An email I wrote to Rosenburg/Snyder
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Dear Mr. Snyder and Mr. Rosenberg,
In light of your recent article on the University of Michigan Football program, it made me think of why there was not any reporting done on the ever day life of a Michigan engineering student.
In your article, you claim that football players spend 15-21 hours during the off-season working out and then up to 20 hours over the NCAA mandated 20 hrs/week during the season. So let's assume they are spending 40 hours a week on working toward their professional career.
I spend 60 hours/week working toward my professional career of being a Space System Engineer. I don't sleep sometime, eat bad/fatty food at random times during the night, drink coffee, and sacrifice my social life. You may ask why I do this? Is it mandatory and do you need to be working that hard to just get an undergraduate/masters degree? The answer to that is no. I could easily do the bare minimum, but I will tell you that will not make me the best at what I do.
I participate in extra-curricular organizations/projects that are completely voluntary. No class credit/pay/compensation. I do it b/c it is required for me to get ahead of my competition. I've seen companies flat out deny a kid who has a 4.0 b/c he had no voluntary activities to prove he was really dedicated. That is what it takes to succeed in America! If you don't do it, someone else will b/c the competition is stiff in everything especially in a down-economic time!
This country was/is built on people working unnecessarily hard. As an immigrant to this country, I have some prospective on what happens in other nations and trust me no one is as lucky as we here. If you work hard enough here, you might just get the chance to make a name for yourself.
I'm not going to hide that I'm a Michigan Fan and was taken aback by your recent article. I understand that your doing your job and attempting to bring light to a serious problem of students being exposed to harsh conditions. What I fail to understand though, is why you chose to pick on athletes or Michigan specifically other than the fact it would attract public attention. I think I get exposed to just as serious mental/physical conditions in trying to get my graduate degree, yet it is expected from me and complaining about it would get me nowhere. If I was going to write the story, I would focus on the demands of society for individuals to be perfect whether its in sports, at NASA, or frying burgers at McDonald's.
Finally, I just don't understand why you are trying to get Michigan in trouble. Our states economy is a wreck and sports are some of the only sources of state pride and community. It's possible you have a personal bad opinion about Michigan due to an association with a rival school or a letter you received in high school from the University titled DENIED, however, this opinion should be left out when reporting.
Your going up against some of the smartest people in business with the athletic department and seemingly have no chance of bringing it down.
I invite you to interview me about how terrible the demands and work load is in the Engineering School!
Best
-KD
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