My College Experience

collegeAt this time last year I was eagerly awaiting my SAT scores so that I could begin my journey toward ‘Life-After-High-School.’ My horrible habit of procrastination is what led me to be somewhat anxious while I waited due to the fact that I couldn’t retake them if I got a bad score—it was just too late in the game for that. Being a first generation college student meant that I also was the first to discover and to try to hop through precarious and devilishly placed hoops that make up our higher education system. Sometimes I hopped unsuccessfully, landing in a puddle of murky water not entirely clear on how to get back in the game. Fortunately, however, I’m surrounded by wonderful friends—some with experience and others with just an uncanny knowledge—and with their help I survived the race to the front steps of Southern Oregon University and now, here I am, fully enjoying this road to the rest of my life.

Now that I have made it through intimidating paperwork and am able to enjoy my fall term, I realize that, this is it, I am a freshman in college and my own little world is waiting on my choices. I’m here, I’m where I know I’m supposed to be and my options are diverse and wide open. I don’t have to go to class every day, there is no truancy officer to keep me in check, I choose to attend so as to keep up my grades. I don’t have to even go to school but why wouldn’t I want to? There is an option for everything; even my mood could make up why I chose one class over another. To sum it up, college is great and as soon as a new student acclimates and finds the right flow, he or she also realizes that it’s not as scary as it seems.

Some words of advice that I would have for making the journey smoother: Don’t miss the deadlines and work extra hard to get scholarships. As wonderful as my journey is right now, the downside to it is that I’m already in debt. Like I mentioned before, I’m a procrastinator and now I’m suffering the consequences for my habit. Though with one door closed we discover another door has opened, and I find that even though I’ve been dealt a hard hand this year I know that my mental stamina is now up to par for the race of 2010, and I will be in it for the win on this go around. I don’t want to be buried in debt when I leave this institution, and I know that right now college is where I am meant to be and I won’t give it up without a fight.

College has been a wonderful experience for me in the short time I’ve attended, and I hope that my experience can inspire others to find where it is they are meant to be or discover that they are already there.

Wish me luck as I race on!

Stefani D. Gissel

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