Personal Narrative: My First Semester Of College

After having been in my first college year for a couple of months, I still had no idea what I was leaning towards for a major. Within these first couple of months I had learned that Biomedical Studies was not something that I was sure of, along with many other careers and majors that I learned about in the Compass class that were not for me. Tired of not knowing what I wanted to do, I sat myself down and did some researched. I came upon

Since the start of the semster I have learned many different things about myself and how I can become a better student all around. Summer classes can fly by fast and doesn’t feel like a real semester. That it is just to get credit and move on to the next semester. That was not the case for me this summer semester because I needed to think about the rest of my college career. This summer semester is my first one coming back from academic suspension and I took last semester at South Plains College and Tarrant County College. I did really well making a 3.00 GPA overall and am most likely going to make a 3.5 this semester. This will be a huge boost to my overall GPA. The point is am at the point where I am ready to graduate and will try my hardest to get the best grades I can. I really just changed my mindset towards college and the way I prepare for tests and studying.

1. What experience do you like talking about the most? What has been the most interesting, intriguing, and exciting part of your life- why, and what did you learn from it?

This year, 2016 and 2017, was my first time at Early College High School. I was very worried and scared at the beginning of the year, but now, I am more comfortable at this school. From re-dos to essays, I have learned a lot this year from my English class. There are many things that I will forget, however, there are also memories and actions I will keep. Lastly, there is advice that I will provide for the upcoming sophomores.

Going into college, I knew that there will be an abundance of life lessons learned, but I did not ken that I would be able to absorb so much in such a short duration. This past year in college, I gained vital skills and grew stronger mentally. College is a place where everyone learns from their failures and successes, and with that, there are numerous things to learn from that. My experiences in college edified me how to work with others, communicate with professionals efficaciously, and make perdurable relationships. In addition, being away from home and living in an unfamiliar environment without my family availed me to become independent. Surviving on my own, I learned to make my bed, cook, do laundry, clean up after myself, and more. College taught me skills beyond the classroom, and it withal a leeway to becoming independent away

There are two main goals that I would like to achieve by the end of my first semester of college at Youngstown State University. First, I would like pass all of my courses with at least a B. Second, I need to realize that I am paying for this expensive college education so I need to go to class regularly and be prepared to learn. These are my two personal goals that I wish to achieve by the end of my first semester of college at Youngstown State University.

It seems like yesterday I was just getting ready for my first day at the Early College. I was nervous and anxious at the same time wondering what being a part of the Edgecombe Early College High School was like. Little did I know that it would be a challenge.

My freshman year at Community College of Philadelphia was interesting and a great learning experience. Being a criminal justice major we have requirements that is needed to be completed. I tried to take the easy way out and it backfired on me. I took SOC 101 online and the professor taught me a lesson of tough love. He failed me and told me “come back when you’re serious.” I was embarrassed and disappointment in myself. Since that day I took college seriously and every experience been good.

Legacy has provided a wonderful foundation for me as a first time college student. To start, Legacy has created a cohort in its own to provide support for me and many other first time and returning college students. Before entering into college I did not have a lot of different responsibilities to take care of. My main focus was to go to high school, got to work, and go home. Starting college and especially the Legacy program has taught me more responsibility. I have been taught how to manage my time. Although, it is still a work in progress, I still have learned how to go to work, go to school, study, and take care of my responsibilities at home as well. Taking English 60/100/117 and Ethnic Studies 129 has help me everywhere from studying

As each day comes closer to the start of college, the question becomes how will I survive the 4 years of college? How will I avoid being part of those who drop out? How will I pay my gap? How will I pay my college books, fees, etc.

Since the beginning of my freshman year, many started to ask me more frequently what career it is I want to pursue. For many people my response was always, ¨I'm undecided” or ¨If I don't know what career I want to follow then how am I supposed to know what college I want to attend. ¨However, I was fortunate enough to be able to take advantage of an extra class for medical core through a program called CTE after school. From this class is when my response started to change.

At the start of my freshman year at the University of California - Santa Cruz I was immensely scared. I came out of Deer Valley High School with a Grade Point Average of 3.33 and a weighted GPA of 3.47. The reason this intimidated me was because the average GPA at UCSC was 3.88. However, instead of feeling that I did not belong in the school, I used that as motivation to show my peers that I am not only on the same tier as them but even above. I ended up with a 3.66 my first quarter and a 4.0 my next two quarters while holding two

My first year of graduate school involved a lot of design courses, focusing predominantly on advanced mathematical design methods, system design/optimization and safety procedures for the same and I genuinely owe a lot to Dr. Schuller for how effortlessly I was able to navigate them. I remember sitting in class and approaching it as more of a review while a lot of students were being introduced to it for the first time. The material Dr. Schuller covered during our senior capstone has comfortably taken me through graduate level coursework, and I am eternally grateful for that.

The first week of graduate school has now come to an end and reflecting back on this week makes me both excited and nervous. Looking back to the summer and my prediction of what graduate school and what I actually have experienced are very different. Everything from starting my assistantship at the College of Dentistry, being a house director for PIKE and classes just seems to evoke my passions for student affairs and student at the university.

My journey to college began around 7th grade in middle school, I would always hear instructors mention further education. There was a huge emphasis on being prepared for high school and to begin considering a career. At that point, there was also the influence of both my parents to pursue a career. My father would always tell me about his past work experience and end his statements with, “does that sound like a nice job to do?” for example, around 1989 he worked at a dairy farm. In 1992 he worked the night shift at the old Butterball factory; in the late 90’s he began construction, which is what he currently does for a living.