Reflection Essay

As a person who struggled for years to thrive in school, I realized after receiving Dean's list honors my freshman year, that I can accomplish anything I set my mind to. Now I am going to help others accomplish many things they set their minds to, through occupational therapy. I developed a strong interest in occupational therapy (O.T.) after volunteering with different people. A dream of mine has always been to be the first in my family to go to college and receive a degree.

Taking the multiple intelligences test was a great experience for me because the results were fitting to my personality and behaviors. And now I can use this information about myself to know how I learn and what will help me to learn during college. and what I need to be successful. College is heavily based on the ability to manage your own time and learn things on your own outside of class. Since I

Now, that the mid-term grades have been posted I have realized that College required more time management and consistency within the study habits. My mid-term grades have changed my mind set. I have designated certain days of the week for “study time” for each class hoping for improvement. Another area that high school and college contrast in is my attentiveness during classes. In high school, the instructors were strict about different classroom policies, mainly the cell phone one.

As a first-year college freshman, I came into the university with many expectations. My expectations lingered from the various subjects I encountered this semester. For example, the difference in high school and college course work; I thought the work would be totally difficult. I wondered if the material would be new, but also familiar. I also wondered if I would excel in the college level courses.

For students, specifically myself, procrastination happens more that I would like to admit, being able to manage my time and work homework and projects into my schedule is crucial to maintaining my grades. Freshman Seminar expressed this importance through two items, the first being the ‘4 Year Course Plan’ assignment and the second being due dates on the assignments themselves. The ‘4 Year Course Plan’ allowed for me to assess my current standing at Capitol Technology University and plan out my future. With my next four years planned out I am able to see what I need to get done and determine how my next four years may play out. While the due dates for the assignments allowed for me to get a healthy and average level of stress due to course load.

Homeschooling is a viable alternative to public schooling because it has been proven that homeschoolers excel at college, homeschoolers show exceptional abilities in academic competitions, and homeschoolers have many more opportunities than public school children. College is becoming more and more important in the world today. Homeschoolers have been proven to excel at college because of their ability to teach themselves and their knowledge of the subjects they are studying. Homeschool students prepare their whole lives for being on their own in the world. Through school they have learned how to study and prepare for tests and quizzes along with many other skills essential for college life.

"To be successful, you must accept all challenges that come your way. You can't just accept the ones you like" Mike Gafka. Gafka’s quote summarizes my Junior year as I had to grew accustom to many difficulties, face many challenges, and struggles such as time management as well as how I decided to take three Ap classes during my Junior year. Which were Ap US History, Physics, and English not to mention having a Math 140 zero period class and a Network+ computer course outside of school which made me have a busy schedule. Nevertheless I learned and gain a lot of new knowledge throughout my Junior year.

Study groups can help students to study and receive high grades, because college classes are definitely more difficult than high school classes. Students might have more freedom and time to finish the corresponding work, but at the same time professors expect more from students. Many professors would expect you to have all the time in the world to finish up your work. High school to College is a big milestone in student’s life, because they are required to learn to manage their own time; to find what the best schedule is for themselves. During the two week course, we’ve talked so much about the transitioning into college.

With high school everyone helps you with putting you in the classes you belong in and making sure you stay on track. I can relate to Melanie’s first impression of college being unfamiliar, scary and life changing in college fear factor. When I started my first semester it was a lot different than what I was used to going from a one on one studying experience back to a classroom full of students. Melanie states, “Individuals well outside the ‘traditional’ college age range also spoke of the stress of assuming the responsibilities of college” (24). Melanie’s point is that students of all ages experience some anxiety when first attending

This semester I have learned a lot of new things in the first-year seminar. The few things that I have learned about myself and the type of student I am but also what to do to succeed in school. This class has helped me with the transition from high school to college for the reason I talked about before. When I first got here I was afraid of the switch because I would not have the support I had in high school that this class helped me to understand the ropes of college and how to navigate through it. This class has been for me because it has helped me in college.