Wednesday, December 10, 2014

My College Experience


For my post, since Catfishing is all posted out, I’d like to write about the college experience from my perspective.

                I grew up in a small town in Missouri and went to a public research university in Illinois called Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC). My major is Biomedical Sciences and I hope to someday go on to medical school. The student population at SIUC is some 15,000. So, naturally, coming from a small town I was extremely overwhelmed. There were more people in one of my lecture classes than my entire high school. I know what most of you are thinking, isn’t that something you knew before you enrolled? Yes, I did. I thought I could handle it, my fault entirely. All the billboards claiming student-faculty ratio is 13:1 are quite misleading. My very first advisor ever told me that based on a C on my high school transcript, I should probably think of a plan B to medical school. Anyway, I finished up two years at SIUC (I did take a year off to pay back some of my ever growing student loans), and moved to Memphis and started attending CBU.

                CBU as a university, is much better for me than SIUC was. It’s much smaller, which is good for me. Coming from a Catholic elementary school, I like seeing crosses in all the classrooms. I feel a sense of unity among the students, which, again, is also good for me. I keep saying “for me” because I realize everyone’s ideas of the “perfect” university differs. With all those good things being said, I have to say that since being here, I no longer get excited to go to class. Which is strange for me because I LOVE to learn. Everything is interesting to me. My dad has always said that I will be a professional student when I grow up. I sincerely enjoy learning from someone who likes to teach (I have to make that distinction because I do NOT like to learn from someone who can’t be bothered). For some reason, I’ve lost my spark for learning.

Have I thought about quitting? Of course I have. Other than school, I have a great full time job that I love and could dedicate more time to. I guess I don’t quit because I’m hopeful that something or someone will ignite that spark for learning again. Until then, I’ll keep my head down and finish my degree out.

I would love to hear other thoughts and feelings about the college experience from everyone else. Do you have a similar story? Does anyone feel the same way?

 

**Disclaimer

                -After I reread my post, it sounded awfully negative. Please don’t take it that way. I genuinely do like CBU and to learn, it’s just not as exciting as it used to be.

1 comment:

  1. Well honestly, ive experienced the same thing. I was great student from a high school that was big but small at the same time. I transferred recently from a community college where I got my degree in science but my main goal is to become a nurse. Keep in mind that I'm a bio major here and not too far from finishing my degree. I have to admit this semester was really bad to be frank. I love learning as well and want to sharpen my learning abilities so I can make something out of myself not just be a gpa holder. The thing that made my semester bad was my calculus teacher. My first calculus teacher had to leave in the middle of the semester because he had some medical issues but the replacing teacher made things worse. I was always told to drop a class more than getting actual help from her. I was the only one besides a few in my class asking questions to make sure I understood the material. However my teacher's teaching method wasn't the best. What makes it even worse is that she has the mentality that everyone learns the same way and not differently. I feel like she treated me differently than other individuals and I really hate that I had to get her as a teacher. I do realize that we have to go through different situations in order to get to a higher level in life but I guess even though this was a bad experience I learned that everyone doesn't have your best interest at heart. As for your situation, you can be anything that you put your mind to and don't let anyone tell you different. People always tell you that you can't do something because they can't do it for themselves. Don't give up on your dreams and aspirations!

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