Reflection Of My College Experience

While only having been at John Carroll University for a few months, my approach to learning has already drastically changed. Choosing a university to attend is one of the hardest decisions an eighteen-year old has to make. It essentially determines the course of your life and what you are going to do with it. However, even harder than that decision is being able to pursue the education and keep up with the studies that come with a degree. My learning expedition in college thus far has been an ever-changing one, particularly due to the realizations I have come to in the Honors Colloquium: Life of the Mind course this fall. Through the discussions of various scholars on learning, memory, and other similar subjects, in contrast to my previous

Tips from the Science of Memory- for Studying and for Life is separated into three subsections that each cover a diverse set of tips. The first subsection covers organizing, encoding, rehearsing, and retrieving course content. Before you can initiate memorizing the information you must be organized. To be prepared you should catch potential errors early on, put the information in a structure that will help you to comprehend it fluently, and experiment with different organization techniques. After you are organized and have removed any errors, you can begin memorizing the information. The best way to memorize is to stay focused, process the information at an appropriate level, make connections between the content and your life, create images

Coming into college I knew there was going to have to be changes that took place. Throughout my high school career I never felt the need to study. I was usually fairly successful without ever having to put too much effort into any sort of preparation for assignments or tests. I knew that once I began college things would be different. I knew I would need to study and work harder on my assignments. This semester's triumphs and failures has given me an idea as to what I need to do in order to successfully move forward with my college degree. I must be always open to change and adapt in order to succeed.

“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.

The semester has been able to turn on a more positive outlook, I feel every semester that you are going to have of college, a part of you always matures. Think of yourself being a plant or a tree that only grows and grows—your branches, leaves, roots, so much rooting indeed.

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.

It didn’t take long for me to realize College life probably wouldn’t continue. Maybe it was the classes I was enrolled in, maybe it was knowing I needed to find a job, or maybe it was just the excuses I used. Soon the college road, reached a sign that read, ‘Dead End Approaching. Detour Ahead. Proceed with Caution’. And with that, college became a distant memory in my rear view mirror.

I expect this year to be difficult. I come from a small town and UNCC is huge in comparison, and not just in terms of population. The space between my dorm in Witherspoon and the Student Union is about the length of my hometown’s main street. To say I am experiencing culture shock is an understatement. I want this year to be fun, be enjoyable, but I know it is going to be hard, especially during the first semester. There is a steep learning curve to even being here, not even considering classes, just being here, just getting here, it has been and will continue to be a challenge. I have never been away from home for more than two weeks at a time and this past Friday marked my first two weeks here. I have never felt more homesick. My family is trying to help, but I am a first-generation college student and we are all in the dark as to how I am supposed to scale this mountain. I am only here because of the generosity of others and hours of hard work. I spent middle school and high school with my nose pressed into books, understanding that I would never be talented enough for an athletic scholarship. In my spare time I worked, worked because my family did not have enough money to send me anywhere. I earned scholarships and I got here and I knew that college was going to be hard academically, and that I would have to work, but even before the real work has begun I have been slapped in the face by something much worse, loneliness.

Now to recount my college chapter I would have to say that it didn’t end so successfully. I began as a freshman at the University of Washington-Bothell (UWB) campus. There I followed the general path all freshmen went through; completing their prerequisites and adjusting to college life. I was like many students, still unsure of what I wanted to pursue in college but a key factor of college is exploration. However, as the year went by I slowly started to notice that the vision I had of attending this college was not what I expected. I felt that the courses laid out to freshman weren’t beneficial as they combined the essential disciplines of say math, history, English, and science into one class they like to call ‘Discovery Core’. Of course, you are selected to choose a pre-major of your choice where you would be taking the classes you’ll need to complete the set of requirements for that major. At the time I was thinking about going into the STEM field as it was something I enjoyed doing during high school. I took the beginning series of Computer Science and going into the class it wasn’t a problem it was the end of the quarter that caught me off guard; the finals.

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

Moving into college, I never expected to form relationships that has such a profound effect on me so quickly. As a new college freshman, the ideas and expectations that were totally the opposite of what occurred within the first three weeks of my college freshman experience. My situation was definitely not what any college freshman would expect when entering school. My main priorities was to get myself adjusted to independent college living , being away from my parents, and made sure I handled my grades and always keep them a priority. When this event happened, I was completely blindsided, as were most of my friends. My goals and focuses suddenly went spiraling down the drain. Throughout my life, I have never experienced something so harsh and detrimental to my emotional well-being.

Learning about your strengths while in college is beneficial to learning and knowing yourself as a person. Two of my strengths were discipline and includer which both can be achieved through college life. To be discipline means to be productive to get a task done and not to procrastinate which means getting things done using a schedule and sticking to the plan. Anyone that is an includer does not let anyone feel left out of a group and wants everyone to feel welcomed to a new space or group. These special strengths is what makes up my DNA or who I am as a person. Both of theses things can be applied and even further developed during the next years while growing as a person. I plan to grow in these strengths by doing homework sooner which should translate into better test scores and grades while I want to become more friendly and get to know more people so that no one left on campus feels like he or she does not have a friend. Throughout life at college both of these strengths will grow me as a person and focus on self growth.

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.

Imagine yourself on the very first day of school. Entering a new environment with many new people. The thought of making new friends was exciting. On the other hand, many were afraid to step into the classroom. A fear of what was to come lingered in their mind. Being shy is common among children and is often overcome with experience. As the youngest of the family, I was very shy. I had older siblings to look up to that would do the things that I feared most. However, going to school was an experience that would encourage me to open myself up to others, which was what I had feared most.

During my first meeting with Maria, I talk to her about many things such as my transition to college, my roommates, friends, classes and how my short term goal was to take the Mathematics Advisory Exam, MAE, and my long term goal being to get satisfactory grades. Knowing myself, I knew that I would not achieve all of my goals. During that second meeting I spoke with Maria and gave her an update about my college and dorming experience as well as how I did not reach all my goals, but I talked to her about my updated goals and plans on how to achieve them.