Many college seniors begin to stress about the future at the end of their undergraduate careers. For senior math and physics double major Jamin Rager, the biggest decision he needs to make in the next month is which of the eight full-ride graduate school offers he is going to take.
“[Jamin] always works his head off,” said Professor of Physics Ken Hayes. “I’m just really pleased for him. He’s done all the right things.”
At this year’s Hillsdale College Honors Assembly on March 9, Rager won the award for senior physics major with the highest grade point average and senior math major with the highest GPA, which so far is a 4.0 for his math courses. He has completed not only one undergraduate research project, but two: one at the University of Michigan and another at Purdue University. Rager also acted as the Hillsdale Astronomy Club president his junior year.
But he still said getting into graduate school has been his greatest accomplishment. Currently, he has narrowed his choices between offers from Michigan State University, University of Wisconsin at Madison, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Rager needs to decide if he wants a research position or a teaching position and whether he wants to study nuclear physics or nuclear engineering.
“If I study nuclear engineering, then my work will be related to alternative energy — in particular, thermonuclear fusion in magnetically confined plasmas,” Rager said. “If I study nuclear physics then my future path is not as clearly defined.”
Before coming to Hillsdale, Rager’s favorite classes in high school were math and physics, where he said he had great teachers who greatly influenced him. Rager grew up in Vanwert, Ohio, with his parents and younger brother.
“It was a small country town,” Rager said. “My family has farmed for three generations. My dad is a farmer, his dad was a farmer, and his dad before him was a farmer.”
Rager said growing up on a farm taught him work ethic which helps him immensely as a student. He described his family as traditional and having conservative values. Although Rager has deviated from the family business, he said his parents have been nothing but supportive.
“As a little boy, I thought I wanted to be a farmer, and they steered me away from that,” he said.
Rager said his family instilled in him a respect for tradition and conservative values. The mission of Hillsdale College and the liberal arts classes drew him to Michigan. Rager said he has enjoyed pursuing his love of music by taking guitar lessons and said one of his favorite classes was an English course with Professor of English Patricia Bart. Math and physics remained his first love.
“Our departments are so small, you have access to your teachers. It was actually an advantage,” Rager said.
Rager has certainly stood out to the faculty at Hillsdale. Associate Professor of Mathematics Thomas Treloar has had Rager in four math courses.
“His hard work and how seriously he takes his work, those are the things that stand out about his character,” Treloar said.
Hayes said Rager’s maturity really makes him unique. Hayes recalled a time when three upperclassmen were asked to speak about summer research to younger students to increase interest in the program. He said Rager was the only one who didn’t talk about his own research; rather he gave the younger students wisdom and instructions.
“It was a perfect talk,” Hayes said. “And that’s Jamin.”
Hayes asked Rager after Rager’s freshman year to be his summer science camp assistant. It was the only time Hayes ever asked a freshman to fill the position.
With a big decision to make, it seems Rager won’t be able to make a bad one. Treloar said it is “quite impressive” to get into eight graduate programs. So how does he do it?
“I have always taken my motivation to study, work hard, and do my best in my field because I believe that (up to this point) studying math and physics has been the calling in life which God has given me,” Rager said.
“Hard work. That’s the secret. Hard work, God’s blessing, and a little bit of luck.”
