In this week’s episode of The Buzzcast, entitled “Loveless Learning,” our host, Saachi Bhatia, discusses the myth that Georgia Tech (GT) students tend to prioritize financial success over their passions and the enjoyment of learning—and the underlying relation of this phenomenon to Dark Academia. The school, known well as an extremely rigorous institution, emphasizes professionally-centered goals for its already career-focused students. This has led to the sense that GT students overly emphasize studying to the point of their personal detriment. Saachi, in an exhaustive effort to hear the sides of this myth, interviews GT student Keerthi Konuganti who graciously provides us personal insight into her motivations at Tech and anecdotes about her experiences, as well as Sarah Mulqueen, an expert on Dark Academia who reveals the nuances the genre. The discussion tends to the genre’s revelance to the college experience and GT students’ passion for learning, and utilizes Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, and the novel’s Bennington College, to inform our understanding of Dark Academia and how Georgia Tech fits and doesn’t fit its ideals. This episode explores Dark Academia, individual passions, and how students choose what they study. Informative, engaging, and thoughtful, our host invites listeners to consider their passions and motivations.