Reflections: Class of 2012
I graduated from UF in 2012. My Bacherlor's is in Linguistics and my minor is in Communications, Sciences, and Disorders. I graduated Magna Cum Laude (with a sub par senior thesis that kept me from Summa.)
And when I found myself working at a frozen yogurt shop detailing my educational experience only because I put in on my resume and my manager blabbed, a girl asked, "So, do you regret your college experience?"
Short answer: I don't know.
Long answer: I feel like there is just too much pressure/emphasis on sending kids to colege, but no one focuses on what college is actually supposed to help you do. From the time I was little my life was planned out. Daycare, Preschool, elementary, middle, high school, college, (more college?), but....then what? What after you collected that magical degree? The jobs just fall in your lap, right?
When I started college I had no clue what the hell I was doing. We simply did not study in high school. Well, I didn't. I did the bare minimum and I knew it. I knew my work in school reeked of mediocrity but it was rewarded....because no one else tried? Because I was a well behaved student? I don't know. I remember being suprised to learn I had passed (barely) some A.P. exams, because that went beyond Robinson. That was nation wide. "Maybe I'm not as dumb as I thought." I remember thinking. Fast forward to college I had no study habits what so ever. I didn't read well. I didn't know what resoources were available. I never formed study groups. My first semester my GPA was a 2.5. The result of an A, B, C (age of dinosaurs), and D-plus (Precalculus...yeah...just Pre calculus. The very same I took in high school). But as I was not a social person at all, I also had a severe case of lack of friends. I had about three from college that I kept in college with my old facebook (Adios, somewhat friends). And one that I was actually friends with. In fact, I just met up with her a couple months back in St. Pete. Other than that...there wasn't really much else. We were "the number one party school." when I was attending as these were the years where our sports teams dominated and everyone was going crazy. Except me.
Overall, I didn't have a spectacular academic experience and I didn't get wild and crazy and create memories and form lifetime friendships. So....what the hell did I do in college?
Nothing. Nothing but the same shit I did in high school. Make the grades and keep it moving. So I made sure I never got another C or D again. But....what the hell did that get me?
I started out college as a Dietetics major. But after sitting in my chemistry and math classes I was terrified and switched to Linguistics. Now, I loved learning about languages, but....there were people who LOVED learning about languages. Like they reguarly read research, studied, wrote....they knew so much more and they were so much more engaged. And to be honest, I loved liguistics but I also loved sociology. Psychology. Anthropology overall. I loved learning about Roman history and I already wrote about how my favorite class was English Literature 1722-Present. What I mean is...I think I just liked learning. There wasn't anything about Linguistics that grabbed me. I just thought it was yet another cool subject. But I never really pusued it like some of those kids who were actively reading research, and visiting with professors and participating in funded research and...you know? And my senior thesis was a mess. To get high honors in Linguistics you had to write a twenty page thesis on a topic. Well, my professor didn't really like my topic so she kind of tweaked it. I ended up with a thesis that I not only didn't really care for but that I was not knowledgeable about. It is the icing on the cake of failure.
So what did I like about college? Well, I grew a lot as a person. I wish I would have taken a pause after high school before college and really thought things through and thought about what I wanted to do before just plunging into college. I wish after the first two years of scholarship paid tuition I paused and came back home as my mother presented to me as an option when she told me if I wanted to continue I would have to take out loans. But the truth is, i didn't have the mind then that I did now. I was so brainwashed into "MUST GO TO COLLEGE!" and I didn't really see a need then for me to actually plan what I wanted before I spent thousands of dollars. I am happy with what I know now, but it was a very expensive lesson. College to me is just a blur of me sitting in my dorm and studying in the library. I could havedone without, I think.
And while I'm here, might as well mention my little stint at HCC 2014-2015. LOLOL. I was working at Whole Foods and I just wanted to be able to say that I was back in school. So that people would know I was "doing something with my life." I decided to go for Dietetic Technician because it would result in a job. But honestly, I was really disappointed in the educators. A bunch of people who just showed up for a paycheck. Not knowing where we left off, not showing up for class, spelling errors, repeating lessons, just a horible experience with the exception of one or two. Plus, I just really wasn't into it....another few thousand dollrs wasted.
I begin paying back loans ...now actually. My first payment is due in January. I want them gone as quickly as possible. Which means spending less and probably not moving out as quickly as I would have liked (not that I have the money to do that on my own anyway). I just don't want that reminder or my "college experience" lingering over me every month. I want it gone.
Coming soon, a post on jobs?
And when I found myself working at a frozen yogurt shop detailing my educational experience only because I put in on my resume and my manager blabbed, a girl asked, "So, do you regret your college experience?"
Short answer: I don't know.
Long answer: I feel like there is just too much pressure/emphasis on sending kids to colege, but no one focuses on what college is actually supposed to help you do. From the time I was little my life was planned out. Daycare, Preschool, elementary, middle, high school, college, (more college?), but....then what? What after you collected that magical degree? The jobs just fall in your lap, right?
When I started college I had no clue what the hell I was doing. We simply did not study in high school. Well, I didn't. I did the bare minimum and I knew it. I knew my work in school reeked of mediocrity but it was rewarded....because no one else tried? Because I was a well behaved student? I don't know. I remember being suprised to learn I had passed (barely) some A.P. exams, because that went beyond Robinson. That was nation wide. "Maybe I'm not as dumb as I thought." I remember thinking. Fast forward to college I had no study habits what so ever. I didn't read well. I didn't know what resoources were available. I never formed study groups. My first semester my GPA was a 2.5. The result of an A, B, C (age of dinosaurs), and D-plus (Precalculus...yeah...just Pre calculus. The very same I took in high school). But as I was not a social person at all, I also had a severe case of lack of friends. I had about three from college that I kept in college with my old facebook (Adios, somewhat friends). And one that I was actually friends with. In fact, I just met up with her a couple months back in St. Pete. Other than that...there wasn't really much else. We were "the number one party school." when I was attending as these were the years where our sports teams dominated and everyone was going crazy. Except me.
Overall, I didn't have a spectacular academic experience and I didn't get wild and crazy and create memories and form lifetime friendships. So....what the hell did I do in college?
Nothing. Nothing but the same shit I did in high school. Make the grades and keep it moving. So I made sure I never got another C or D again. But....what the hell did that get me?
I started out college as a Dietetics major. But after sitting in my chemistry and math classes I was terrified and switched to Linguistics. Now, I loved learning about languages, but....there were people who LOVED learning about languages. Like they reguarly read research, studied, wrote....they knew so much more and they were so much more engaged. And to be honest, I loved liguistics but I also loved sociology. Psychology. Anthropology overall. I loved learning about Roman history and I already wrote about how my favorite class was English Literature 1722-Present. What I mean is...I think I just liked learning. There wasn't anything about Linguistics that grabbed me. I just thought it was yet another cool subject. But I never really pusued it like some of those kids who were actively reading research, and visiting with professors and participating in funded research and...you know? And my senior thesis was a mess. To get high honors in Linguistics you had to write a twenty page thesis on a topic. Well, my professor didn't really like my topic so she kind of tweaked it. I ended up with a thesis that I not only didn't really care for but that I was not knowledgeable about. It is the icing on the cake of failure.
So what did I like about college? Well, I grew a lot as a person. I wish I would have taken a pause after high school before college and really thought things through and thought about what I wanted to do before just plunging into college. I wish after the first two years of scholarship paid tuition I paused and came back home as my mother presented to me as an option when she told me if I wanted to continue I would have to take out loans. But the truth is, i didn't have the mind then that I did now. I was so brainwashed into "MUST GO TO COLLEGE!" and I didn't really see a need then for me to actually plan what I wanted before I spent thousands of dollars. I am happy with what I know now, but it was a very expensive lesson. College to me is just a blur of me sitting in my dorm and studying in the library. I could havedone without, I think.
And while I'm here, might as well mention my little stint at HCC 2014-2015. LOLOL. I was working at Whole Foods and I just wanted to be able to say that I was back in school. So that people would know I was "doing something with my life." I decided to go for Dietetic Technician because it would result in a job. But honestly, I was really disappointed in the educators. A bunch of people who just showed up for a paycheck. Not knowing where we left off, not showing up for class, spelling errors, repeating lessons, just a horible experience with the exception of one or two. Plus, I just really wasn't into it....another few thousand dollrs wasted.
I begin paying back loans ...now actually. My first payment is due in January. I want them gone as quickly as possible. Which means spending less and probably not moving out as quickly as I would have liked (not that I have the money to do that on my own anyway). I just don't want that reminder or my "college experience" lingering over me every month. I want it gone.
Coming soon, a post on jobs?