Student Life Archives

Congratulations, you’re about to start your college career at Washington University in St. Louis. You must be a smart kid. Don’t worry, you’ll forget that by the time you leave. No, the classes aren’t impossible. You might have to work a little harder, but you’ll still do well academically if that’s important to you. When you get to campus and you move into your dorms and your parents leave, look around. Every other kid here is about as smart as you. Maybe not in the same ways-maybe he’s a harder worker, maybe she has no common sense. But, everyone here is pretty intelligent. So, what does that make you?

Many of you have built your identities around being intelligent students with decent study skills. Over the next four years, you’re going to get the opportunity to discover other things about yourself. They might be extensions of what you already know-that you’re a jock, an actor, a charmer, a writer, a researcher, a politician. But for a great many of you, you’re going to discover new parts of your personality in this environment. So what can you do to make sure you get the most out of your college experience?

1) Take some risks. Now, I’m not saying you should make clearly idiotic mistakes: drinking copious amounts of alcohol with people you don’t know; trying to seduce your RA; not only skipping class, but also not copying notes, going to your professors’ office hours or doing any homework. But, try out for a play, even if you don’t know how. Talk to strangers. Flirt with that cute guy in Intro to Psych. Wash. U. may not be a huge school, but there are more than enough people and activities to fill your next four years, if you put yourself out there.

2) Go to Cornerstone. Suck it up; everyone goes at least once. If you are having trouble in a class, or if you anticipate having any trouble in a class, the mentoring, group study, or Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) sessions they have at Cornerstone will be invaluable. If you do really well in the class, sign up to be a mentor. Not only is it one of the best paying jobs on campus, it looks great on a resume. They also offer different seminars about time management and note taking, and while you might be scoffing to yourself-“Excuse me, I know how to take notes”- there will be many more activities pressing on your time now, and you might be inclined to cut academic corners.

3) Watch what you eat and go to the gym. If you go to the dining services’ Web site, you can look up the nutritional information of everything you eat. Those chicken tenders that you’re going to order at least twice a week? That’s right, they’ve got 800+ calories and hundreds of percentage points of your daily fat intake. You’ve heard about the Freshman 15. Go to the gym-even if you’ve never been inside a gym before. I promise, you’ll feel better afterward. Especially in the winter, when you unexpectedly find yourself with SAD.

4) A bit of practical advice: don’t buy extra meal points. At the end of the year, half your floor will have way too many, and you can mooch off them.

5) Schedule an appointment at the Career Center. You might not want to think about it yet, but you’ll have to leave Wash. U. in another four years, and you won’t want to go home and eat ramen in the basement.

6) The most important thing to remember as an incoming freshman? DON’T OVERLOAD YOURSELF. It’s a common impulse-you’ve been an overachiever your entire life, and you’re excited to have found so many activities and people to be passionate about. The thing is, semesters get harder as time goes on. What you think you’re juggling fine in September will start to bear down in late October, and come finals will be a crushing weight. Add on Murphy’s Law, and you will be more prone to getting the flu/panic attacks/hospitalized for some random reason. Schedule time to relax.

That’s it. Don’t come in with too many preconceptions about what you will find in college. Some of your expectations will come true, but you might be surprised with what sticks to you the most when you leave. The students and faculty here have been truly remarkable these last four years-don’t mess it up for us alums. Have fun, and good luck.

Pamela Ju graduated from the College of Arts & Sciences in 2008 and can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].

Welcome to the Class of 2012! I am pleased that you have made the personal commitment to join the Washington University family. You arrive on the Danforth Campus as part of an exceptionally talented group of freshmen, representing a wide range of experiences, intellectual interests and perspectives. We feel very fortunate that you will consider Washington University your home for the next four years. We are one of the world’s premier undergraduate research universities in one of America’s great and historic cities-St. Louis.

Students are at the heart of every great university. You will have the opportunity here to learn from world-class faculty who will challenge the way you think about complex problems. During your time at Washington University, you will also have the opportunity to engage in important and challenging dialogue and address key research questions with those same faculty. It is in this exchange of ideas between students and professors where the greatest learning occurs.

Your education at Washington University begins in our classrooms, studios and laboratories, but it will extend to the many and varied opportunities that the campus offers for your social and emotional development. Most of you will call the “South 40” home during your first year. You will meet many new friends on your freshman floor, and you will also encounter people who are very different from you. This diversity is one of our greatest institutional strengths. I challenge each of you to be open to new ideas and different viewpoints and to learn from one another. This learning process is one of the great rewards of the residential college experience.

Each of you is beginning an important personal journey-it is up to you to chart your course and establish your own positive and lasting legacy. You will do this on the playing field-last year, Washington University athletes earned several individual and conference honors in addition to three NCAA Division III National Championships. You will participate in events surrounding the Vice Presidential Debate that will be held on our campus and watched by millions of people throughout the world on October 2nd. You will make an important difference in the lives of young children in St. Louis, through one-on-one tutoring or other service activities. You will be leaders in many of our outstanding student organizations-Thurtene, Dance Marathon, Diwali and Student Union, to name a few. These activities all represent an essential component of your education at Washington University.

The arrival of a new class is a significant and symbolic event for every great University. The Class of 2012 at Washington University brings hope and optimism to our University and this community. As a society, we face great challenges in areas such as energy, public health, urban education, and the economy. Overcoming these challenges can only be accomplished by the collective efforts of committed and thoughtful people like you-the skills, knowledge, and experience you will gain here at Washington University will help you to find personal success and expand the pool of talented individuals who will become the future leaders of this country.

Again, welcome to Washington University! You have my very best wishes for success in this community of learning and discovery.

Mark Wrighton is Chancellor of Washington University. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].

I can tell you right now, this is not a “Dear Abby” column. I can’t tell you how to study for midterms or pull off great essays at the last minute. My suggestions will be about some fine eateries in the vicinity of Washington University in St. Louis (much more interesting than how to study for General Chemistry!).

Right off the bat, you will figure out that there are only so many times you can eat at Bear’s Den and realize that you need to eat something that does not have “Bon Appetit” all over it (no offense to the wonderful catering service). That being said you will stagger to the Loop and see an oasis. I’m not gonna list every restaurant, but a few that fill your stomach yet don’t empty your wallet are Chipotle, Qdoba, St. Louis Bread Co., Fitz’s and other local delis and eateries. After you look past the Loop, the area near the medical school also has some good places to fill up your tank: India’s Rasoi (great buffet), Panera again, The Drunken Fish and other good delis. Finally, Downtown Clayton and Brentwood have stylish and higher scale restaurants for you and your friends to enjoy after a hard week of studying (or partying!). Olive Garden, Cheesecake Factory, Macaroni Grill, Wasabi and other nice sit-down places.

If you don’t want to go out to eat, there are many choices for delivery. Many Asian restaurants deliver, and some trusty pizza places are Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, Racanelli’s, Pointers and Dominos (Jimmy John’s delivers subs). There might be some issues with getting them to deliver to your dorm, but believe me; the wait is usually worth it.

Going back on campus, there are many places to eat as well: The Danforth University Center, Subway, Whisper’s Café, Holmes Lounge and the Village. The Village usually has good food, and even though it might be far away for you freshmen, it is still worth it to go all the way across campus (the weekend brunch is especially delicious). The Danforth University Center will have several breakfast options and Subway and Holmes Lounge have good lunch menus. On the 40, there is Center Court (above Bear’s Den), which is a buffet-style cafeteria where you will most likely visit during your floor dinners. Last, but not least, one cannot forget Bear Mart, the mini grocery store that can save your life with frozen dinners, noodles and good ol’ junk food. Though, if you’re not careful, you might blow through your meal points too quickly or gain the “freshman 15.”

Going off campus is not too difficult with the wonderful Metro transportation system. The Metro trains take you to the local mall, the Galleria (where there are more restaurants), the medical school and the airport. The buses take you to the Loop, Schnucks and other places. You shouldn’t feel boxed in; there are many ways and places to explore St. Louis.

I hope this gives you a sneak peek of what there is to eat at Wash. U. However, there are good places to eat on and off campus, but it’s always great to go home and enjoy home cooked meals!

Aditya Sarvesh is a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences and can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].

About halfway through my freshman year, I was covering a Student Union meeting for Student Life. By the time the meeting ended around 12:30 a.m., I was worn out from a long day of classes and not particularly looking forward to starting my homework for the night.

Despite trying to stealthily write an essay for my Spanish class in the back corner of the meeting, my notebook was just as blank as when I had started. When I got back to my dorm and collapsed in the hallway with a circle of my friends, I could not bring myself to finish-or, really, start-any of my work; it was just too easy to sit and relax, talking with my friends about everything and nothing at the same time.

I don’t remember when I went to sleep that night or how I managed to finish my Spanish essay scribbling furiously in the hour before class, but I do remember the feeling of coming back to a place and being comfortable there. The feeling of knowing that, despite homework, exhaustion and stress, I had found a group of friends with whom I could relax.

The first week of school will be overwhelming and tiring as you meet new people, get used to new places and try to understand everything that you will need to do for the next four years. By the hundredth person you meet in the first hour of your first day on campus, it will seem impossible to remember all the names, majors and hometowns of your new acquaintances. And, realistically, it probably is; with nearly 1,300 fellow students in your class you will be hard pressed to meet all of them.

Despite all that, take comfort in the fact that you will find your niche on campus.

Whether it is on your freshman floor or in a club that you join, in class, or with a group of people you meet randomly on the basketball court, you will find a group of friends that is right for you, a group of friends that makes you feel comfortable.

One of the most daunting moments of your freshman year will be realizing that there is no formula for making friends; one of the best moments will be, like it was for me, realizing that you don’t need a formula. Go out, do what you love, and the rest will follow.

In your dorm, keep your door open (a doorstop should be one of your first purchases) and don’t hesitate to go to that meeting for the club you’ve always wanted to join but never had the chance to. Though the process will not be effortless, you will meet people who will define and shape your college experience-the people for whom you came to Washington University whether you know it yet or not.

So, for a while, don’t feel bad about forgetting a few people’s names or meeting someone for the third time. Go out and find something that speaks to you-whether that means doing community service, working with one of the University’s many cultural groups, studying for school, or writing for an amazing and award winning campus paper.

In the long run, it’s worth it.

Sam Guzik is a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences and the Editor in Chief of Student Life. He can be reached at [email protected].

I’m sure you will hear the horror stories about General Chemistry when you arrive on campus, if you haven’t already.

The first day of class may be a little bit intimidating. You’ll probably be in a different academic environment than anything you’ve experienced in high school. Imagine a lecture hall filled with over 300 nervous freshmen, all of whom are thinking about how this one class could doom their GPA as well as any chance of getting into medical school. The tales of the tricky exams, low means and large percentages of students that drop the science curriculum are a little less than encouraging.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that the science classes at Washington University are not impossible, no matter what anybody tells you. They can be challenging and time-consuming, but there are ways to survive and even succeed. Here are a few tips to help you strengthen your performance and ease your nerves:

1) Stay on top of the material. I know this sounds cliché and a little like common sense, but it really is the best way to do well in challenging courses. If you study for an hour or two for the class every day, when exam time comes, you’ll have to thoroughly review the topics that you’ve already learned rather than learning the material for the first time. You’ll have time to focus on details that may be unclear rather than panicking to cram an entire month’s worth of material into a single weekend. Unless you are lucky enough to be great at cramming, you probably won’t be able to master the material at more than a surface level if you procrastinate too much.

2) Go to class. This doesn’t sound like anything too profound, but large lecture classes are taped and put online. It is very tempting to sleep through the 10 a.m. lecture class and tell yourself that you will watch the streaming video in your dorm room later. This is a bad cycle to get into, because you will suddenly realize that it is 4 days before the test, and you have 11 lectures to watch. Watching that many lectures while trying to understand all of the material is a huge task, especially when you also have to worry about four other classes. Don’t be pulling your hair out the night before the exam when you still have to watch five lectures. Use the streaming videos to review sections that you don’t understand or for days that you legitimately have to miss.

3) Attend help sessions. These sessions are a great way to have the material reinforced and presented in different ways. It is also helpful to hear the questions of other students because the answers may help clarify some of the topics that were confusing or may be a more in-depth explanation of a topic that was glazed over in class. Help sessions are also a great way to get to know professors and T.A.’s because you have the opportunity to interact with them in a smaller setting.

4) Find a group of people who you enjoy studying with. It is frustrating that you may have to study for an exam on a Friday night, but it makes it a lot easier if you have people you can study with. A lot of my best friends in college are the people I have studied with for the past three years. The shared agony of the long nights studying for science classes builds great camaraderie. Studying together will also help you learn the material because explaining a concept to a classmate will help you solidify your understanding of the subject. Likewise, if a friend teaches you something you are confused about, you are gaining knowledge there as well.

5) Use the academic resources that are provided to you by the University. Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) and Academic Mentoring through Cornerstone are great resources for classes in math and science. PLTL is a two-hour session where you do problems with about eight other students and which is facilitated by a peer leader who has taken the class. This program is very helpful, because it gives you a consistent time of the week where you know you will work problems for a specific subject. I know it helped me a lot because I learned a lot of key points from my peers that I had somehow missed in class.

6) Relax and be confident. Panicking during an exam can be the kiss of death. The exams in science classes will be very different from high school exams, and when you are taking an exam, you must remember that there is a curve. In high school, you probably knew 80 percent of the answers to an exam for sure, could take educated guesses on another 15 and maybe have to take a leap of faith for the other 5 percent. On college exams, material is presented in novel ways (“alternate universe” will become one of your least favorite phrases soon) and because of the nature of the exam, you may only be sure about 40 percent of the exam and feel like you are making up things for the other 60. In high school that is definitely a failing grade, but in college, it usually isn’t. The exams are designed so you really have to think and you may feel unsure about your own method. Remember that you are not alone. If you studied hard and feel like you know the material, trust your intuition about the new scenarios that may be presented to you. Don’t get discouraged by the exam and give up because you are unsure of large chunks.

The sciences classes aren’t out to get you or to ruin your GPA. They are structured to challenge you and make you think on your feet with material that you have learned. Don’t think too much about how your grade in your biology class is going to determine the rest of your life, because really, it won’t. Just remember to pace yourself, and to have fun every now and then.

Good luck and welcome to Wash. U.!

Neha Tibrewala is a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences and Student Union Vice President of Public Relations. She can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].

At this point in your life, you’re receiving lots of practical advice about honing your expectations as well as perfecting both your studying and partying skills. I’m sure people will throw around plenty of different opinions about how many extra-curricular activities you should be involved in, what majors make the most sense and whether or not it’s possible to stay with your high school boyfriend or girlfriend. And while taking in and considering all of these issues is important, I think it’s incredibly easy to lose track of your dreams during the process. This is why my advice is simply to wish. Wish on stars, wish at both 11:11s and wish before you go to sleep.

College will be an experience of practicalities-you need to study, do your own laundry, take care of your expenses, register for classes and keep appointments with your advisers. You cannot have your head in the clouds. But at the same time, if you only keep your feet firmly planted on the ground, you will not achieve at your highest ability or have the experiences that will affect you the most. A practical major, practical courses, practical relationship moves, practical future plans and attempting to gain only practical and likely summer internships will close you off to the opportunities that give you a shot at making your dreams come true.

You’re about to start college, so I’m sure people having been telling you that this is your chance to do anything. Listen to them. A lot of times we feel like we have set limits in life when we are completely capable of exceeding them. Before you start college and as you continue the experience, keep looking deep within yourself. Is your impossible dream attending John Hopkins Medical School? Do you have a real interest in an obscure field that has limited job opportunities? Do you want to keep dating your high school sweetheart? You need to ask yourself these questions every now and then instead of focusing exclusively on the type of questions we ask more often, which are something along the lines of: Where do I think I’ll be able to attend medical school? What classes make the most sense for me to take in order to have a well-established, safe profession? What are the odds of this relationship working out? The practical questions are certainly important, but please don’t let them set the limits of your college experience. Doing this will only be a disservice to yourself and to our society.

Right now, you likely can do almost anything with your life. And if you set out to achieve your dreams rather than simply achieving something practical, if you take the crazy-sounding course that you’re interested in, keep working on that novel in between homework assignments, and seriously aim to attend the top graduate schools in the country, you’ll end up doing something you never thought possible. Instead of focusing on what you have to do to not fail out of college and to keep a balanced resume, focus on all of the things you could do if you had limitless intelligence, ability and charisma. If you always go after opportunities that seem impossible and impractical, every now and then one of those amazing opportunities will work out and you’ll be setting yourself up practically for the future you once only wished you could achieve.

Jill Strominger is a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences and Senior Forum Editor. She can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].

MCT

Contrary to popular belief, Barack Obama is not the only one dreaming of change. But being a college student doesn’t magically change everything. Sure, the Quad is neatly landscaped, the floors are polished, and the Swamp is resodded-a few things have changed in preparation for the entrance of the Class of 2012. Don’t worry; the focus won’t be on you for too long. About two weeks from the first day of class, the first prospective students for next year’s class begin to visit.

There is so much hype surrounding your trip to college, that mystical place away from home where you can finally run your own life, without your parents nagging you to get out of bed before 2 p.m. on a Saturday. However, don’t be fooled by your anticipation and instinctual nervousness. These things too will become normal. There are of course the things happening on campus that only happen in college. You will stay up until 7 a.m., working on that paper, only to then fall into bed and sleep through the class in which you were supposed to turn it in (personal freshman year experience). As time passes, though, you fall into the normal routine of “the college lifestyle.” And this will be the lifestyle of your choosing.

It is a dream to think that Wash. U. will completely transform your ways of living, your old habits, or your entire personality. Sure, things will change, but only those things you allow. Wash. U. states that its mission for undergrads is “to prepare students with the attitudes, skills and habits of lifelong learning and with leadership skills, enabling them to be useful members of a global society.” Notice the lacking mandate of transformation. School is only here to “prepare” us. The way of college is one of self-determination. You will become what you make yourself to be.

So, I extend to you the best welcoming advice that I can give: take full advantage of the opportunity to live your life as you want it. The architecture of a long-established university (Collegiate Gothic, according to our Web site) mocks the mission of change undertaken by the resident institution and its students. Appearances and landscaping are only parts of the hoax that tells us that we must fit into a college stereotype. Find your own unique freedom here, in spite of what preconceptions you may carry. There will possibly be moments that will terrify you, in which you can’t necessarily handle the new independence you’ve gained. But this freedom is what we’ve come to, what we’ve craved for so long that we get jittery inside thinking about it.

Get active in the things you want to be, ignore the temptation to avoid your desires so that you don’t appear to be a total loser, and enjoy every minute of the experience. These times only come once. Don’t anticipate an earth-shattering time if you intend to go about college life passively. Enjoy meeting new people, but don’t put pressure into it. The incredible thing about this place is that it is one of multiple chances to make the necessary changes and to constantly reconsider yourself. But then again, this is the grand opportunity given to us every day of our lives. Make the most of each moment for no one but yourself. This is not about impressing anyone, but all about getting the most out of everything. So here’s to Ulysses and drinking life to the lees.

Tyler Peck is a senior in Arts & Sciences and can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].

Sam Guzik

As incoming freshmen, you have been and will be faced with a number of important, tough decisions over the course of the summer and fall. Which meal plan should you sign up for? Do you want to live in a single or double? Old dorm or new dorm? Which student groups do you want to join? Do you want to play Intramural sports for your floor? Are you going to stay pre-med? Oh.and who do you want to be the next President of the United States?

When you arrive on campus, there will be so much for you to do. There will be people to meet, papers to write and activities to attend. While immersed in this transition, it may be difficult to keep in mind what is happening outside of the walls of our university home. However, it is of the utmost importance that you tune out your floor gossip and tune in to the national news at least once and a while.

On November 4 every American faces an important decision, perhaps the most important: Who should you vote for to lead this great nation into the future?

Staying informed, however, is only half the battle. The other half is registering to vote before the deadline (October 8 in Missouri), and getting to the polls on Election Day (November 4). Doing both requires effort on your part, as with anything worthwhile.

The University stands prepared to make the voting process as simple and painless as possible. During orientation and throughout the first month of school, there will be a bevy of opportunities for you to register to vote. There will be registration tables near the clocktower (you’ll quickly figure out where that is if you don’t know already) during move-in day, scattered around campus on September 18 (the University’s official voter registration day), and at most of the politically-inclined events held on campus throughout early October. And this year, the polling location for residents of the South 40 (where most of you will live) will be on the South 40 itself, down the hall from Bear’s Den, where you will eat the majority of your meals. On Election Day, grab lunch with your friends and then vote for dessert.

By listing these opportunities I hope to impress upon you how easy it will be to register, and how difficult avoiding it will be. Nevertheless, the whole process hinges on you. As citizens and/or visitors to this nation, you have both rights and responsibilities. With freedom comes responsibility, and one of your responsibilities is to make your voice heard.

Make it heard through activism, protest and debate. But most of all, use your voice at the polls on November 4. Whether your candidate wins or loses, you’ll know that you contributed to our great democracy.

So don’t dodge the process. When you have the opportunity to register, do it. When you have an opinion about an issue, voice it. And on November 4th, drop those issues that will dominate our school and social lives in the fall and take your stand on a choice that will shape our lives for the next four years and beyond. VOTE.

Jordan Aibel is a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].

Sam Guzik

Welcome to Wash. U. Now get ready to leave. Come here, get comfortable, but don’t get complacent. Don’t get me wrong, Wash. U. is great. Savor your first couple of years here. Go to Bear’s Den at 2 a.m., read out on the hammocks, pull all-nighters, make good friends, figure out what you want, expand your mind. And then go abroad. Study abroad is an opportunity, so if there is any way you can wrangle your schedule so you can go, do it, seize it. When else in your life can you just take off for some place you never even thought you’d go, call it home for five or six months, and still be (kind of) a responsible human being?

Ok, I’m biased. I’m writing this article from my beat up sofa in New Zealand. I’ve been here for about five months-finals are next week. But guess what I did last weekend? Saturday, I rented a car with a few friends and drove through the North Island countryside to the Waitomo Caves. Upon arrival, we wriggled our way into wetsuits, put on our headlamps, and selected suitable sized innertubes. We carefully crawled and slid through a hole in the ground-the entrance to the caves. It was completely black inside, and we used our innertubes to float down the river that courses through the caves. Occasionally we jumped off waterfalls. All along the walls and ceiling were the green-blue lights of thousands of tiny glowworms. And Sunday, we headed up to the famous beaches of the Coromandel where we snorkeled along an underwater trail. Oh, and Thursday I took a ferry over to Tiritiri Matangi, a bird reserve off the coast of Auckland. I saw an Orca whale and little blue penguins. Today I should study, but I’m thinking about a trip to the aquarium first.

Studying abroad has been an amazing experience. Not that it’s always been easy. I had a lot of ambivalence about going abroad-I love Wash. U., I love my friends, I enjoy my classes and one semester out of eight can feel like a lot to give up. And while being abroad is incredible, it can also feel isolating, stressful and downright exhausting. But it’s worth it. It’s so worth it. My time here has been important in ways I wasn’t expecting. I expected to meet people from all over the world, be adventurous, travel, see beautiful places, climb a glacier. I didn’t expect that being here, having time to be by myself and being forced to forge my own way would have such a profound effect on me.

Wash. U. is an intense environment. They’ll have you going so fast and so hard that you’ll forget to step back and take a look at yourself. Being abroad has given me a chance to process myself in a new and exotic context. I’ve had time to get to know myself here (as sappy as that may sound). I can’t tell you how much I’ve valued this whole bizarre experience. And did you know that they don’t refrigerate their eggs in New Zealand? And they say “sweet as” all the time? And the grocery store is called “foodtown”? I didn’t know-now I do.

So, think about studying abroad in your junior year. Plan ahead and arrange your schedule so that you are able to go. Start imagining places you’d like to experience, places you wouldn’t mind calling “home” for five or six months. I had friends this semester in Morocco, Australia, Vietnam, South Africa, Brazil, Israel, Scotland and Bolivia. Pick somewhere and go. Don’t get too bogged down by major requirements, double major requirements and those dumb clusters to leave the country for a semester. Plan ahead and get excited. And enjoy Wash. U. Have a great freshman year.

Tess Croner is a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences and a forum editor. She can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].

I’d like to extend a warm welcome to the incoming class of pre-meds-oh excuse me, freshmen. I know, I know, not all of you are pre-meds, and I’ll have more to say to the others. But more of you will start as pre-meds than anything else by far, and many of you are making a mistake.

Not that the pre-med path isn’t worthwhile-it’s just not for everyone. Many students are not sure about what they want to do, and medicine just seems like a good idea. Doctors are well-paid and well-respected, and (so far at least) we can’t outsource our ophthalmologists to Bangalore.

Most frequently, these students say that their goal is to help people. However, there are many effective ways to help people besides medicine, and it takes more than this desire to succeed as a doctor. It’s not only that it’s difficult (which it is without a doubt)-you must also have more specific interests than being a useful member of society. In particular, you have to be able to enjoy (or at least tolerate) organic chemistry, genetics and physiology. Many students may find themselves better suited to be social workers, lawyers, teachers or economists.

But enough about the trials and tribulations of pre-medical studies. I’m here to encourage all of you, not just pre-meds, to be flexible, curious and open-minded about your courses and majors.

There are far more majors at Wash. U. than anyone can realistically hope to try out. Still, you should do your best to sample the ones that could interest you. There are surely at least a few majors which you are able to rule out right off the bat (many people are quite sure that they don’t want to major in math!), but other majors are more difficult to assess unless you’ve taken a course or two within them. So cast a wide net during your freshman year, and don’t worry about specializing this early in the game.

There is, however, more to the process of self-discovery than deliberately diversifying your choice of courses-your state of mind is important too. Even if you end up in the course that could change your life, the significance could be lost if you don’t give it a chance.

Some may think this isn’t so important-after all, if you end up in a course you love, shouldn’t it take a hold of you no matter what? It’s not always this simple, however.

I recently changed my major to philosophy during my eighth(!) semester (I’m going to be a second-year senior), even though I had taken some philosophy courses several semesters earlier. Why didn’t I declare philosophy sooner? It’s complicated, but a big part of the problem was that I was unwilling to seriously consider it. During one of those courses, the professor asked me why I wasn’t a philosophy major. Even though I didn’t have a good answer to him at the time (something like “I’m not smart enough”), it still took me until the second semester of my senior year to finally go for it.

Now, maybe I’m uniquely inept at knowing myself (ironic for a philosophy major), but I suspect that others have similar attitudes towards some majors, quite possibly because students are worried about their job prospects, and hold in their minds at all times the common skeptical query, “What are you going to do with a major in X?” These worries are generally misguided.

For most career paths, your major choice is unimportant. There are exceptions of course-it would be tough to be a theoretical physicist if you’ve taken only English courses-but most employers aren’t looking for any specific knowledge. They just want to find smart graduates who can communicate, write and think effectively, and most majors can be used to gain these skills. I know English majors who have gone into consulting, philosophy majors who have gone on to be Web programmers, and biology majors who have gone into business. So choose something you enjoy. The jobs will still be there, I promise.

Finally, don’t be afraid to change the major you’ve chosen. No one likes to feel like they’ve been wrong, but its better to find out sooner rather than later. And along the way, after changing your major three times, you might find that you’ve become a more educated person.

Bill Hoffman is a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences and a forum editor. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].