My transition to college was successful, but it was nonetheless one of the most stressful times in my life. Unlike many of my peers at Saint Louis University, my rural high school experience did not truly prepare me for the academic rigors of college. Despite extensive preparation, I performed rather poorly on the first round of exams. While I didn’t fail any particular exam, my performance was seriously lacking. I knew that getting C’s on exams would not serve me well in the pursuit of my dream of becoming a physician. I remember feeling, for the first time in my life, that I was unintelligent and incompetent. I was also heavily fatigued from the excessive hours of studying, which I felt were necessary to reconcile the problem. I managed to
There are many different kinds of obstacles college students face on the road to getting their degree. Sometimes these obstacles can be worked around, while other times these hurdles seem so large that students drop out. My life as a college student might harder than the typical student straight out of high school but, I’m determined to get my college degree.
College success has become a most desirable goal. However, many students struggle through college. In fact, according to the Website Ask.com, approximately 15 percent of college students receive a degree. Because I’m willing to earn a degree like many other successful students, I find that college is the stepping stone to my dream goals. I know that college is difficult, but I realize that attaining my dream of a college education will require me to understand the benefits of what I’m learning, to prepare for obstacles, to seek advice, and to create effective and reasonable strategies will help me achieve my goals.
Academics has always been an important part of my life. Ever since I was a young child my parents have pushed me to lead good life academically. All throughout grade school I have had decent grades (generally speaking in the nineties or above), and I owe this, at least partly, to my parent's determination to give me the best possible education. I also owe this to my will to be at the top of my academic game. This was naturally quite easy for me up until my senior year of high school. When my senior year came around, there was a lot of pressure on me to make a lot of life changing decisions. When all of this was put on me, the last thing that i wanted to do was change the way i was living. I loved the way my life was, and going away from home to college wasn't something that i felt i was ready to do. Because of this i decided to enroll in Genesee Community College, which is about five minutes away from my house.
As I started to advance into my high school education, I noticed that my attitude about school and grades was not going to get me anywhere. I went to school and goofed off with my friends and did enough work to get a decent 70 on my work and go home. I had no “active responsibility”, as Freire would say, because I didn’t have anything to motivate me to want to do well. It all changed when I started high school at Bear Grass Charter School. Bear Grass had just reopened as a charter school my freshman year. I was a new beginning for me because not only was I starting out at a new school, but I started to realize that I needed to improve my self-effort in my classes. I knew that I wanted to be a nurse when I graduated and I
My college career started with me just going to school to take PE classes while neglecting my main required core classes and always pushing them aside without any urgency to succeed in finishing school. A couple of years would go by with little to no progress and lack of motivation to succeed in finishing my college required classes. Soon landing a career oriented job and finding myself dropping out of college to focus on my work career. From this point and time I would learn the importance of school and the value of finish college through my years of experience at work. This awareness of value in finishing college would motivate me to want to go back to school. Soon I would find myself at American River College counseling center. Here I was coming back to school unsure of myself and in an environment where I previously never found success in school. After meeting with my counselor I was recommended to take a college success course. This course is part of a program called the Accelerated College Education (ACE). Because I was able to learn along the years being out of school the importance of gaining an education I gained a new motivation for school, signed up for this ACE program, and enroll in the college success
Many of my peers from grade school went on to four year universities with honors and scholarships. For myself graduating high school was the highest achievement thus far. I was not the most outstanding student during those years. I was insubordinate towards my educators and refused correction. I was known as a class clown and trouble maker. Unfourtantly mentally I did not consider myself to be a difficult individual, but special. I am
I started college ten years ago with the hopes of graduating back in 2010. That dream was derailed multiple times due to my life being “more about the past than their future,” (Palahniuk, 1999, p. 117) but in the fall of 2015, I started for a third time and proved to myself that I do have the determination to continue this dream. As for my parents, they’ve helped support me each time I tried my hand at school. They are the first people I’ve called after receiving a grade on a tough exam or assignment I’ve worked hours on, they’ve let me read them papers or presentations for opinions on flow and content, and they encourage me to try my hardest, to never give up. I would love to repay their hours of support by finishing my bachelors for them
Here in Cleveland I attended two different school districts. In fourth grade, I was given an excellent opportunity to ...
If interested in attending college after high school, being accepted to a “dream” college or a college of interest could end up being one of the largest milestones in a person’s life. Being accepted to that college could change a person’s life forever however, on the other hand if acceptance to the university was denied; it could result in detrimental effects on a person’s life. Although being accepted into a person’s dream college may not the maximal point in their lives’, it could cause an array of different things to occur. They would then be faced with the challenge of making the decision to attend a different university. However, another situation may transpire such as that person not being accepted to any college that they apply to, or one that doesn’t supply the inspiration that was present prior to the application of their dream college being denied. In almost any circumstance of denial to a person’s college of choice, upshots could occur that have life-long effects on a person’s life which is something most future college students would rather not have to deal with. Being admitted to a certain college is an extremely delicate process which varies from university to university which creates an ideal atmosphere for denial to a certain college if certain aspects of the student’s admittance application do not meet the universities’ requirements for admission. This is where problems begin to rise in the collegiate academic system which could prevent some future college students from getting the education they desire and being forced to settle just because they scored poorly on a single test or struggled through high school for some reason or another. Colleges rely too heavily on academic performance based upon prior knowledge ...
In my household, from the time I was in Kindergarten, my mother expected academic excellence and nothing less. With her help I was an A student, Science fair grand champion, Young authors winner, Community helpers member, Young academic role model and more. At the age of eleven I lost my mother to Invasive Breast Cancer. Being academically successful was her goal for me and up to that point in her life she instilled the values of education and hard work ethic into me. At that young age I had to decide how I was going to continue being academically successful in school and what were my educational goals for myself. Since that day every school year I ask myself that same question,and this year being my senior year it’s more prominent than ever. My short term educational goals are: to apply and be admitted to 4 universities, maintain a 3.7 gpa, pass AP calc and English exam’s with a score of 4 or higher, and graduate with honors.
Throughout my life my mother has always been my backbone and push me to strive for excellence and be academically perfect. I was taught to go above and beyond everyone else in class and work nonstop without excuses. However, the pressure from my mom triggered a negative effect in me and I eventually shutdown. Though I still managed to finish strong I felt that I did it to please my mom. That is why going to college is so important to me because I know that I can go to college and be triumphant on my own, so right now I am pushing through adversity in an attempt to prove myself right.
My journey to higher education spans 24-years and combines two passions, teaching and EMS (emergency medical services). This journey began in 1986 with a suburban kindergarten class of 25 in Memphis, TN. Eleven years later no longer am I teaching school-age children; instead, I am delivering training programs to EMS providers as well as the medical community. Today, I combine both passions to offer students authentic experiences through which to obtain proficient skills in written and oral communications, critical and analytical thinking, problem solving, as well as in negotiation and conflict resolution skills as they prepare for rewarding
After only being at The University of Akron for three weeks, I dropped two classes. Shortly after dropping those classes, I received an email from my advisor asking to schedule an appointment. While in my academic advisors office, she proceeded to tell me that most students who drop two or more classes tend to not graduate. These words frightened me and even made me regret the decision to attend college as a whole. I sat there and thought about how disappointed my family would be and wondered if I would be successful in college. Since then, I have learned that there is a lot more to being successful
As I entered high school the pressure to succeed and live up to my parent’s expectations increased. I joined clubs that my parents approved of, I took classes that would look good on my transcript, and I studied 24/7 to keep a good GPA. Seeing the people around me happy and proud of me was a good feeling. I stayed up all night just so I could study and get good grades that would make my family and teachers proud. Junior year I never got more than four hours of sleep a night. I was a zombie just going through the motions of life. As I began to look for colleges, the pressure to be #1 grew. My parents took me on countless college tours, thirty seven to be exact, in order to find the “right school for me.” My parents drove me around the country visiting tons of top engineering schools. Occasionally we would visit schools I wanted to visit. But every visit went the same. If my parents chose the school they smiled the whole tour and spent the car ride home talking about how great it was. If it was a school I chose