Could you introduce yourself? Your major, interests, anything you’d like to share?
My name is Rohan. I’m currently a junior in the college, studying neuroscience with two minors in chemistry and biology. I’m from Seattle, Washington.
Do you want to share a little bit about your experience at Penn and the clubs or roles you’ve been involved in?
For sure. At Penn, I’m on the pre-med track, so I’m taking a lot of STEM courses, and I’m involved in a lot of different organizations. For example, I’m the Vice President of Marketing of SHARC, which is the Student Harm Reduction Coalition. I’m also in a few performing arts groups, including the Glee Club and Penn Shions Acapella. I also volunteer with Penn Benjamins Peer Counseling. And then, obviously, I do Weingarten tutoring. At Weingarten, I tutor a bunch of subjects, including neuroscience, abnormal psychology, organic chemistry one and two, and general chemistry one and two.
Which courses are you tutoring right now? And do you have any study tips?
What really helps me with studying is using Anki. I use Anki religiously, and I love Anki so much. I try to make my flashcards about a week and a half in advance so I can spread out my studying and avoid cramming. In neuroscience courses, the best way to keep information in your mind is through spaced repetition. If you try to cram everything even two days before, it’s kind of too late, and even though it works for some people, it doesn’t work as well. You’re not really “brain maxing,” or “study maxing,” I guess. But yeah, starting ahead and spacing out your workload helps a lot. That’s why I’m super glad when I have a tutee come in and say, “I have a test about a week or more out, and I just want to go over my weak spots.” That’s great, I know they’re set up for success.
Do you have any experiences you’d like to share about tutoring?
I’ve done all three kinds of tutoring: direct, drop-in, and assigned weekly. I really like the assigned weekly tutor role because you see the same person every week, which helps you develop a relationship with them. The student I’ve been working with this semester does a great job of taking my advice and trying to look ahead. We’re able to communicate a lot, and I feel like developing a good, strong tutor-tutee relationship means, hopefully, that she’s doing well in her classes. Also, since we see each other every week, she consistently has to review the subject material, which is really good for keeping it in your brain.
Any advice for new tutors?
For new tutors, my advice would be to make sure you’re confident in the course content before you go into your shift. For chemistry, I get an email every week from the chemistry lead tutor that tells me everything they’re learning in Gen Chem and Orgo. I’m not sure if it’s like that for other subjects, but I imagine it is. The worst thing you can do as a tutor is have a student come to you with a question and you say, “I forget.” Obviously, we shouldn’t have the whole course memorized since we might have taken it one, two, or three years ago, but you should at least put in the work to look it over before your session. That way, they don’t come in thinking you don’t know anything, and you can be the best tutor you can be and hit the ground running with your tutee. So definitely review, but don’t be too hard on yourself trying to memorize everything. Just pay attention to those emails and try to come prepared to your sessions.
Do you have any career plans you’d like to share?
I want to be a psychiatrist. Through SHARC, I do a lot of work around addiction. I also volunteer at HUP (the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania) and at Penn Presbyterian, where I run the addiction care program. Through SHARC, I go into the streets and meet people where they’re at, and at HUP and Presby, I meet people who are hospitalized for addiction or addiction-related causes. So, I think I want to work in addiction psychiatry, specifically helping people go into recovery and turn their lives around. That’s my career goal as of now.
Do you have any advice for the first-year students?
I would say time management is the best advice I can give. It feels really overwhelming because there’s so much going on, but when you get to Penn, I don’t want people to feel like they have to sacrifice their social life, their academics, or their ability to have fun or be involved. Penn is a work-hard, play-hard school, and you don’t have to lose yourself to keep up with everything. You just have to figure out your schedule, create a routine, and start setting aside time to work ahead. It’s kind of freeing, it’s really freeing.