College is a great experience. It all starts with naive wonder that slowly meanders into a complete and utter confusion. I’m not going to lie, I have spent more time in the “complete and utter confusion” phase than I would like to admit. But there is good news; recently, I have started to see the silver lining on the edges of the clouds of utter confusion.
So in between the tough classes, the difficult professors, the student loans, and the occasional identity crisis what is the silver lining? Even though all of these things can be confusing a scary, it is amazing to see how much you can learn from these struggles. The closer I get to graduating, the more I realize how much I have grown as a person during my college experience. When I started my collegiate journey at Rose State College, one of the most difficult challenges was leaving the comfort of my home that I had lived in my whole life to live on my own. At first it was lonely and challenging but the more time I spent away the more I appreciated my family and the more confident I became in my own independence. The next big challenge at Rose State was managing my social life, my athletic life, and my academic life. In high school, managing sports and academics was a breeze since most of the teachers were coaches or the coursework was not challenging enough for it to matter. College was very different. At first it was stressful, but I soon learned the importance of time management and prioritizing. The next challenge I encountered was transferring to the University of Oklahoma to finish my degree. When transferring from a relatively small college to a world-renowned university, it’s safe to say there is an intimidation factor that corresponds with a transfer. No matter how confident I was in my skills, I still wondered if I would be smart enough for the coursework, or if I would be completely overwhelmed with large classes. Even though the course-work is more difficult, I have realized that the challenge is a welcomed surprise that has greatly contributed to the amount I have learned and retained as well as my confidence in my abilities to face challenges. The larger class sizes were also a welcomed change, even though it was overwhelming I now look at it as an opportunity to meet new people and learn how to adapt to new situations.
So in between the tough classes, the difficult professors, the student loans, and the occasional identity crisis what is the silver lining? Even though all of these things can be confusing a scary, it is amazing to see how much you can learn from these struggles. The closer I get to graduating, the more I realize how much I have grown as a person during my college experience. When I started my collegiate journey at Rose State College, one of the most difficult challenges was leaving the comfort of my home that I had lived in my whole life to live on my own. At first it was lonely and challenging but the more time I spent away the more I appreciated my family and the more confident I became in my own independence. The next big challenge at Rose State was managing my social life, my athletic life, and my academic life. In high school, managing sports and academics was a breeze since most of the teachers were coaches or the coursework was not challenging enough for it to matter. College was very different. At first it was stressful, but I soon learned the importance of time management and prioritizing. The next challenge I encountered was transferring to the University of Oklahoma to finish my degree. When transferring from a relatively small college to a world-renowned university, it’s safe to say there is an intimidation factor that corresponds with a transfer. No matter how confident I was in my skills, I still wondered if I would be smart enough for the coursework, or if I would be completely overwhelmed with large classes. Even though the course-work is more difficult, I have realized that the challenge is a welcomed surprise that has greatly contributed to the amount I have learned and retained as well as my confidence in my abilities to face challenges. The larger class sizes were also a welcomed change, even though it was overwhelming I now look at it as an opportunity to meet new people and learn how to adapt to new situations.
