Four years ago, hundreds of students filed into the rows of desks lining the inside of Grant Hall. The rectors listed instructions, some students fidgeted and one second-year student took a seat.

It was December exams and he’d just tried Ritalin for the first time.

He studied in bursts for most of the previous week. But time spent scouring assigned readings and month-old notes came in 30-minute increments and then he started to drift off. The time he put in wasn’t reflected in the results, he thought.

His girlfriend agreed. She gave him one of her Ritalin tablets. At the time, it looked like a children’s Advil. He gulped it down and an hour later it kicked in. 

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