<p>Fortunately, what has now become the Emory cliche slogan “passion is contagious” is true, so I’ll agree with that. I wonder if the most visible part of Emory culture (what you mentioned) is completely student driven or if it is driven by the external forces (or deficiencies in it). For example, on both an academic and EC front, I think it is also important for advisors and potential faculty mentors to encourage students. What I sometimes (or often) see at Emory is something like the following: A student does indeed come into Emory passionate about a subject area freshman year, but is pre-med or something, racks up a couple of B grades and decides “must avoid being challenged or taking risks at all costs” and then begins to only select easy/bad/classes against their own intellectual interests to “protect” themselves. However, usually the logic is non-sense. There will be a student who is a biology major, gets to organic chemistry with a good but difficult professor and scores a B grade (and freaks out I guess). Unfortunately, they are silly enough to select their biology courses based upon that experience (supposedly, biology is the strength or interest, not chemistry). So, if the person is extremely interested in say “X biology” course taught by “Y, very good, but challenging professor”, they say “no, I can only take these courses with these people regardless, because I made a B in 2 courses over in the chemistry department”. Not only this, but often the student in damage control mode will sometimes bring the mentality into their EC life, and settle for a series of “safe” (as in bandwagon ones that usually everyone else with a certain major or interest is doing) activities that seem as if they directly fit into their career plans instead pursuing something more unique that they are genuinely interested in and would do extraordinarily well at. </p>
<p>For example, a pre-med friend of mines once said “I need to be in the service frat as it is one of the only opps. I’ll have to do service”. I literally asked them why they couldn’t do something else such as an independent project or get heavily involved in Volunteer Emory’s activities. They seemed not to have an answer. They likely just wanted the safety that came from the name and mission of the specific organization (because they can at least write “service frat” on the resume). I feel like there needs to be some sort of guidance to prevent students from going down this path of damage control for a huge chunk of their Emory career. Things like phMO don’t help when they suggest a series of random classes that are supposedly easy when a student is slightly concerned about their science GPA for example (one person I know got screwed by such advice). This is especially the case when very elite peers are doing what is essentially the opposite. Advisors (especially those with less students who have the time) need to sit down and actually ask directly about the students interests and lead them in the right direction (luckily, I had an awesome and honest bio advisor who told me who was worth taking based on their pedagogy. She would not recommend taking a crappy teacher for a grade, ever). </p>
<p>Also, risk taking or stepping outside the box needs to be encouraged more. I would like to see more Emory College (pre-health or not) students being aware of and expressing interest in say, the Emory Global Health Case Competition. Such experiences that many on campus don’t participate in seem like wonderful dual opportunities in the academic/intellectual and EC sphere. It’s an awesome intellectual challenge while also being a great socialization and networking opportunity. One doesn’t have to always pursue the stereotypical organizations and activities that most of the campus does. A lot more can likely be done to encourage us to continue to pursue any passion we had regardless of grades or anything else. In addition, I think entrepreneurial endeavors is likely the next big thing to be capitalized on this campus. I feel there is a lot of energy in this area when compared to “near peers” and it will be even better if some of the above issues with risk-aversion and the “damage control” mentality is solved. Emory students with passion and ideas clearly know how to make things happen. We just need more people to hold onto and then act on their ideas and passions. Administration, faculty, and students have a role to play in this arena.</p>