A sophomore at Dickinson College from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...

Rachel McCool

What happened when you found out you were going to be a contestant?
When I found out I was going to be on Jeopardy!, um, I was still at my house--I'm actually from Pittsburgh, so I was still here after the auditions--and I got the call saying they needed me to come back downtown to fill out another application, and, uh, so I was, just, kind of, wondering what was that about. So I came back downtown, and they told me I was going to be on Jeopardy!, and I was just... so excited.

How did you prepare for today?
Well, it's really hard to prepare for something where they can ask you anything, so... um... to prepare for today I looked at, uh, some trivia books. I have the Jeopardy! game for the computer, so I've been playing that a bit. And I just had my family ask me random trivia questions.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Where do I see myself in ten years? I honestly don't know. Um... Probably still in school. I'd like to go to graduate school, and then possibly go on to get my doctorate in history. So, um... Possibly living in London. I'd really like to move to England--I love England--so, I've always wanted to live there. So maybe working in a museum, or, you know, teaching. Something like that.

2004 College Championship 2nd runner-up: $25,000.

Jeopardy! Message Board user name: rachel_pi