Paffenbarger: Prioritizing Mental Health
While studying abroad in Japan this past summer, I got a B in every single class — and it was not a tragedy. This may come as a bit of a surprise considering that much of Dartmouth is full of overachievers. Most students here somehow manage to be less competitive with each other than our often equally overachieving counterparts at other Ivy League institutions. Unfortunately, however, this does not stop most of us from competing with ourselves, which can have myriad unintended and potentially dangerous consequences on students’ mental health.