My Personal Experience In College

I had just started my first year of community college at the end of summer in the year 201x. I decided weeks before when I was signing up for classes to take all of my hard required classes (math, english and science) first. I figured since I hadn’t been a very diligent student in high school that if I took the hard classes first, I’d be able to breeze through them with some newfound college energy. That college energy would only last me about a week, even if I had properly rationed it. It had all been gobbled up by a greedy and demanding english 101 essay.

“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.

For those who attended college will say that their best years of their lives were in college, while others say otherwise. So far, my SU experience has been a blast so far, but with four years still coming ahead, there is a myriad of matters that I want to do before I graduate. As noted by Barack Obama Howard University commencement speech “Change is the effort of committed citizens who hitch their wagons to something bigger than themselves and fight for every day.” (Obama, 6), I will make use of my time for the purpose of changing the world for the better. Some of these topics that I want to do are participating in classes or majoring in another topic, traveling abroad to possibly a developing country, working at a major or a little company as an intern, finding myself and developing my people/leadership skills, and growing my skills of cooking. Hopefully, my college years will be the best moments of my life and during these times I would develop these lifelong skills for the future.

College is a great place to grow as a person, but you have to plan out what you will do in order to have the greatest experience possible. Without having a plan you will not be able to go forward with great confidence that you have made all of the right choices in college. This means you should not party and make bad decisions that will ruin your chances at making a great career out of your time and money that is going in for your education. I believe that you should not be part of the crowd that is only at school to party and to has fun, I believe that you should join a group that will help with your education and that you can still have a good time with. You should also have great relationships with your professors in order for you to go to them and talk about problems or issues that you are having with the classes you are taking and maybe they can give you advice on how you could improve in the class that you are struggling in, or maybe they can just be a person to talk to. Professors are great tools for you to use to start doing the best you can possibly do with the help and guidance that only professors can give.

Good Day Everyone I would like to share my first semester in college life and my experience. My first semester in college. I notice about’ve been noticing how college freshmen are so obviously college freshmen. I was extremely nervous about meeting people and making friends at National College of Business and Arts. I also totally remember the excitement, anxiousness and remarkable amount of cluelessness that comes with being a brand spankin’ new college freshman.

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 was born into a culture of wealth. The air I breathe, the water I drink, the food I eat, the shoes I wear, even the smell of my backyard – it all embodies the privilege that my ancestors staked claim to – albeit, largely through happenstance, luck, and the paleness of their skin. It is with acknowledgment of my own affluence, that I participated in an experiment to attempt to live on $5 a day for two days in a row.

My first year of college I encountered an abundance of struggle. When signing up for classes I chose poorly the course load I could manage. I took many challenging courses all in one short span of time. I was not accustomed to the differences of college and high school. I started out anxious but sure I would succeed. Shortly after starting, I began to fall behind due to challenging course work and inexperience with the structure of college classes. I was unsure of where to turn for help and I felt very helpless. I believe I started to have anxiety in high school but with a strong support group I was able to flourish and had never needed to seek a mental health professional. As I started to do poorly my anxiety came to a peak. I would bawl daily unsure of where to turn. I had panic attacks every time I did a homework assignment. My mind would tell me if I get this question wrong I would get another wrong, I would do bad on the assignment, I would fail the class, then all the hard work I put in to come to WSU would be for nothing, I’d never get a career, and I’d never be able to support my son. I studied extremely hard for exams and when I got to the exam room would forget everything. I would often start to black out from the stress. I did so very terribly my first year and was given another shot my second year. I sought out a mental health professional and was diagnosed and given ways to cope with my anxiety. I was in better contact with my advisor and began to attend

Attending college at the university level gives many opportunities to students who carry on with the pursuance of their degree. With such pursuit, students find themselves working hard in a classroom for a subject that won’t always directly apply to what they hope to specialize in following graduation. This class, Management 306, Organizational Behavior and Diversity, is a class that is “required” and therefore, some students aren’t able to see the purpose of this class with the degree that their seeking. When looking at my degree checklist, I saw this class and didn’t have high hopes for it with my first impression. However, as time went on and my mind adjusted from a freshman mentality to a senior mentality, I realized how vital I expect this class to be. I am a part of a society that is full of diverse concepts, beliefs, practices, and people. Diversity is something though that I believe to be unaccepted in most cases, as is supported by most of today’s news channels. Apart from the majority of the society that I am a member of, I want to learn, understand, and better respect the diversity of this world.

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.

Last weekend, as my final task in this 27-day journal reflection, my mother had given me on the hardest task that surprising made me rethink everything I've come to known. She had asked me to send in my university applications. At first, when she told me that she wanted to get it done before Monday, I thought I was going to need another task to write about in my reflection on Wednesday, I already knew what programs I want to go into. I had no doubts about what I wanted to do, what schools offered the best program, where I live on campus, how much everything cost... I had done all my research since grade 11. I was physically ready to submit my applications. But I wasn't prepared psychologically and emotionally. Not even close. As I sat there looking at my laptop screen, I questioned everything that I thought I knew and I had let my insecurities come to surface to make my decisions. I end up switching back and forward between doing nursing and not becoming an OBGYN but do prenatal/neonatal nursing or sticking with doing health science and probably move out of Canada to go to medical school (a lot easier overseas than here). I even thought about changing majors completely and go into women studies and not pursue a career in science at all. I had seemed to lose all self-confidence that had for two years, in a matter of ten minutes. I rationing to do is to talk to others who are in university right now-- which I did. I ending up calling my aunt, my two brothers, my uncle, my

People say once you graduate college to prepare yourself for the real world ahead of you. Going to college was the real world I was eager to experience after high school. The ability to be more independent and give the courage I already have to others surrounded around me. Attending Montclair State University has helped me recognize both my strengths and weaknesses throughout my college experience. Without those setbacks, I wouldn’t have been able to learn different approaches in order to be successful. These top ten lessons focused on preparation skills, communication, and passion.

I believe that the main struggle that I will face in college is becoming accustomed to a new way of life. Growing up in a small rural town in central New Jersey, I realized my area was not an accurate representation of the “real” world. Adapting to a new setting is a challenge that I am excited to take on and overcome. Additionally, the course load will vary from the one that I am used to. I was briefly exposed to this course load in a different environment during my summer exchange program at Oxford University, and I am excited to return to the rigorous courses. Most people would be nervous for the complete change to their life, but all I feel is the eagerness to begin my college experience and continue my growth and learning.

I feel that I have grown exponentially my first semester at UMD. Reading the letter I wrote to myself at the beginning of the semester, I realized that I didn’t have anything extraordinary to say to myself. The person I have evolved into over the past months is a lot more aware of the future and how the actions I make truly do affect those around me. Also, academically, I have learned about the educational system, the life around us, and how to relieve stress in my life. I can apply this knowledge my life and teach others about what I have learned. I am so blessed to have received an outstanding education.

Coming from a small town high school, I knew that my experience at the University would be a game changer. But, what I did not expect to go from being the best of the best in high school to thinking how am I going to survive not only this semester but, the next seven years of my life as well. I was a star student at my high school and I didn’t really have to try to make good grades, but here at the University of Memphis I am barely on the same level of the average student. I never seriously study in high school and I almost always procrastinated on my assignments, but always did well. I have learned that these habits will not work in college, but I have yet to brake them. I know my learning styles and always have and nobody knows me better than me, but I am still fumbling around trying to grasp this whole college thing. I have my goals that I want to accomplish at the university, my personal goals, and my story that I want to leave behind all in line and set up, but struggle with finding the right path to make those goals a reality. My experience as a college student as opened my eyes to a completely different way to approach education and I must evaluate and adjust myself to insure that I am successful, so I can reach each and every one of the goals I set for myself.