MIR ROR 4.11.2018
TOOLS FOR SURVIVAL AT DARTMOUTH | 3
UNDER PRESSURE: STUDY DRUGS AT THE COLLEGE | 4-5
RAISING THE BAR: WOMEN IN POWERLIFTING | 6
2 //MIRR OR
Editors’ Note
Tools for Survival at Dartmouth STORY
By Vanessa Smiley
Though survival at Dartmouth takes no clear-cut path, certain “tools” are universal, even if they manifest themselves differently for each of us. They often range from the mundane to the bizarre, from the obvious to the not-so-obvious. 1. Relationships This one speaks for itself. Our academic course loads are so heavy and our social and extracurricular commitments so numerous that we all encounter those moments when we’re just trying to stay afloat. Some of us manage to take everything in stride, but some of us lose sight of our worth and sink into anxiety. It is during these times that we realize individualistic notions of self-reliance can only take us so far, because our confidence and well-being are contingent upon our relationships with others.
MICHAEL LIN/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
At an Ivy League school, a certain amount of healthy competition is expected. In high school, we fought to make our way to the top. Fought to get the best grades, be in the most extra curricular activities, excel at our chosen sport, artistic medium, musical instrument, volunteer position, insert interest here. We worked as hard as we could to one day get that golden ticket to the promised land. In the world of high school and college admissions, we were the fittest (humbly, of course). But what happens after? What happens after you worked, you fought, you survived? Getting in is just the beginning. Surviving Dartmouth is a whole other challenge. Each week feels like a sprint, each term a marathon. From all-nighters to rushed Novack lunches to crowded networking events, one can feel less like a student and more like a runner in a seemingly never-ending race. And beyond the pressure cooker of Dartmouth, there exists an entirely new playing field. Immediately after graducation, you’re set back to square number one. This is the game of life. This week the Mirror explores the different ways we fight and survive at Dartmouth. Survival is necessary, but hopefully you’ll come out on top.
2. Alone Time We can’t surround ourselves with people all the time. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, it’s hard to escape to the city and blend in with the crowd in a place as isolated as Dartmouth. No matter where we go, we’re almost always bound to stumble into someone we know. We’re social creatures, to be sure, but there are times when we’ll slip into a misanthropic stupor, desperate for the breathing space that Dartmouth’s nature cannot always provide. So it’s up to us to find that space — perhaps by waking up a few minutes earlier to read that novel we haven’t found the time to read, or taking a long walk outside to focus solely on ourselves. Regardless, in a community that constantly encourages us to strike a balance between academics and social life, we must be careful not to neglect those aspects of identity which are nurtured not by school or by friends, but by hindsight, reflection and solitude. 3. A Strong Liver Precisely because our community forms and unfolds away from city life, we have only a limited amount of social activities. After all, there are only so many Lou’s
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4.11.18 VOL. CLXXV NO. 13 MIRROR EDITORS MARIE-CAPUCINE PINEAUVALENCIENNE CAROLYN ZHOU EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ZACHARY BENJAMIN PUBLISHER HANTING GUO EXECUTIVE EDITOR AMANDA ZHOU
challenges and hiking activities and gelato runs we can make before we start seeking a bit more buzz. Our recourse? The frats. 4. Openness The Dartmouth community overflows with ethnic and religious diversity, and thus offers us a wide gamut of perspectives that we may have never encountered at home and, as a consequence, may redefine our beliefs on a daily basis. We learn something new in every lecture we sit through and every conversation we partake in, but only when we care to look. Slowly but steadily, all these new details accumulate in our knowledge base to complicate our existing worldviews and, by extension, our understanding of who we are. To survive at Dartmouth, we must approach each day with the understanding that knowledge is never absolute and that identity is always fluid, changing each day by the detail. 5. A Fluid Identity Depending on how one looks at it, this is at once promising and appalling. Many of us internalize the demands of Dartmouth as the standards to which we constantly hold ourselves accountable. We expect ourselves to maximize our potential in all areas of our life, be it academic, social or job-related. But to succeed on all fronts, we must be ready to put on a performance, to oscillate constantly and simultaneously between different versions of ourselves. We must showcase honesty in our relationships to form close bonds, dedication in our schoolwork lest we fall short in our aspirations and maturity during job interviews lest we lose a job offer to a better performer. And so we carry on in this manner day after day, constructing and alternating between different selves, until one day, during the late hours of the night, our various selves flash before us one by one until we lose all sense of coherence. So we rummage through our pasts in search of the face behind our masks, only to realize that our faces are the masks and that authenticity is
the performance. 6. Insanity This is when only a certain type of insanity can enable our survival — an insanity marked by either willful selfdeception or psychopathic acceptance. We must either close our eyes and wake up the next day convinced that our identity is permanent despite its constant mutations, or exploit our ability to transition between selves. 7. Jacket We often take this one for granted, until we lose our frackets and have to walk back to our rooms in the cold. Studying and friendships and obligations aside, jackets here are a basic necessity for survival. 8. Naps Speaking from experience, the recommended eight hours of sleep a day is an impossible ideal at Dartmouth, and I admire those who manage to fulfill it. So we resort to caffeine, but there comes a point when even five shots of espresso a day won’t stop the evening slumber, and when any increase thereafter will not make you less tired, only more jittery. This is when 15 minute naps come in handy. The best part? You don’t need to rush back to your dorm for a nap — the couches in Sanborn or the Tower room are made for just that. 9. The News It’s easy go so caught up in the commitments and stress of the Dartmouth bubble that we forget about the world beyond Dartmouth. Keeping up with the news, then, helps us remind ourselves that we’re still part of the social problems around us, and to stay connected with a world in a community whose isolated nature is bound to hoard our attention. 10. Foco Cookies If all else fails, resort to Foco cookies — for the sugar rush, the guilty pressure and most importantly, the gesture of capitalist resistance.
Discovering a Love of Backpacking STORY
MIRROR //3
By Zachary Gorman
At a college in the middle of New Hampshire’s scenic mountains and verdant forests, students have the freedom to spend as much time as possibleinthesurroundingenvironment. From the moment students begin their Dartmouth Outing Club First-Year Trips, Dartmouth can bring about a new appreciation for activities in nature. Trips can spark an enjoyment for hiking and backpacking through the wilderness. Dartmouth’s outdoorfriendly culture allows students to continue those activities after Trips, whether as a casual participant or a hard-core outdoors person. Zoe Yu ’19 has grown to enjoy hiking more at Dartmouth after Trips despite not having been on many hikes prior. “I really didn’t hike that much when I was growing up, and I haven’t been able to hike that much at Dartmouth either, just because hiking is super timeconsuming,” Yu said. “To actually drive there and hike and then drive back is something that I’ve never had very much time to do … but I think that I really began to enjoy hiking after Trips.” At Dartmouth, Yu has had an easier time gathering a group to go hiking. “In high school, I didn’t have very many friends who I could find to go hiking with me, but that definitely isn’t the case at Dartmouth, which I’m super grateful for,” she said. Despite previously living in an environment that was somewhat similar to Hanover’s, Cathy Li ’19 had a similar experience getting into backpacking and hiking after her Hiking 2 Trip. Li is still new to backpacking, but she looks forward to her future adventures.
“I also lived in a rural, mountainous area before … but my friends there weren’t outdoorsy, so I never really was outdoorsy there,” Li said. “But being here at Dartmouth, there [are] a lot of outdoorsy people. And being with people who like to do stuff outdoors makes me want to do stuff with them … I’ve made some new friends who are really into backpacking, and I’ve always been pretty active, so I think this is something that will be fun.” Especially in an environment with constant elevation changes, some enjoy hiking and backpacking as means of staying fit. Many Dartmouth students, however, enjoy these hobbies on a mental, emotional or social level. “I like that you’re just forced to be outside and disconnected from everything,” Yu said. “Most places don’t have cell service, and it’s super relaxing and meditative … and you really have no choice but to just keep walking, which I find super calming.” Dartmouth students’ love for hiking and backpacking is demonstrated through The Fifty, one of the College’s most storied yet challenging traditions. Sponsored by the Dartmouth Outing Club multiple times each year, The Fifty is a fifty-four mile-long hike from Hanover to Mt. Moosilauke. The hike, over two marathons long while winding up and down mountains, usually takes longer than twenty-four hours to complete. As participants fight to stay awake and motivated through their hike, volunteers set up stations to provide the hikers with food and water. While such a daunting endeavor may seem like a challenge that only a select
few would dare to attempt, there are so many applicants for The Fifty that the DOC has to turn some students away. Isabel Hurley ’19, who was selected to participate in The Fifty this past summer, recalls the DOC’s convoluted selection process. “It’s a lottery system, but it’s a weighted lottery,” Hurley said. “You get more points and your team has more weight if there are seniors on your team or if someone on your team has volunteered [for The Fifty]. The more people who have volunteered more times, the better your chances are of getting selected in the lottery.” Yu, who also participated in The Fifty, considers herself lucky to have been selected. “I really didn’t think that I would get [into] The Fifty in that lottery because I was in a group of people who had never volunteered before,” Yu said. “So we had absolutely no points.” To the average person, it might seem a bit curious that some students would go to great lengths to be able to go on such a difficult trek. Yu states that one of the key contributing factors to her decision to apply to The Fifty was because of the hike’s legendary status at Dartmouth. “I see it as one of Dartmouth’s weird and unique traditions, and I really just wanted to participate in as many of those traditions as possible,” Yu said. “It’s something that only people at Dartmouth really get to experience.” Dartmouth students only find out if they’ve been selected to hike The Fifty six weeks prior to the event, but once they are selected, it is time for them to ramp up their training. “I would do maybe two hikes a week on average, and I worked up to doing the [Presidential] Traverse, which is a twenty-something mile hike,” Hurley said. “And I’d never hiked anything more than ten miles before the term
that I did The Fifty. The StairMaster at the gym was also a great way [to practice] when I couldn’t get out and actually hike.” Though The Fifty is clearly a tremendous challenge, Yu and Hurley both found the experience to be worth the effort and pain. “It was definitely incredibly difficult, and I was super unprepared for it,” Yu said. “But I really appreciated that I hiked with three of my friends, and I felt like I got to know them a lot better and became better friends with them because of this.” Yu also said that she wouldn’t have attempted to undertake a hike of this magnitude without the support of the stations and volunteers along the way. The Fifty can have significant effects on participants’ bodies. Knees, ankles
and feet can be seriously worn out for a long period of time after the hike. “I didn’t realize leading up to The Fifty that I have weak ankles,” Hurley said. “My ankle has still not recovered back to where it was before I hiked The Fifty, so I’m doing quite a bit less hiking hoping that it will heal so that I can continue hiking for many more years.” Though she is excited to begin backpacking and hiking more than before, Li is hesitant to take part in an event like The Fifty after hearing stories from her friends who participated in the hike. “They said it was really difficult mentally and physically, and they were kind of broken after — their knees hurt a lot for several weeks,” Li said. “And I would like to be not broken.”
MIA ZHANG NACKE/THE DARTMOUTH
4// MIRROR
Under Pressure: Study STORY
SUNNY TANG/THE DARTMOUTH
Imagine this. It’s finals week, and the amount of material to be learned far surpasses the amount of time before the exam. Every minute of time is crucial, so trekking to the stacks for complete isolation to cram sounds like the perfect solution. That is, until everything becomes a distraction: the books on the shelves, the white noise of the room and the view outside the window all seem to be far more interesting
than last week’s economics lecture. Another scene: it’s 10 p.m. Surprinsingly staring at a blank Word document and wishing the words on the paper due in nearly two hours would just write themselves has proved to be of little efficacy. The document just glares back, white and empty, and taking a break to scroll through social media sounds like a good alternative to trying to finish the paper.
For many students, these scenarios are common occurrences. “Why can’t I just focus?” is a question heard time and time again. From managing their academic careers, extracurricular activities and social lives, Dartmouth students are all busy people, and most days, 24 hours just does not seem to be enough. Eventually though, they are able to set our distractions aside and get their to-do lists done, but
By Nikhita Hingorani
what about those who don’t have unprescribed students also use the it that easy, those who have been drug in an attempt to enhance their wired to simply not be able to focus cognitive abilities. in the same way? There are many students with Attention deficit hyperactivity brain differences, such as attention disorder, more commonly known disorders, at Dartmouth who have as ADHD, is a brain disorder learned how to adapt to the fastthat is characterized by periods paced nature of the quarter system of hyperactivity, inattention with the help of their medication. a n d i m p u l s i v i t y. S o m e t i m e s An anonymous female student at amphetamine, which stimulates the College was diagnosed with t h e c e n t r a l A D H D a nervous system, year ago. She "My mind is really is prescribed as recounted a t r e a t m e n t . spacey unless I'm h o w s h e A m p h e t a m i n e absolutely invested in s t r u g g l e d increases the b o t h i n neurotransmitters whatever I'm learning" and out the n o r e p i n e p h r i n e c l a s s r o o m a n d d o p a m i n e, a n d - ANONYMOUS which a r e d e s c r i b e d re s p o n s i bl e fo r DARTMOUTH STUDENT the disorder regulating mood a s “ b e i n g and behavior. Both two different neurotransmitters people.” facilitate alertness, S h e fo c u s, t h o u g h t , said she feels effort and as if she’s one m o t i v a t i o n i n person when people’s brains and she is on help them execute medication, t h e i r e v e r y d a y someone activities. who can talk to people “until Adderall and Ritalin are her emotions say otherwise,” and common prescription drugs to another person when she’s not on take for those who have ADHD it, one who is “outgoing, talkative in order to treat the symptoms and really wanting to build deep of the condition. However, some connections with people.”
SUNNY TANG/THE DARTMOUTH
MIRROR //5
Drugs at the College
reported it was “not difficult at At Dartmouth, students all do all” to get access to “perscription things differently. People learn stimulants,” with 44.4 percent and interact in various ways: some considering taking are better at u n p e r s c r i b e d "My own feeling is focusing on s t i m u l a n t s a s that there is way certain tasks “moderately than others, too much attention harmful.” and some When asked if on grades and are better the frequency of at talking the use of cognitive credentials." to people enhancing drugs than others. on Ivy League - ADINA ROSKIES, Some have college campuses disorders can be linked to PHILOSOPHY PROFESSOR causing these their competitive, AND CHAIR OF THE issues, while academics-based others do not. e n v i r o n m e n t , COGNITIVE SCIENCE Nonetheless, p h i l o s o p h y DEPARTMENT all chose to professor and chair be at the of the cognitive College for sciences program Adina Roskies the sole purpose of becoming better attributed the frequency to the versions of themselves — the goal mentalities of the students rather of higher education in general, per than the institutions themselves. Professor Roskies. “My own feeling is that there is “Students have lost sight of why way too much attention on grades they’re here — to be developing and credentials,” she said. “It may skills and critical thinking abilities, be the case that the environment learning new things and having new is very competitive and leads to experiences,” Roskies said. “For abuse of these drugs, but that is that, it doesn’t matter if you’re on because students perceive that the a cognition enhancing drug or not, world values certain things that it striving to improve should still be actually does not.” desirable.”
SUNNY TANG/THE DARTMOUTH
“My mind is really spacey unless medications, she expressed her I’m absolutely invested in whatever discontent, especially with the I’m learning,” she said. “A lot sellers of the medication. of my motivation “It’s h a s t o c o m e "Students have just wrong intrinsically, or when people else I legitimately lost sight of why who actually have no ability to they're here — to have ADHD focus.” choose to She a l s o be developing skills sell their e x p l a i n e d t h a t and critical thinking medicine, when she’s on the abilities, learning new giving it to medication, she’s someone else things and having new who has no more organized. “I make my experiences." reason to take bed ever y day, it and can my handwriting even develop is nicer,” she said. - ADINA ROSKIES, an extreme “My brain is in addiction to PHILOSOPHY PROFESSOR overdrive, working it,” she said. 24/7, so I really AND CHAIR OF THE T h e end up paying COGNITIVE SCIENCE source also attention to the n o t e d t h at DEPARTMENT details.” she believes When asked that those how she feels about who misuse the unprescribed use of ADHD the drug can “build an addiction
faster” because they end up taking more than the prescribed dosages, which are usually kept low so those who take it do not end up relying too heavily on it for their day-to-day functions. Although not personally affected by ADHD, another anonymous student at the College shared similar sentiments about the misuse of the ADHD medications. “Abusing drugs like Adderall is unethical,” the student said. “It’s disrespectful to those who actually need it to function at the normal level — how is it fair for the people who are already at this level to take it just to gain an unfair advantage?” According to a survey conducted by College Pulse, 89 percent of the 507 Dartmouth students who responded reported not being diagnosed with ADD or ADHD. Ninety-one percent reported not having a prescription to ADHD medication. In the same survey, 24.1 percent of Dartmouth students
ARIANNA LABARBIERA /THE DARTMOUTH
Adderall is a common medication perscribed to treat ADHD.
6 //MIR ROR
Raising the Bar: Women in Powerlifting STORY
By Cris Cano
Imagine what a powerlifter that for female students, starting looks like and it is probably out can be a source of anxiety. someone muscular. Someone “I know for females who whose extraordinary strength decide they want to start [lifting], shows with every lift, the weights sometimes it can be kind of much heavier than the average scary because there are [gender] person could manage. stereotypes,” Bois said. For many, the stereotypical When it comes to gendered powerlifter is a man. Powerlifting stereotypes, Natalie Mendolia ’19 remained an almost completely has a unique perspective. She has male-dominated sport until just not only been a powerlifter since two generations ago. How are her sophomore fall, but she has women powerlifters’ experiences also completed an ethnographic affected by their gender? To project on the powerlifting team learn more, this week the Mirror for Anthropology 3 “Introduction interviewed three female students to Cultural Anthropology.” on the Dartmouth Powerlifting Focusing specifically on gender Team and asked them their dynamics within the Dartmouth thoughts. C o l l e g e Powe rl i f t i n g Te a m , Cheryl Chang ’18 was one of Mendolia explained how her the founding members of the team project allowed her to take a in the spring of her freshman year. step back from something in She was approached one day by which she actively participates. Tony Choi ’16, She mentioned who asked her h ow s o m e o f if she would “I know there’s her own beliefs be interested stigma around about gender in helping in powerlifting female lifters and him start the were, in fact, team. Because girls starting to lift misconceptions C h a n g f i r s t who have never lifted c o m i n g f r o m lifted in high external sources school for her before, but I just instead of the swim team’s really recommend team itself. strength and “The big it. There are tons of conditioning a c a d e m i c sessions and people there to help conclusion was later found that who are not judging that, even though she genuinely we embody so e n j o y e d you.” many gendered lifting as its stereotypes, they own activity, don’t prevent she said yes. - OLIVIA BOIS ’21 anyone from Having stayed being part of a member the team,” throughout Mendolia said. the past three “We can have years, she is currently the club’s really hypermasculine men and vice-president. very, very feminine women, but Chang noted, however, that not it doesn’t get in the way of our all female students stick with the commitment to each other and to team like she has. the sport that we absolutely love.” “A lot of females will come to During their respective the info meeting and then they’ll interviews, the three powerlifters see what we’re about,” Chang discussed the topic of body image said. “They’ll maybe come to the and the possible effects of sports, first practices, realize that this isn’t like powerlifting, where athletes quite what they’re looking for and compete in specific weight classes. then drop out.” Chang brought up the fact that Olivia Bois ’21 is not one of many people confuse powerlifting those students that left after the for bodybuilding, even though the first practices. She joined the team two sports differ greatly when it this past fall and remains an active comes to body image. Powerlifters member. She started off lifting are primarily focused on becoming with her father using weights they stronger and lifting heavier weights, had at home. After initially lifting while bodybuilders are primarily as a supplement for running and focused on physical aesthetics. eventually for personal enjoyment, Chang also said that the team she came to Dartmouth knowing encourages new members to she wanted to join some sort of not worry about weight class, lifting club or team. especially because competitors can Bois expressed gratitude for have a same-day weighing before having learned to lift with her most competitions. father at a young age. She added Mendolia expressed similar
COURTESY OF CHERYL CHANG
Cheryl Chang, a founding member and current vice president of Dartmouth Powerlifting Team, enjoys lifting weights.
sentiments, adding that powerlifters and bodybuilders tend to have different relationships with nutrition. Bois discussed the existence of different stigmas in different sports when it comes to eating. As a runner in high school, she felt that runners often try to look as skinny as possible and consequently can feel pressure to eat less, while powerlifters can instead feel allowed to eat whenever they want by society. I n s p i t e o f t h e d i f f e re n t challenges and expectations that female powerlifters face, all three women emphasized the sense of community that they gained from Dartmouth’s team from both their male and female teammates. Chang told the Mirror that she’s received “100 percent respect” from all of the men on the team, while Bois described everyone as “friendly and chill” when she first arrived. Mendolia, to emphasize the sense of support she feels on the team, shared an anecdote of how, just before speaking with the Mirror, she had set a new personal record while being cheered on by her old captain. Chang’s experience as a female powerlifter hasn’t always been perfect — in the past, she has had some negative experiences that she doubts she would have had as a man — but she still encourages women to try out powerlifting for themselves. She acknowledged that things can become intimidating in a space where so many men are lifting such heavy weights, but advised others not to play mind games with themselves. After all, she said, it’s unlikely that other
gym-goers are actually as judging as often as one might think. Bois mentioned that she wants to teach lifting to her younger sister, a soccer player. She added that powerlifting has many benefits, even for people who play other sports or just want to more easily carry heavy objects. She admitted that she sometimes worries what others might be thinking of her at the gym, but she knows that those worries are really just “silly.” “I know there’s stigma around female lifters and girls starting to lift who have never lifted before, but I just really recommend it,” Bois said. “There are tons of people there to help who are not judging you.”
Mendolia, toward the end of her interview, explained how she hopes that there is some 18-yearold girl who might spend less time worrying about how she looks and how others view her because she lifts — because she can wake up, have something to look forward to and always strive to be stronger. Mendolia believes that her experiences are evidence that the Dartmouth Powerlifting Team is a supportive community and hopes that everyone can find a community as uplifting as hers. “It doesn’t have to be powerlifting, but find something that makes you strong in your own way,” Mendolia said. “Just do it. It will make you happier.”
MIRROR //7
Pre-Med at Dartmouth: Intense But Inviting STORY
By Jacob Maguire
Preparing for and applying to medical school is a challenging process. This is certainly true at Dartmouth College, where students must complete each of their pre-health requirements during 10-week academic terms. For Nicole Knape ’19, a native of Raleigh, North Carolina who recently finished her coursework for medical school, completing prehealth requirements has been a time-consuming and challenging task. Knape, who took the Medical College Admissions Test on March 24, intends to proceed directly to medical school following her graduation from Dartmouth. Knape started her prehealth requirements “right off the bat” during her freshman fall, and has completed at least one, if not two, required courses during each of her terms at Dartmouth. “It’s definitely been a busy experience,” Knape said. “I don’t think [I had] recognized that until I finished my pre-med requirements. I can finally go on walks and take time for myself.” Despite the challenges associated with preparing for medical school, Knape, a neuroscience major and global health minor, has enjoyed her pre-med preparation and is thankful for the opportunities that Dartmouth
has provided. “I’ve been very impressed with the pre-med curriculum at Dartmouth,” Knape said. “Dartmouth College prepares us well material-wise and challenge-wise, and they also have a significant amount of extra resources for pre-med students.” Emily Yang ’18, a biology modified with anthropology major from San Diego, California, has likewise enjoyed her pre-health preparation at Dartmouth and looks forward to medical school. She intends to take a gap year before matriculating, which has become increasingly common nationwide among pre-health students. “I love thinking about what I’ve been working towards for so long,” Yang said. “In high school, I shadowed people and I’ve been a pre-med student since my freshman year, and the fact that I’m finally applying to med school is exciting.” Similarly to Knape, Yang acknowledges that the pre-health curriculum is challenging, but said that pre-med students have bonded over their coursework. “It’s been pretty tough to be prehealth and have so many different requirements,” Yang said. “But everyone knows each other and we
have many shared experiences, such as that we all survived Chem 5.” Knape agrees that the pre-med community is tight-knit and said that students are willing to work together. “The pre-med program at Dartmouth is collaborative and not competitive between students,” Knape said. “Friends are more than willing to form study groups, which I’ve heard is not always the case at other schools.” One nostalgic and somewhat disappointing aspect of the pre-health path is that many students decide to leave the pre-med or pre-health track along the way and pursue other interests, Yang added. “The pre-med track is a long process, and it can discourage people,” Yang said. “I’ve made many friends who have dropped pre-med along the way and decided not to become a doctor, including someone who completed the requirements, took the MCAT, but second-guessed going to medical school and took a job in consulting instead.” After she earns her medical degree, Yang hopes to become a primary care doctor with a focus on pediatrics or geriatrics, because she recognizes that the need for primary care physicians is high. According to a 2017 report by the American Association of Medical Colleges, there will be a lack of 7,300 to 43,100 primary care doctors by 2030 as America’s population continues to grow and increase in age. “I’ve always wanted to be a kindergarten teacher or a doctor, and I love working with people and helping them,” Yang said. “Primary care isn’t glamorous, but it’s the most needed, and you can have the greatest impact on people’s lives.” An internship at a primary health and homeless clinic for underinsured patients in San Francisco solidified Yang’s interest in primary care. She runs a sub-club within Dartmouth’s Nathan Smith Society, a student organization that provides resources and programming related to the health professions, that focuses on giving primary care to patients at the Good Neighbor Health Clinic in White River Junction. In addition, Yang has performed other volunteer work and conducted research on topics such as tumor suppressor genes and the purported link between circumcision and breastfeeding at Geisel School of Medicine. She encourages students who are interested in medicine or other health professions, such as veterinary medicine or dentistry, to determine what makes them passionate about those fields and then to focus on those interests. “Make sure that you know why you’re doing it,” Yang said. “No one wants to be pre-med and loves being pre-med week five during [Organic Chemistry], so make sure to keep in mind your motivation for becoming a
MICHAEL LIN / THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
The Geisel School of Medicine is over 200 years old.
doctor. [Medicine] is not the only way to help people.” Knape loves volunteering at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and feels that her time spent in the hospital has motivated her to continue pursuing her medical aspirations. Yang has found one of the most stressful aspects of applying to medical school, which is a year-long, highly competitive process, to be the realization that it is the culmination of her time at Dartmouth. “Experiences that I’ve poured over for four years become a paragraph on my application,” she said. Knape has struggled at times to grapple with her own high standards. “Setting high expectations for myself has been challenging, and it can also be incredibly stressful to think about how every grade on a test impacts my [potential admission to] med school,” she said. However Knape’s friends, including those in both the pre-health program and in other academic realms at Dartmouth, have been “incredibly supportive.” “My friends have kept me going,” Knape said. “People sent me heartbreaking letters while I was studying for the MCAT over spring break, in a good way, and I am very much grateful.” Erin Kawakami ’21, a first-year student from Palos Verdes Estates, California, intends to complete the pre-med track during her time at Dartmouth. Kawakami does not know what major she intends to pursue because it will be distinct from her pre-health requirements, but she is interested in several academic disciplines, including engineering, psychology, anthropology and human-centered design. Kawakami said that her long interest in medicines stems from her “passion” for sports. She enjoys learning about medical problems and their causes and is fascinated by anatomy. She also enjoys helping others. The emphasis on GPA in the medical school application process concerns Kawakami because pre-
health courses are notoriously rigorous. “As a first-year student, I’m interested in medicine but worried about the potential impact of premed courses on my GPA,” Kawakami said. “I definitely don’t want that to detract me from what I’m interested in, and I also don’t want to take the ‘easy route.’” Kawakami is also concerned about the possibility of not making the best use of her time at the College if her interest in medicine changes, but she finds the possibility of becoming a doctor to be appealing after many years of schooling. She has found the pre-health advisers to be really helpful. “They’ve helped me with possible plans and shown me different ways to take the required courses,” Kawakami said. “They work to accommodate student for their majors and help ensure that everyone is on track, and they also help you to dip your toes in and test it out.” Kawakami has to juggle her pre-health requirements with her commitments as a member of the women’s varsity soccer team, but she said that doing so has been “manageable” so far. Yang and Knape do not participate in varsity sports at Dartmouth, but they are both undergraduate advisers. “The relationships that I’ve built as a UGA have been highly valuable to me,” Knape said. “Balancing my pre-health coursework with my other activities and obligations, from being a UGA to volunteerism to mentoring, has mainly required balance.” Knape believes that, even though pre-med has been rigorous and challenging, all of her efforts have been worth it. She looks forward to attending medical school and becoming a doctor, but hopes to enjoy her upcoming senior year at Dartmouth College in the meantime. “Regardless of it being so much work, it’s totally worth it if you know what you want to do,” Knape said. “Keeping your dreams and goals in mind works wonders.”
8// MIRROR
Spring Survivors PHOTO
By Natalie Dameron