Rohit Mital, an OU biology senior, was part of the Campus Activities Council, the Medical Ethics and Discussion panel, OU Cousins and the Acts of Kindness Association during his three years at OU. He was awarded with the Letzeiser Honor List for seniors, a Campus Life Award and is one of the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences’ Outstanding Seniors.
Q: What have you learned from your time at OU?
A: For the past three years, a lot of stuff has happened, and it's put things into perspective, such as … getting an 80 on a test for a class. It is not good, but I kind of adopted a "worse things could happen" mentality. My life these past few years has been great, so it puts things into perspective, like things in high school that would really bother me, (like) relationships or friendship problems. I've learned these past few years that nothing is really that important, and it won't matter in the long run. So there's always something to enjoy about life, no matter how awful it seems at the moment.
Q: Who was your favorite professor/advisor/faculty member at OU and why?
A: Dr. Julia Ehrhardt. She was my honors perspectives professor in my first semester here, which is one of my favorite classes that I've taken here these past three years. She was the first professor I really built a connection with. She's been my mentor since then. She and I have become friends in a way and that's been really nice and very helpful to have. She’s just a great person overall, a very supportive individual and also pretty straightforward.
Q: What are your post-graduation goals?
A: Post graduation is to get through the first year of med school without losing my hair, and step-by-step figuring out even more clearly what I want to do, making sure I'm satisfied. I don't want to get involved and start going to med school and realize it's not something I want to do. I want to take my time and figure things out, make sure I have a path going forward.
Q: How has your time at OU shaped who you are today?
A: Coming out of high school, I was like, "I want to be a doctor," but I didn't know anything beyond that: where I wanted to work, what I wanted to do (or) how I wanted to use my life. These past few years I've had some clarity on that, so now I have slightly more specific goals. I want to be a psychiatrist. I want to work in a city. I want to work for a university where I can teach and do research while I practice medicine. ... I feel like I know a little bit more about myself, both academically and otherwise. And that's kind of helping me carve a path for the future as I try to pursue those goals.
Q: What advice would you give to your younger self?
A: I would tell myself to stop worrying about comparing myself to other people. There have been a lot of moments where I start wondering whether I'm doing the right thing for my future, if I'm getting involved in the right things. … If I see somebody else who's been really successful or achieved a goal similar to mine, I would tell myself, just because somebody else is living a different life doesn't mean that my life isn't going well.
Q: What is your advice for upcoming and current OU students?
A: Overextend yourself a little bit at the beginning, so then you can cut back later on. Chase all the opportunities that you can as far as involvement goes. Take the random course that you're thinking about taking because, once we graduate from college, we'll never get to do random stuff again in our lives. I'm taking harp right now for my last semester for no reason. Once I graduate from here, I'm probably never going to touch a harp again in my life, but it's cool, so I did it. That sort of thing is what's made life interesting here.
Q: What will you miss the most about OU?
A: People, … I'm gonna miss the people. That's what makes graduating scary for me, having to say bye to my roommates, who are people (that) I've been friends with for two and a half years now, and all the other people I've met in those organizations.
This story was edited by Karoline Leonard and Jazz Wolfe. Ansley Chambers copy edited this story.
