Personal Narrative: Transitioning Into College

Transitioning from high school to college is an experience filled with mixed emotions that can be exciting yet stressful. In the article, “The Transition to College: Diverse Students, Diverse Stories”, Patrick T. Terenzini brought up key factors on how students of different backgrounds are able to ease their way into the university. As an incoming UCLA freshman, I am academically held to standards higher than the ones given to me in high school. In order to meet those standards, I must learn how to adapt to the rigors implemented in my university. The research article voiced the importance of students receiving support from organizations within their university and support from people outside of their university to help stimulate the process of

Being a non-traditional college student is hard for anyone, for someone who gets anxious easily it can be even harder. I remember my first day of college, I had spent the previous week sick and could barely talk because I still had a lingering cough. Pacing back and forth at home, I contemplated if it was too late to back out and quit school before I had even started. I changed my clothes several times and thought about giving up so much that I was nearly late to my first class. Additionally, in all the excitement I only took the time to know when my classes started and not where they were actually held. I had no idea why I was even here.

Throughout High School I thought I was proficient in reading and writing in my English classes, from freshman year to senior year English classes were easy and felt I could transition my confidence to community college after graduation until I took the English assessment exam and failed in the spring of 2012. Failing my entrance exam was devastating and I refused to accept my results, I waited two academic year before I can appeal to retest my English entrance exam and after weeks of waiting I was approved to retest. After I retest the results were the same, I was placed in remedial English not only was I devastated again but I personally felt worthless. I did not know what was wrong with my reading and writing but I had no choice to enroll

Entering community college with little programming experience, I was eager to learn. I registered for my first programming class excited, with a fresh mind. My professor introduced the class to our first program, "Hello World." Instantly, I was hooked. As I uncovered the complexities of problem-solving and the importance of proper syntax, my love grew stronger. Eventually, with experience in C++ and JAVA, another professor presented a life changing opportunity to me.

Returning to college has been a prodigious challenge. One in which I determined I would meet head on with resolution. As a fine arts student I was fortunate to find a mentor in the Paradise Valley Community College Theater Director, Andrea Robertson. Andrea perceived potential in me and encouraged pursuit my goals as a writer/director. I took the initiative to approach Andrea with the idea to write and direct my own play in the Advanced Directing course. This past fall that idea came into fruition. As a director I oversaw numerous different areas in the production of my play. These were roles filled by fellow students, allowing the opportunity to provide guidance and leadership to peers. I worked with actors, stage management, set design, prop

After recently graduating from Fullerton College with two associate degrees in psychology, I could have not accomplished this goal all by myself without the proper guidance that I received from EOPS and FYSI at the time. These programs were established to support former foster youth at Fullerton College in their education as long as they met all the conditions for each semester. As a result, this was valuable for me during my time as a community college student, allowing me to guarantee that I would finish all my requirements on time to transfer to a good university, and becoming more involved with the campus each semester. That being said, this is one of the main reasons as to why I am applying to your program, so I could receive the support

I chose to come to community college because I felt it would better benefit me. Most four year universities have difficult obstacles to overcome. Distractions like parties, and other social things can be hard to ignore. For better focus and judgment I chose to come to Faulkner state. Also, I heard good things about the college on how they didn’t tolerate parties and the use of alcohol or drugs and the instructors have good relationships with their students, and to this day I find that very true. Another thing is when I was in the industrial contracting industry I knew going back to school was going to make me happy and make me feel like I had a purpose for my calling in the medical field of radiology. I knew I would feel fulfilled and it would

Coming to college is hard. You have to keep your grades up through 13 years of public education. You also should obtain a car to get from point A to point B. This also requires having a job to keep the car fueled and money in your pocket to live off of. Motivation is also a tricky thing to pin down. It seems to appear when you don’t need it, and then just vanish when you need it the most. And organizational skills, what are those? These are some of the challenges I faced when deciding to go to college.

It’s never too late. These are words I whole heartedly believe. A year and a half ago I decided to go back school to study nursing. Coincidentally, a week after I enrolled in classes I found out I was ten weeks pregnant. As any woman would I had my doubts about whether I could handle going to school and now being pregnant. But then I thought, I now had even more of a reason to go back. I would soon have a child who would be looking up to me. I wanted to be able to set a good example for them. I started attending classes in the fall as a part time student. Considering I had not been in school for over ten years the transition was a lot easier than I had thought it would be. My teachers were nice as well as my classmates. I finished a semester

they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please

My transition into high school was as easy as taking a breath. I had always found school quiet easy and I never had to put much effort into getting promising grades. Before high school I had my whole life figured out, or at least I thought I did. I had planned that I would attend a law school or major in English. After a while of being in high school I started to realize many things. My parents did not have the financial stability to send me to a law school, I was not as smart as all the other kids, little by little I began struggling with a negative mentality about myself and my future. I slowly let go of my dream of becoming a lawyer and decided to join the Health Careers Academy. Soon enough, I began to have a deep interest in the medical field but then again I continued to have the same question; how can I afford going to a medical school? I did not know much about college or what it took to get into college. I assumed I just had to have a pretty transcript and that was all it took. My self confidence began to lower as I saw how other students cruised through their high school years so effortlessly. I never wanted to ask for help because I did not want to seem “dumb”. I would bite my tongue and hold in all the unanswered questions I had. My junior year, I was having a very difficult time. I had a tight schedule which consisted of almost all AP or honors courses. I slowly began to give up because I did not believe that I could do it. I let my grades slip failing almost

For more than a decade, I grew up around ringing slot machines and glaring casino lights. It was not like any other childhood environment, but then again, Las Vegas is not any other city. I was admittedly less serious about my education because I knew that students there usually attended one of two closeby colleges, so I did not see the purpose in challenging myself to pursue any other college. However, the decision to move to a new city and state came as a surprise when one day my dad suddenly told my family that he’d accepted a new job in Irvine that offered a higher salary. My first reaction was to be angry- I could not fathom leaving everything I’ve ever known: my friends, my school, my home. We left Las Vegas on June 8th, 2013, two days after my last day of freshman year of high school.

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?

I am attending college, so that I will be able to learn more about my major and also to explore my options. While in high school, I had many reasons and people that motivated me to enroll into college, including my mom, my guidance counselors, and research on what I want to be later on in life. Although I was already going to apply for college, I heard a lot of good things about it from a few of my friends, on how college really makes you a stronger and more independent person. In the past few years, I’ve met quite a few people who have graduated high school and decided not to attend any college, and sooner or later I hear about how upset they are that they did not attend and how they have no idea what to do with their life. I did not want

FOR a long time and for a lot of us, “college” was more or less a synonym for success. We had only to go. We had only to graduate. And if we did, according to parents and high-school guidance counselors and everything we heard and everything we read, we could pretty much count on a career, just about depend on a decent income and more or less expect security. A diploma wasn’t a piece of paper. It was an amulet.