Monday, January 18, 2010

New Semester, New Tactics

Hi! This is the first post of Darcy Ross, a sophomore in the IB Honors program. To the left is a picture of an owl in flight, effortlessly gliding through the winter air. I find it inspiring, when all I want to do is hibernate through the winter.

Let me start out by saying that over one semester, IBH has shifted my course in life quite drastically and pointed me toward opportunities previously unfathomable. Perhaps even more significantly, the people in this program, both faculty and students, have served to fuel my enthusiasm about biology and the places it is taking me. IBH is a place where ideas take wing to the promised land of reality, and I am ever grateful for it.

That said, IB 270 rocked my world. The amount of work I put into that class, especially when it came to the Discovery Project, was orders of magnitude more than anything I had previously ŭndertaken. This was partly because of the challenges it inherently presented, and partly because I loved it so much that I would rather spend time on IB than on my Japanese or Orgo classes. Organic Chemistry in particular is a selfish beast, and retaliated against my neglect quite fiercely.

This semester, I seek a more balanced schedule. I decided to push physics back a semester, leaving me with only 13 credit hours (gasp!). I wanted to excel in my courses and spend more time in a lab (gaining some more credits, thankfully) so that I could start work on an independent project soon. That's what I told my parents, at least. It is all true, but I am also exploring a philosophy that I've often enjoyed reading about from the Study Hacks blog. Study Hacks is written by Cal Newport, MIT student and now post-doc, who investigated the study habits of straight-A students.

The main idea I'm trying to follow is his Zen Valedictorian philosophy. His summary of the philosophy:

If you understand…

  • your interests and values,
  • the psychology of impressiveness, and
  • how to be productive and study efficiently,

then you can construct a student lifestyle that is…

  • relaxed and free of chronic stress,
  • intellectually engaging,
  • wildly social and exciting, and
  • just as impressive as if you had followed the path of the grind.

We can sum this all up in the following pithy motto:

Do Less. Live More. Get Ahead.


By purposely underscheduling my coursework, I will focus on other things that are fulfilling to me and often still productive in my career as a student: my Esperanto club; writing for the Journal of Young Investigators; writing bad poetry; doing yoga; having chats with some of the amazing, influential people just wandering nonchalantly on this campus; finding a topic for my senior thesis that truly interests me; reading; and in general exploring who I am and who I want to be. Now doesn't that sound fun?

As long as I strike the right balance, my GPA will benefit as well. I don't for one moment plan on slacking off--I am setting the goals higher this semester. I should be able to do better in my classes without just spending more time on them. I have much anecdotal evidence that a rested, happy mind is a smarter one, an example being: One night last semester, I accidentally got a full night's rest before my 8 AM Japanese class. My new-found comprehension, participation, and alertness startled me. I wonder which exams and other projects from last semester could have benefited from such a remedy. I want this state to be the norm, and I see no reason it won't be.

What are your goals this semester? Do you have any advice for other students?