Happy Wednesday! We are halfway there! Thank goodness. This week has been a long one, to say the least. After having snow days last week (hooray!), I am starting to wish I didn't have them ONLY because I have all this make up work - including labs. Ick. I've been spending a lot of time on campus these past few days, and today will be another long one.
Today is just blah - rain, rain, and more rain. On the brighter side, I am going in for a meeting with a health advisor so that I can apply to the nursing program. As I progress down my long and winding road towards a career, I figured I'd share the top five things I learned while getting my first degree.
It's funny and accurate
1) Freshman year is likely to be filled with drama, chaos, a sense of loss, partying, and it may leave you standing at a crossroad. Sounds awful, huh? It's not. It's just a time where you really come into your own and start to realize that maybe what you always wanted to do is no longer right for you. Or you may realize that it is exactly what you've dreamed of. In that case - more power to you! I walked into freshman year thinking that I knew exactly what I wanted to do in life. Boy was I wrong. I also noticed this trend in many of my friends/people in my dorm. Between your first dose of major freedom and multiple major changes you may feel directionless. Never fear - it is normal and I among many of my friends went through this. And room mate horror stories? Oh yeah. Lets face it, it's hard to live with someone when one of you likes the place hot, doesn't care about how messy it is, and invites people over all the time. Not all of this happened to me, but rather it's a collection of room mate experiences I have encountered or friends have encountered.
2) That leads me to my next point. We aren't suppose to know exactly what we want to do at 18, 19, 20 years old. With that being said, some people do know exactly what they want to do and stick to that path - but many others do not. As you progress through the semesters, you will start meeting people who are in their mid 20's - early 30's. I am one of the younger people in my pre-requisite classes now because people decided to change up their path or decided that they were not happy with their job and are coming back for a more specialized degree. It is okay to not have a set direction (and if you are like me, that's hard. I like everything planned to a T), just make sure that you are heading in a direction and not giving up.
3) Don't let people and the number game discourage you. I cannot stress this enough considering I am a bad test taker. Have I managed to keep my grades good? Yes. Did I have one terrible semester that forever haunts my GPA? You betcha! Moral of the story, advisors, schools, teachers, and students are all wrapped up in this number game. What grade did you get? You need to have a GPA above such and such if you want any hope of getting in there. Ugh! I have had teachers who have stated at the beginning of the semester, "By the end of the semester, half of you won't be here." Encouraging, right? While ladies and gentlemen, life is hard and even though numbers do count for something, being a doer and fighter will also count for something when you are one of the remaining who did push all the way through. When applying for Graduate school (before circumstances changed) I had heard from many fellow students and teachers that there's a hunk of people who don't get in until their second time around. Both my parents will also attest to that. They knew plenty of people in Medical school who did not get in their first year. It's the one's who want it and keep trying who will get there.
4) Speaking of life isn't fair, school isn't fair either. You are bound to have the horrid teacher where getting a B in the class is a hard fought battle only to discover that the next semester your friend is taking that class but with a new teacher who basically gives away EC points. Your friends teacher cancels class all the time? Yea...
How about that one class your friend has that allows for open book tests and/or an optional final. It's the way of the world people. Is it fair - especially when you got a B with a roughened teacher while your friend took the same class/different teacher and got an easy A? Nope, but that's the way of the world. Maybe this is not such a problem at small private schools, but if you go to a large university like I did, I dealt with this happening a lot.
5) Last but not least - enjoy your college years. Junior and senior year may seem like a huge headache as you apply for grad school, a job, or are trying to decide if you should change your major, etc. Seriously - go to parties (just be responsible!), take advantage of the things that your school has to offer - $2 movies, free food for special events (this will save you when you are broke!), sororities/fraternities, whatever floats your boat - just do it! Also, go to sporting events. Some of my fondest memories are tailgating and going to the football games. Even if you don't like football/basketball/baseball, go for the school spirit. You will get sucked in. I am definitely going to be buying season tickets whenever I can afford them.
What did you learn in college? I could ramble on and on about all these great stories involving classes, teachers, room mates, (ex)boyfriends, sporting events, and parties but I don't want to bore you ;)
I think everyone changes SO much, both with what they want to do, and who they are becoming. I think I changed major's four times. Good post, sweet girl!
ReplyDeletesuch a great post! ill certainly be printing this and giving it to my younger sister who is applying to colleges now!
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