Skaters and higher education: who studied what?

[GS Forum Staff]

Starting a new thread from a conversation in another one on the subject of which skaters later made important contributions to their field, studies in various disciplines, or skated while studying and practicing in different disciplines.

Please share

 

[Mathman]

^ It might be interesting to have a thread about champion fiugre skaters who later made important contributions in other fields.

Tenley Albright, the 1956 Olympic gold medalist, for instance went on to Harvard Medical School and had a long and distinguished career as a surgeon. She taught at the Harvard Medical School and served as a Regent for the National Institute of Health.

 

[Lamente Ariane]

You don't follow the men's discipline, I take it.

Valtter Virtanen, actual medical doctor, anyone?

 

[TallyT]

Valtter Virtanen, actual medical doctor, anyone?

Nathan and Vincent, both studying at prestigious US universities (the former in medicine), Yuzuru doing Human Informatics and Cognitive Sciences at the equally prestigious Waseda, Tatsuki Machida's Master's in Sport Management, also at Waseda (I think I read he's now graduated? I'm not sure), and isn't Mikhail Kolyada also at university?

This is, by the way, not at all to denigrate or make light of Alena's ambitions or her high intelligence. But let's not discount the other academically impressive stars we do have.

 

[Harriet]

Valtter Virtanen, actual medical doctor, anyone?

And PhD, which is separate from his medical qualification.

 

[el henry]

I think a separate thread on skaters with advanced degrees ( just to limit it to the most awesome of the awesome) would be great. I would love to learn about other countries, I only know about Americans:

John Misha Petkevich, PhD in biology
Debi Thomas, MD
I *think* Ricky Dornbush has his PhD in a STEM field.

And boy are we topic: and I’m not helping

 

[ice coverage]

... I *think* Ricky Dornbush has his PhD in a STEM field.

And boy are we topic: and I’m not helping

All respect to Dornbush, whom I like very much ... but I missed any word of a PhD?

In June 2017, he earned his Bachelor of Science degree magna cum laude from UC San Diego.
His major was Physics, with a specialization in Computational Physics.

I recall that when he still was competing, he had made some references to future plans for grad school ... but once he no longer was in the public eye, I do not remember hearing any updates on his endeavors unrelated to skating. (Please don't get me wrong: I am not complaining that he has kept a low profile, which absolutely is his prerogative.)

As a Dornbush fan, I have every reason to believe that he is successful in whatever he is doing. Just am unclear whether or not he ultimately decided that going for a PhD was the right path for him. (Also: If he did, would three years be sufficient to complete a STEM PhD???)

FWIW, a 2016 UCSD article said that after his undergrad degree, he planned to get a Master's degree and to pursue a career in finance focusing on quantitative analysis.

Sorry that I too am continuing off-topic discussion.

---

... I wish Aliona the very best with her future educational plans, but if she doesn't end up going down a medical route, for whatever reason, that is more than okay.

:agree:

 

[el henry]

All respect to Dornbush, whom I like very much ... but I missed any word of a PhD?

In June 2017, he earned his Bachelor of Science degree magna cum laude from UC San Diego.
His major was Physics, with a specialization in Computational Physics.

......

Thank you; I was not sure, and it could have been a figment of my imagination. I did try a quick five minute search and found nothing of Ricky’s post skating career.

And to amend for derailing, of course best of luck to Aliona whatever her future plans:hap85:

 

[yume]

Nathan and Vincent, both studying at prestigious US universities (the former in medicine), Yuzuru doing Human Informatics and Cognitive Sciences at the equally prestigious Waseda, Tatsuki Machida's Master's in Sport Management, also at Waseda (I think I read he's now graduated? I'm not sure), and isn't Mikhail Kolyada also at university?

This is, by the way, not at all to denigrate or make light of Alena's ambitions or her high intelligence. But let's not discount the other academically impressive stars we do have.

In ladies there is Karen Chen who is also in an Ivy League university, doing pre-med studies i think.

 

[eppen]

Nathan and Vincent, both studying at prestigious US universities (the former in medicine), Yuzuru doing Human Informatics and Cognitive Sciences at the equally prestigious Waseda, Tatsuki Machida's Master's in Sport Management, also at Waseda (I think I read he's now graduated? I'm not sure), and isn't Mikhail Kolyada also at university?

To continue with the off-topic line - Waseda can hardly be compared to Yale in prestige? I mean, Yale is top 10-20 in just about every university ranking and has been as long as I remember reading about university rankings (maybe two decades that is), Waseda gets 600-800 overall, 100-200 positions in impact, 13th in Japan according to Times Higher Education ranking. Hardly equals?

Valtter Virtanen graduated from University of Helsinki which is actually (still) ranked higher than Waseda (though it is sad to see my old alma mater sliding down the rankings, we used to be so much better). Nathan is apparently majoring in statistics in data science "with an eye on medical school".

I think I read somewhere that Alena's dream of medicine would have been crushed by the Russian school system - that you have to do certain kind of studies or high school to qualify for university in that discipline? Could not find my source anymore, but can the forum Russians possibly know better? (Tried to look it up, but could not get much info because most English information seemed to be directed towards foreign students coming to Russia...) But would be delighted to see her get what she wants!

Also, seeing that Trusova gets to do a more than warhorsey Romeo and Juliet, I wonder what Alena will get to do? She has already done R&J, so maybe Carmen?? (And yes, you can read a slight undertone of distrust and doubt at her new circumstances here.)

E

 

[yume]

To continue with the off-topic line - Waseda can hardly be compared to Yale in prestige? I mean, Yale is top 10-20 in just about every university ranking and has been as long as I remember reading about university rankings (maybe two decades that is), Waseda gets 600-800 overall, 100-200 positions in impact, 13th in Japan according to Times Higher Education ranking. Hardly equals?

Valtter Virtanen graduated from University of Helsinki which is actually (still) ranked higher than Waseda (though it is sad to see my old alma mater sliding down the rankings, we used to be so much better). Nathan is apparently majoring in statistics in data science "with an eye on medical school".

Interesting that you talk about Yale vs Waseda while it wasn't the point of that post :sarcasm:

 

[TallyT]

Interesting that you talk about Yale vs Waseda while it wasn't the point of that post :sarcasm:

It wasn't, I didn't even think about it. And I don't believe that poster had all the current rankings fresh and up to date in their head, so it appears that running to check for petty pointscoring was all they got out of it.

{sigh}

 

[el henry]

Yes, Karen Chen She is at a Cornell, which is an Ivy school.

The difficulty with cross-country comparisons is that the educational systems are so different at so many levels. In a US university, an undergraduate cannot study "medicine". They can get a degree in biology or whatever, they can identify as pre-med, but they do not specialize in medicine. To obtain even the basic medical degree requires an additional four years in graduate school. I don't know if any other countries require eight years for a medical degree. :think: Particularly at an Ivy, there is no "Pre-med" major. You major in what you major in, and apply to medical school.

And to become a surgeon requires even more years of study. Tenley Albright is awe inspiring

 

[nussnacker]

Joannie Rochette!

 

[Harriet]

If we're including current students, Matilda Friend is doing Indigenous Studies (I can't remember which university she's at though), and William Badaoui is studying Architecture at University of Technology Sydney.

 

[plushyfan]

Timothy Goebel...in mathematics if I right remember

 

[macy]

Rachael Flatt immediately comes to mind. she was a biology major at Stanford and eventually helped develop an online screening tool for the National Eating Disorders Association. she then attended the University of North Carolina for her PhD in clinical psychology where she is researching the difference in eating disorders between athletes and non athletes. it's wonderful she took the negativity with body image she experienced throughout her skating career and is using it to help others.

 

[lesnar001]

Rachael Flatt.

I posted this before I noticed Macy's post above.
Sorry.

 

[Ross74]

Matt Savoie - Masters in Urban Planning from U of Illinois while still competing, Cornell Law School after taking a year off to go to the Olympics, worked for several years at a law firm before leaving to coach skating;

John Misha Petkevich - studied at Harvard while competing, obtained a Phd in cell biology from Oxford while a Rhodes Scholar,
returned to Harvard where he became a Fellow in music, worked as an expert in the bio tech industry for investment banking;

Paul Wylie - attended Harvard while competing and earned an MBA from Harvard Business school following retirement;

And just about everyone in the Hughes family...

 

[eppen]

And I don't believe that poster had all the current rankings fresh and up to date in their head, so it appears that running to check for petty pointscoring was all they got out of it.

Sorry for going off with this tangent, but I guess I have just seen that claim about Yale vs Waseda enough many times to finally get me to comment it. Considering how Hanyu fans tend to be sticklers for details, I am surprised they have not corrected that mistake.

But academic excellence of universities is measured in many global rankings every year and they tend to be amazingly similar when it comes to the top 20 or so. Very little changes over the years. So I would confidently hazard a guess that Waseda has been a 600-800 level university for some time now. That is still a good school over all, but nowhere near as prestigious as Yale is. Also Brown where Vincent Zhou studies is not half bad either, also top 100 in Shanghai (or ARWU) and 53 in the THE one.

My interest in this is professional - I work in the academic world after all. And as it happens the whole "top university" concept was discussed a lot in Finland around 2010 when Aalto University was formed out of three separate schools (technical, business and applied arts) and they bravely branded themselves as a "top university" without really having a shred of evidence to support the claim. They were 300-400 in the Shanghai ranking back then and seem to be there still. They have some very good subjects, but overall a mediocre one. Helsinki is usually in the 50-100 positions in most rankings and that is also why I every now and then might take a look what has changed overall, usually not much.

Speaking of Aalto University, some of its alumni are former skaters: Susanna Rahkamo did her doctorate in business a couple of years ago (a DSc (Tech), I guess then) and Laura Lepistö also did her business degree to masters level there.

Susanna Pöykiö (some might remember her?) finished her studies (probably a MA) majoring in Finnish at University of Oulu - she works as a teacher now.

Kiira Korpi is studying for a Bachelor of Liberal Arts in a school in NY.

E