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Nathan Chen has one more year as a Yale undergraduate … well, maybe two years.
“I’m going to apply this coming year for a program which will cover all the pre-med requirements,” Chen said, while in Massachusetts for The Skating Club of Boston’s “Ice Chips” show. “It’s a post-undergrad program to fill in all those credits and put you in a position to pursue a medical degree.”
But after that, Chen still hasn’t quite decided what he’ll do next.
“That will theoretically put me in a position to make a more solid decision on whether or not to go to medical school. At that point it will be contingent on how I’m feeling, a lot of other things. Tentatively, at this moment, that’s the direction I’m going.”
As he finishes up his junior year, Chen has had a full calendar far outside the scope of a garden-variety college student. He published a memoir, One Jump at a Time, in November, and Wei Skates On, a children’s book illustrated by Lorraine Nam, in February. He starred in an official video for the Britney Spears/Elton John song “Hold Me Closer.”
In January Chen was invited to the White House for a Lunar New Year celebration, where he was introduced and greeted by President Biden. His calendar included personal appearances for sponsors and organizations, but he also found time for some regular college stuff, like intramural sports.
“Lab and classes take up most of my time, [but] I’ve done some intramurals, played some basketball and football, etc. I’ve gone to a couple hockey games, a couple football games, but the season’s kind of ending now for most varsity sports.”
Right after Chen finishes his exams, he’ll be starring in a 10-show tour with Stars on Ice. He looks forward to reuniting with friends and teammates on the tour.
“It’s a really special show. We spend a lot of time together, so you really get to know the other athletes,” he said. “Everyone has their own experiences in skating, so it’s cool to look beyond your own experiences and just have a fun time.”
Although he didn’t yet know, in April, what he would be skating to on the tour, Chen mentioned that he had choreographed two new numbers for Ice Chips, to “Mr. Blue Sky” by the Electric Light Orchestra and Billy Joel’s “Vienna.” He skated the former with a big smile on his face from beginning to end, looking entirely happy to be performing in front of an audience.
“Both [songs] are a little more ‘old-timey’ than some of the more modern songs I’ve skated to, but super-fun,” he said.
In spite of his packed calendar, Chen tries to skate as much as he can at college, entirely for pleasure.
“It’s a nice little de-stressor, and it’s just something where I feel confident, I feel comfortable, I know what I’m doing. I definitely like finding myself on the ice.”
The rink at Yale will be closing for the season soon, so Chen will have to find somewhere else to skate and get ready for the tour, but he seems certain to.
“I try to skate as much as I can,” he said. “I really like being on the ice. Shows are always a lot of fun, but just being alone on the ice, skating to music … I try to do it as much as I can.”
And, no, he wasn’t sorry not to be competing at Worlds this year, although he watched some of it.
“I’m happy with where I’m at currently. I mean, I was so busy with things I’ve been doing that fortunately I haven’t needed to sit around and think too much about [not competing], but I’m impressed with all the skating that I did see during Worlds this year.”
For now, Chen is giving most of his attention to school. In the spring semester, he took four courses: Theory of Statistics, Data Analysis, Sickness and Health in African-American History and French.
“Sickness and Health is one of my favorite classes,” he said, with enthusiasm. “We’re talking about racial inequality, especially in the health-care context. The professor is incredible. She gives us the ability to look beyond health care and see how racial inequality impacts everyone. It’s been cool to hear new perspectives and learn things that I’ve never really known before.”
Chen says he thinks his major, statistics and data, has many applications to the health industry as well as other aspects of society.
“One of the classes I’m taking is taught by someone who was formerly with ESPN, so we’re analyzing sporting data, which is cool, looking at the probability that a certain player shoots the puck at a certain radius, modeling all that. So far, I’ve been enjoying the major obviously.
“I’m currently working with a cardio-oncologist, an attending at the hospital in New Haven, the head of a cardiovascular research lab at Yale. She is doing some amazing work.”
Despite a bit of hedging about the future, Chen still sees himself becoming a doctor someday. Of course, he has a long way to go, not to mention eventually applying to medical school, but it’s hard to believe he wouldn’t be as much of a success there as he has been everywhere else.
“I respect people in health care, especially the past year, seeing how people came together and tried to keep everyone healthy,” he said. “It’s definitely a career path that I think is really intriguing, but there’s a lot of work to be done so I can’t guarantee that anything will happen. A lot of those decisions will be out of my hands but I’m going to do as much as I can now.”
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