in pre-med classes leads to many more hours of study than average. Officially, one credit hour requires two to three hours of independent study per week. In truth, I found only introductory math and science classes, including pre-med ones, to be so demanding. Subsections, labs, and problem sets make pre-med classes take up much more time than credit is given for. Pre-med classes have three or four exams per semester, a cumulative final, and weekly quizzes. Typically, other classes only have a midterm, a non-cumulative final, and either a term paper or two to three shorter papers.

This curriculum sapped time and energy away from my life. I was only able to become active on campus and pursue my intellectual passions when I quit pre-med. It’s no surprise that most student leaders are not pre-med. Ask yourself whether you want your college life dominated by studying biology, chemistry, physics and calculus, or whether you’d like to have more time to explore your interests, develop leadership skills, and study something you’re passionate about.

I came from math and science magnet middle and high schools. I love biology, physics, math and organic chemistry, to the point that I spent many hours per week studying them for pleasure. But I could not stand the pre-med experience here. Classes were not engaging, and the pace needlessly grueling. I usually had one, but sometimes up to three, exams every week. My primary concern became the almighty GPA, leading me to resent my classes and become overly stressed.

I estimate that half of freshman pre-meds come to the conclusion that they have better things to do with their life. Many of those who stick around after that, like me, come to the same conclusion as sophomores. Do yourself a favor and learn from our suffering. Don’t be a pre-med. At first doubt, get out. Like everyone I know who did, you’ll be glad.

You have probably heard a lot about campus life and what college is going to be like. You may have heard about the parties, the intense studying, the all-night food fests, etc. It is important to keep in mind that this is not an accurate representation of college. College is so much more, and it is important to keep a balance of your academics, your friends and your well-being. Seeking this balanced lifestyle here at Washington University is not only possible, it is made a lot easier with the help of campus resources.

I am a senior, and I have finally realized that sleep is a wonderful thing. In my first year, I never got enough sleep. I thought I’d be missing something if I went to bed before 4:00 a.m. I thought I needed to “pull an all-nighter” to do my best on exams. Instead, I have learned that you don’t miss much if you go to bed earlier-just lots of people watching “Dazed and Confused” over and over or playing video games and getting more and more sleep-deprived.

I have learned that you can’t win with “all-nighters.” I could barely stay awake during my tests or remember anything useful. Lately I have been getting close to 8 hours of sleep a night, and I feel energized during the day. My brain actually functions in class. You’d be smart to get good sleep and be ready for studying and socializing the next day. Cornerstone is a great resource for time-management and study skills; you can contact them at 935-7998.

There are some big tests and papers looming in your future, but don’t let them stress you out. If you start to get stressed, one thing that helps me a lot is exercise. I am not training for a marathon, or the world’s strongest man competition, but just a 30 minute run and a little bit of weight lifting does it for me. When you first get here, you may be studying a lot, and your free time will be spent socializing and hanging out. It may seem like you don’t have any time during the day to work out, but I can pretty much guarantee that you can find the one hour it takes to work out and shower.

With at least 16 waking hours of the day, taking one out isn’t going to cut into your socializing or your studying. In fact, it will probably relax you and make you less sluggish. Exercising is very accessible at the University, as there are many options on campus. For more info, contact Director of Fitness Martha Tillman at 935-5023.

Undoubtedly you have heard the words, “make sure you don’t just eat junk at school.” My freshman year, I ate almost nothing but chicken fingers, completely ignorant of the fact that the combination of fried chicken and honey mustard sauce was not giving me the balanced diet that my mom had hoped for. Since then, I have been experimenting with eating fruit, salads, sandwiches, grilled chicken, pasta, etc. Now, I eat a variety of foods and keep the chicken fingers to a minimum, and I am feeling much better. All of the above food options and many more are readily available on campus. A friend of mine had some more serious nutrition concerns and sought help from Connie Diekman, the director of University nutrition. She is a wonderful resource who can provide assistance to students with a wide range of questions. Connie can be contacted at 935-4996.

The University gives its students a lot of freedom. The alcohol policy treats students like adults and expects them to behave as such. Not everyone at the University drinks, and those that choose to usually do so responsibly. Once you get to campus you will be in charge of your own behavior, but remember that with drinking comes responsibility. Know your limits. It isn’t fun to be sick. More importantly, be respectful to people around you. Respect for yourself and others is imperative to maintaining the safe environment that is so important to our community.

Hopefully I have touched on some of the issues that you will encounter here at college. You have options, and there are people here to help, so don’t be afraid to use them. Student Health and Counseling Services, Health Promotion and Wellness, your RA, and other staff members and students want to help you during this transition. Sometimes it is difficult to balance everything in your first year at college, but just remember to take a deep breath, don’t be afraid to seek help, and enjoy your time here.

Matt is a senior in Arts & Sciences, and he is a summer intern in the Office of Health Promotion & Welness. He can be reached via e-mail at mrscheck@artsci.wustl.edu.

Welcome to Washington University, a world-class institution where the quality of services outside the classroom equals the quality of education you will receive here. Let me tell you about a few services.

Safety and Security: Your safety on campus and in the areas around the campus is of utmost importance to us. The campus is generally a very safe environment, and the same can be said of the neighborhoods around campus where many students live. With a full-time University Police Department that patrols the campus, plus off-campus security guards employed by the University, we are committed to providing the safest environment possible. We can’t do it all, though; we need your help.

Use common sense. Be aware of your surroundings. Avoid walking alone at night. Never let strangers into your residence hall. Lock your door when you leave your room. Don’t leave personal belongings unattended. Sign up for a crime prevention program. Together, we can keep the University a safe environment.

Parking and Transportation: As a freshman you will generally not be permitted to have a car on campus. In later years, if you do bring a car, you can purchase a parking permit and observe all parking regulations in order to avoid being ticketed or towed.

The University provides a comprehensive free shuttle system that links various parts of the Hilltop Campus with the Medical School, West Campus and neighborhoods where large numbers of students reside. Schedules are available at locations throughout the campus. The shuttle service also serves local shopping and entertainment areas that are popular with students. An evening escort service around the campus is also available free of charge.

Construction of a light rail system that will connect the campus with much of the St. Louis region is now underway, with completion expected in 2005.

Dining Services: The most recent Princeton Review ranked the University’s Dining Services the best college food in the country! Your meal plan is your ticket to 16 different locations on campus, ranging from “all you can eat” dinners in Center Court at Wohl Center to a quick snack at one of our satellite locations. We have a registered dietician on staff who can help with any questions you may have about diets, nutrition or concerns about eating disorders. Bon Appetit, our contract dining services provider, is “Proud to Serve Great Food to People With Great Minds.”

We encourage you to fully experience all that the University has to offer and to contact us if we can help in any way.

Steve Hoffner is assistant vice chancellor for students and director of operations. He can be reached via e-mail at steve_hoffner@aismail.
wustl.edu.

Welcome to College, the culmination of 12 of the hardest years of your life. You’ve been through SATs, ACTs, and APs. Let’s not forget the extra-curriculars, and the fact you had to be elected to a position in some club at some point or else your life was over.

Well, you made all those lifelong friends along the way, probably had a significant other or two, went to your final homecoming, graduation and the prom. You felt the heartache of leaving some of your closest friends, and cried as Snookums-boobie-woobie-pah left you behind to start a new life. But such is life; everyone does it, and you have left everything familiar behind. You’ve climbed the final mountain and forded the final stream. You have arrived.

Actually, you have not.

I hate to break it to you, but you haven’t even started yet. First off, let me instruct you to check your former life at the door. Memories are nice, but they aren’t dreams, and if this place is about anything, it’s about chasing your goals. Who’s scared out of their mind right now? Face it, you are, all of you. You, your roommate and that kid who’s already memorized everyone’s birthday. And you want to know something else? It’s perfectly fine.

I remember looking around my first day and realizing that everyone was smarter than me. There is no better ego-check in the world than college. You will see people you envy because they’re smarter, more sociable, or because they smell better. Don’t worry because unless you’re me, people have something good to say about you, too.

Hmmm, what next? Oh yeah, the social scene. Okay, so you’ve seen movies and television shows that make college look like a large drunken orgy. Well, here it’s only a drunken orgy for a lucky few. For the rest of us, being social means a myriad of things.

As a freshman, you will go to frat row more than once. There you will be crammed into a dark room where there is no air conditioning and you will converse with people just because the heat in the room has physically fused you together. You will drink Miller High Life, the champagne of beers and a close evolutionary cousin of urine. (We’re still looking for the missing link.)

Doing schoolwork on weekends will seem like a joke. Once you are a sophomore, however, you will get wasted, throw up, and then start a paper in the 20 minutes before you pass out. Your mother will be proud.

Now I am a male, and being a male I know what guys are thinking, having watched all that MTV Undressed. They are very excited about the concept known as the “hookup.” Now I could write multiple articles on this subject alone, but instead I will leave you with advice that no one can argue with. For the bunny’s sake, THINK ABOUT WHAT/WHO YOU ARE DOING!!! That is all.

I can’t forget that whole academics thing either. MAJOR IN WHAT YOU WANT AND ONLY WHAT YOU WANT. I was pre-med . . . twice. I decided I hated it . . . twice. Hopefully I’ll stick with it this time. Being a college student demands that you broaden your horizons both in and out of the classroom.

Oh yeah, the reason I was invited to write this article is because I am a co-vice president of Ashoka, the Indian Students Association here. We do a show called Diwali that involves acting, singing and dancing-something for everyone. I invite everyone to try out, or come watch the show.

I also encourage you all to attend all the other cultural events on campus like ALAS’ Carnaval, the Chinese New Year Festival, and ABS’ Black Anthology, among others. Face it, kids, it’s your duty to learn something here; be it about someone else, or about yourself. I hate to say it, but these are the best years of your life. Welcome.

Anindya is a junior in Arts & Sciences, and he is the co-vice president of Ashoka. He can be reached via e-mail at ade@artsci.wustl.edu.

One of the first things you’ll notice in your freshman year at Washington University is that a college student’s life isn’t just filled with studying and work. There will be plenty of Friday afternoons and Saturdays-Sundays are reserved for rest and cramming-where you’ll just sit in your room and wonder what there is to do. If you’re like me, this will be your first time away from home in the big city, which means you will be trying to figure out what your newfound independence can bring to you.

Sure, you may just sit in front of your computer or go to Bear’s Den with your friends, but look out the window, kids. No, no, past the construction and out beyond the boundaries of ‘Wash U Bubble.’ If you’re wise with a sense of adventure, you’ll find yourself going to parties, eating out at the Loop, and checking out the sights all over St. Louis. There’s a world out there just waiting for you to grab it by the horns and take it.

Not sure where to start, though? Luckily for you, the University offers tons of opportunities to test the waters out there. For me, I really found my niche when I started getting involved with volunteer activities that reached out to the community around the school. Campus Y, one of the school’s many community service organizations, is a great place to start. Whether you’re interested in tutoring, doing art with kids, or being a Big Brother or Sister to a child, Campus Y has got the activity for you.

I’m a program leader for SAGE, a group that makes regular trips to a local nursing home to visit the elderly. Not only has this been a great source of new friendships, but it also has really helped motivate me in my goal to go to medical school so that I can help those that I see. Yeah, I know that sounds cheesy, but when you get find something like this that you really grow to love, you find that it is the closest thing to having an epiphany as you’ll ever get. No matter if I’m playing checkers with Nina, watching TV with John, or just hanging out outside with Joyce, not only do I get that great feeling that’s associated with helping others, but I also find myself enjoyed at being in their wizened company.

But hey, if you find that going to nursing homes isn’t your idea of a good time or that you’d rather do something involving less commitment, that’s perfectly fine. There are tons of other ways to get involved with the St. Louis community for people of all interests. Find a Saturday morning and go down to the animal shelter to help walk the dogs or head on over to the Children’s Hospital on the Gold Line shuttle to visit sick kids.

Whatever you choose, you’ll not only expand your horizons just a bit more, but you’ll also find new passions and maybe even learn just a bit more about yourself. This, in itself, is the true purpose of college. Soon you’ll find out what you love and what exactly you want to do in the real world that exists after the University. So while you sit in your dorm room vegetating in front of the computer for the umpteenth time this week, remember that there is still a world revolving outside that is waiting for the impact of someone just like you.

Jeff is a junior in Arts & Sciences, and he is a program coordinator for the Campus Y. He can be reached via e-mail at jchou@artsci.wustl.edu.

Christened in the name of Saint Brendan the Voyager, patron saint of sailors, I was destined to a life at sea. I grew up in Chicago on the shores of Lake Michigan where I sailed under my father’s flag, traversing the lake dozens of times, and traveling to weather storms in the Aegean Sea or evading modern-day pirates in the Caribbean. On these trips the limitless possibilities of the unobstructed horizon have awed me. I dreamt of some day breaking free from my father’s boat and setting sail on my own like St. Brendan, who sailed a bark ship to the New World reportedly more than 400 years before Columbus.

I set sail on my own voyage when I came to Washington University. Here I began to discover possibilities that I’d not imagined before. When I arrived, it had been my childhood dream to be a rich financier, and I threw myself into the business school, going so far as to join the professional business fraternity.

Several months into the semester, however, I realized that this was not what I wanted, but was rather the course my father had charted for my life. After working for Student Life for a semester, it was my fist act of mutiny to decide to become a writer, dropping my finance major to become an English and American Culture Studies double major.

College also presented me with my first opportunity to skipper my own ship. Short-handed for an up-coming regatta, the University sailing team asked me to skipper for the races in Iowa the next weekend. Ignoring that I had almost no experience at the helm to speak of, I leapt at the opportunity.

To say the least, the regatta was disastrous. Jockeying for a position at the starting line in the first race, I recklessly came upwind and collided with the rudder of a windward boat, before clipping the bow of another, which forced me to make a penalty lap around the starting line’s far pin. I was now in last place, so far behind the pack that I failed to complete the course in the allotted time. As I was towed in by the committee boat, I cursed myself for being so naively unprepared.

The second race was no better. In the light wind I failed to hold a course long enough to take advantage of what little momentum I could build, losing momentum with each tack. I finally lost all momentum, as I sat helplessly and watched the sail flap in the wind.

Though I’ve sailed my entire life, I’m not a sailor. Yes, I know the bow from the stern, the mainsheet from the jib sheet. On a good day I can fly a spinnaker, and by matching the number of letters in P-O-R-T and L-E-F-T, I identify port from starboard, and I can hold a compass course. My problem is, however, that I approach sailing as a sport, which can be mastered by an athletically refined brute force applied to a set of rules. Sailing, though, is an art; a skillful manipulation of the forces of nature. The subtleties of this art, even after years of sailing-and life-are lost on me.

As a collegiate sailor, however, I’ve begun to pick up on some of these subtleties. The most important of which is that fact that it’s a myth that the greater the boat heels, the faster it sails. I learned the hard way by taking 18 credits a semester and spending 30+ hours on co-curriculars, which led to chronic illness and general unhappiness, that it’s when the sails are full, but the boat balanced, that it sails at its fastest.

Achieving this balance, however, is extremely difficult, since the imbalance in my life also extends to my emotions. I find that I sometimes inexplicably oscillate between feeling as if I am on top of the world, or on the bottom of the heap. At times I’m too anxious and at other times I am too relaxed. I could hide these problems. I could decline the challenge of skippering my own boat, and I often have. I often avoid talking about my personal emotions and have shied away from relationships, particularly with the opposite sex, with those of more dominant personalities who might challenge my confidant fa‡ade.

It’s in my greatest moments of weakness, however, that I often learn the most. Bobbing in the water and watching the sail’s luff, I realized that I had to relax and watch the ripples on the water to judge the direction and strength of the coming wind. I realized that I had to pay attention to tell tales on each side of the sail, and that I had to make small adjustments to line them up.

Once I did these things I was able to catch a breath of wind, and my boat was lifted up and towards the finish line. I was last, but I had successfully sailed the course. I had skippered my own ship. I was beginning to understand the subtle art of collegiate sailing.

Brendan is a senior in Arts & Sciences, and he is the Editor in Chief of Student Life. He can be reached via e-mail at editor@studlife.com.