Foremost, I would like to thank Cal for featuring my story and for providing an informative site for all of us traveling our paths through academia.

Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. I encourage everyone to check out Steve’s most recent blog post which describes how his schedule and thinking has changed with the start of the heavier fall semester:

http://educatedsoldier.blogspot.com/2008/09/my-world.html

I am Steve, the subject of this interview. I just wanted to respond briefly to the previous comments.

In regards to the relatively short amount of time dedicated to studying and reading, it should be noted that this interview was conducted during a summer semester which required a very light course load. I am now currently enrolled in the first semester of my senior year and obligations (my senior thesis, beginners’ Hebrew, two capstone seminars, and a political science elective) have added heavily to my schedule. I find myself in the library much more often than past semesters. And, as a side note, I would recommend finding “your own place” to study. For me, that place is the library. While I could find the same peace in my own apartment, I have found that I better concentrate when I study in a location that I use SOLEY for studying.

In any case, I have still found it valuable to dedicate my mornings to physical activity. I wake up early, complete my gym routine, go to class, and dedicate most of the remainder of the day to study. More than anything, in my interview, I really hoped to condone a good balance. It has helped me tremendously in maintaining a successful collegiate experience.

I appreciate this vibrant educational dialogue. I hope to promote the same at my own blog, linked in the original article, which I intend to be much more faithful in updating.

Thank you!

Anyone in science attempting to study in this schedule or “regime” is doomed to fail.

Maybe the “special forces” scholar level is quite low. Im checking the date and is not april’s fool day!

I agree with what Linh says…how does he pack in all his readings and studying in such a short period of time…I just finished reading like 40-smthng pages of macroeconomics and it took me an hour or so and i still haf to condense the ideas into notes..it’d be cool if Steve could elaborate on how he does his readings..(of cse we’re all assuming his reading workload are sizable too).

I read the whole interview closely but didn’t find what I was most interested in: how Steve managed to work only an hour and a half a day and still absorbs enough to do well in his classes (incidentally, how did his college career work out?) I’ve observed that a serious reading will take at the very least two minutes a page, and the typical college class assigns about fifty pages for each meeting. That simply can’t be done in half an hour including note-taking, even if you’re very focused. Even casual fiction takes about 1 min/page. Sure, there’s the hip-pocket strategy, but that probably adds maybe another half-hour of work. Still doesn’t cut it. Also, you can’t very well toss the average 5-lb-and-above textbook in your pocket (but then, of course, he carries 80 lbs on his back regularly).