For Danielle Ruppenthal, a double major in pre-med and piano performance, the hours between 9 p.m. and midnight are not filled with dinner dates, drink specials and dozing off in class--they're filled with playing piano.
The Fayetteville, Ga., native can be found practicing piano on Auburn's campus "between 9 p.m. and midnight, every night," perfecting the skills that landed her a partial piano scholarship, which she won after preparing for a year.
"Every time people ask what my major is I get a weird look," Ruppenthal said. "They always look at me, and they're like 'Are you insane for doing this?' And sometimes I don't really know because (the two majors) don't make sense.
"It's not like business and finance where they kind of coincide. They're completely different."
With a course load that boasts 18-hour semesters, Ruppenthal still has time to give piano lessons via Skype.
"I love piano, but I feel like there aren't many job opportunities sometimes with piano," Ruppenthal said.
The niece of a general practitioner, Ruppenthal has ambitions to become a pediatric anesthesiologist.
"I really want to be a doctor," she said. "I've always wanted to be that since I was little. I enjoy playing piano as more of a hobby."
The 13-year piano veteran began giving lessons while in high school and doesn't let the distance interfere with her teaching.
"I have a piano in my dorm room, and I teach piano out of there," Ruppenthal said.
Of the 10 piano performance majors on Auburn's campus, Ruppenthal isn't alone in having medical ambitions.
Christina Fallows, a pre-nursing and piano performance major, said she finds that piano can be used to battle the pressure of a heavy course load.
"I kind of find piano as a stress reliever to get away from homework and Honors College and to get my mind off of things," Fallows said. "It is kind of stressful, but relaxing at the same time."
Graduating in the top five percent of her high school class, Fallows is no stranger to hard work.
However, someone she said made her school work more bearable was her mentor, Auburn biology professor Roland Dute.
"I had a wonderful biology professor, Dr. Dute, who was tremendously helpful and funny and made biology interesting and further convinced me I wanted to pursue a science/health career," Fallows said.
Ruppenthal also credited Dute with helping her get through the woes of biology.
"He went over and beyond to sit down with me and go over my notes and just go over anything I needed before tests," Ruppenthal said.
Dute, an Auburn professor for 28 years, also interviews students looking to go to medical school.
For these two students, the medical field is probably where their careers await them.
"I feel like I can make more of a difference with nursing," Fallows said. "I'm definitely a people person. I just want to do something to help people with my job. I don't want to sit behind a desk for the rest of my life."
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