My Experience In College

“Today is finally the day,” I thought with butterflies in my stomach as I hopped into my car and trekked forty miles to The University of Massachusetts Boston. Everyone’s first day as a college student is daunting and the nerves were definitely high that day. I was no longer attending a high school of a little over five hundred students, but rather a university with a total undergraduate enrollment of over twenty-two thousand students. This day was the start of a new chapter in my life and the University introduced entirely new opportunities for me to explore. Since the first day here, I have been submersed in a culturally diverse community that has challenged and allowed me to gain a new perspective of this world. The University of Massachusetts Boston is more than a school that I attend to gain a degree; it is a place where I continually learn and grow. I quickly fell in love with UMass Boston and only a few weeks into attending, found myself referring to it as my school. During my first year I was able to meet new people through my freshman success community and eventually form new friendships. Everything seemed to fall into place and my worries disappeared, but more personal challenge arose as the year continued on.

I would like to pretend that the bridge between elementary school and high school did not exist for me—that junior high just did not happen. I was a seemingly thoughtless kid, determined to make it out of school entirely and live in my own world where nobody could tell me what to do. I was awkward, irrational, and rebellious, three qualities I cannot thank my parents enough for dealing with. But the experiences and people I encountered in my junior high years almost made that whole chapter of my life worth reliving. I went through a lot in junior high, and have many memories of ridiculous instances that make it easy to make fun of myself.

Shakespeare wrote, “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves”. With the life I had growing up, I never thought college was an option. I was in and out of foster care until my grandparents took guardianship of me when I was 12 years old. They never really pushed college on me or even mentioned it much. None of my other family went to college, some didn’t even graduate high school. So when I finally enrolled in my first semester of college this fall, I was very excited but also very frightened. My brother, who everyone thought would be successful with college, flunked out his first semester at UCO. He’s in the Army National Guard so he says he had a hard time juggling that and school. Therefore, it worried me that I wouldn’t be able to make time to stay focused, issues in my personal life, such as my work schedule, family, and television pose a threat to my success this semester.

My first semester of college wasn’t quite what I was expected. My classes turned out to not be overly stressful or difficult. I liked all of them, started martial arts again, had my first job, and am ready for the next semester. I was pleasantly surprised that I adjusted relatively easily to the greater independence going to college afforded me and that I think I am relatively well-prepared to continue with my undergraduate years. I’ve learned that I still have issues with managing my time efficiently, I still feel psychology is the right degree for me, and that I have a lot of things I want to study and not as much time as I had believed to study them.

I have made many mistakes in my lifetime. I have struggled, I have stumbled and I have fallen Still, I refuse to let my past define me. I refuse to let my experiences bring me to my demise.

High School, for a lot of people, is bad. Bullying, bad teachers, and waves and waves of social anxiety. But some kids manage to get through it, though. And two of those kids were Cassia Mclane and Eliseo Schultz.

The struggles of and the struggles people created for me during my high school years. Honor student, very quiet, ad never been apart of the crowd. The desire to fit in only resulted in a terrible experience and the devastation of the grades on my transcript. I became more into my social life then my education. It took self analyzing and the realization of the dreams that I want to achieve for a spark of change to come.

Going into English 111 in August, I had no idea what to expect. This was my first experience of college classes, and walking into the classroom on the first Tuesday of the semester, all I knew was it was going to be different. As the class period went on, however, we were introduced to Moodle and then the seven student learning outcomes. These made the goals of the class clearer to me.

My first day attending Texas A&M University approached. Feeling anticipation and eagerness, I did not knowing what I should expect from college in the coming years. At the time, I was unaware only two thousand people in the University called themselves “Cadets” and that their journey is difficult yet rewarding. My parents forced me into this organization by making an unyielding and resolute decision that I was to develop my social and academic skills in the Corps.

Throughout the semester, I have grown tremendously. Coming into this semester, I was nervous, but excited for college. I had expectations of how it would go, and nothing went how I planned. I had to grow up and realize I was on my own now. Everything was up to me; I can decide my bed time, I can decide to go to class, and I can decide what to make of my time here. Time management has been the biggest adjustment in college. Last year, I took 7 courses, two of those AP level, worked 30 hours a week, and still managed to have time for an hour gym session every day. In college, however, I struggled to have the motivation to even go to my 10 a.m. classes. Reality hit after the first week, and I realized I needed to stay focused and motivated to stay on track with my class work.

I take in a puff of fresh air as I stroll down the sidewalk on my way to eight o clock mathematics. I take in the last of my summer, which engulfed me in the canyons of the west and allowed me to cherish the last of my childhood, as I step into the door. I meet my professor and new friends as my first steps into the life outside my comfort zone. Throughout the day I get the first glimpse of what college is like, and, unlike my first impressions, I start to like it. I start to enjoy the days ahead of me: new friends, more free time, and, to my surprise, not as difficult as I thought college classes. The days rolled into weeks, the weeks rolled into months, and before I knew it Christmas break was at the door. By now I have gotten used to life away from home. With my feet in a firm foundation and bit of food throughout Christmas break, I’m ready to tackle the next three and half years of college. I encounter both highs and lows throughout those next few years, from sleeping in on test days to getting an A on that paper I dreaded for five months. One of the biggest highlights I have is a travel abroad trip to Alicante, Spain that I had always been dreaming about. During this trip, I try delicious seafood and earn my history credit in a whole new perspective all while getting the chance to practice my Spanish with natives. Upon my return to the States, I keep at my work in hopes to earn the biology degree. Time flies and it’s already graduation. What I thought would be a least a

This semester was a journey I was not expecting. It turned out to be completely different from what I imagined, and I still can't decide if it turned out better or worse than I expected. At the beginning of the semester I was a constantly anxious and angry person, which happens to me every time after a long break. Coming to Capstone class I didn't know what to expect and how it will be connected to the field I am studying in. I am still confused about what exactly I learned in this class, but I will be describing everything I learned this semester from my outside of classroom commitments. In the middle of the semester I received a job offer with a City of Bridgeport. It was a 3-month finance internship with the office of Small and Minority Businesses. My classes were always my main priorities, however, once I accepted the offer, I knew that I'm not only representing myself, but my employer is judging the whole school based on my performance. This led me to the first change I've made this semester: change of priorities. This is important if I want to live a balanced and fulfilling life. Many people are successful in their career but don't have good relationships with their family because of wrong priorities. They put things like money and reputation above their relationships. And I used to do that a lot. My classes, work, and other commitments were always above any social interactions, whether it was family or friends. Yet, I realized that I do not fill accomplished if I

For many, college is a time of self-discovery. It is a time where many find their calling in life, their spouse, their passion, or their student debt. Some may go so far as to call it the best time of their lives. While there is potential for me to eventually look back on my time at the University of Arizona with similar fondness, for now, I have more pressing issues than finding my soulmate, like finding my next classroom along with many other stressful situations. So far in my limited college experience, the major stressors in my life are religion, academics, and social interactions; however, there are several ways I have found to manage these situations.

College is nothing like I expected. College can either be fun or boring, it is just how people make it. The expectations for college were stressful, overwhelming, time consuming, and being responsible to do the work. I hear people talking about staying up late doing homework and talking about how hard the tests are. People always said that college is very stressful and the professors are mean, but it is not like that at all. The experience is everything in college. Talking to people, most of them say they loved the experience in college. The parties, free food, the people, and classes have made my college experience nothing like I expected.

I must admit that the thought of going off to college for the first time, made me a little bit nervous. Would my roommate and I get along, would I make new friends, would I find my way around campus, get to the right classrooms, and grades? Some of my most memorable moments have been meeting my roommate and making new friends. Not only have I met a number of new friends in the dorm, but also in my classes. Together, my new friends and I were soon able to find our way around campus and to the classrooms. College life has been such a great experience, because of all of the new friends that I have made, along with the independence it has created in me.