Central Washington University Top Questions

My college experience has helped shaped me into the person I am today. When you live at home you have to follow mom and dad's rules. When you go to college you have to make decisions for yourself and live with the consequences of your decisions. There are many decisions one has to make in college from picking your major, to go to class or not, and even whether or not one should attend the occassional party. College is where I learned the importance of making good decisions because no one else has to answer for my actions. This is why college has been so valuable because it is where I started to well in school for me and not for someone else. Academically I learned alot, but the college experience really helped me grow into a person that I am proud of today.

Within my college experience I have became more self-disciplined and self-motivated. Since I am taking all online courses, these qualities are very essential. I do not have anyone telling me when to work on an assignment, and I have to be organized so I can keep track of my due dates. I have also learned more about myself by relating my life to my course content. Community college prepared me and helped me understand what the college experience is like. However, going to a university has been the most effective education for me. Within the first two quarters of working on my Bachelor's Degree in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, I have felt like my courses have taught me to expand my views and become more sensitive to other people's outlooks. This is a valuable skill to obtain because within social science careers, it is important to be able to understand other people. My college experience does not stay with me in just school; instead I expand my knowledge by practicing it wherever I go. Without a college education, this skill would still be hidden within me.

I am a black woman displaced from the workplace and returning to college was very intimidating. I entered the InterDisciplinary Studies program at CWU and found my comfort zone. I have taken classes that I have an interest in the field and in doing so have found that I had more interest and knowledge in certain subjects that I didn't know I had. This experience has allowed me to grow not only academically, but intellectually and emotionally. I have discovered new talents I didn't know I had such as writing skills. Attending CWU has also shown my children the value of education and that it is never to late to attain goals you set in life. I am a role model to not only my family but also friends displaced from school to work or that had never finished their degrees because life happened. I am showing my children and myself that you can do anything if you put your mind to it even if you have obstacles in your life, you can overcome them and be successful in college, life and work. It's never too late to achieve you goals, one just needs to start.

Attending college has brought forth many wonderful experiences to my life. I have been able to make very good friends that I would not have had the chance to meet if I decided not to attend. I have been able to live the life of a college student, by learning to balance education, work, and entertainment in order to do well academically and socially. I have also improved on self-responsibility, knowing that I am in control of I want to attend class or not. I value what the experiences and life lessons that I have obtained by going to college. It’s not about who has more friends or who has the best time, I learned that life is about whoever wants it more and is ambitious will usually reach their goals. College has opened my eyes to real world challenges and obstacles that will obstruct the path to success, but with hard work and determination, nothing is impossible. These are lessons that I will cherish and look back on for the rest of my life.

The most important thing I have gotten out of my college experience is hope for a better future. I know that by having a college degree; I can expect to make enough money to support a family, be able to retire at a decent age, and have a job I am passionate about. I also know that by having a college degree I have an opportunity and a duty to change the world. I am in the field of elementary education; therefore I know that I will be changing students' lives. In turn, I recognize that they are the future of this country and we must educate them in a way that will make a difference. My generation and the one to follow really are the future of America. And since our country is not in the best shape right now, I feel like it is my duty to do something about that. By becoming a teacher I feel like I am a piece of the puzzle to a more promising tomorrow. So, to conclude I would have to say the best thing I have gotten out of my college experience is stability and a hope for a better tomorrow.

Although I have only been at Central Washington University for just over a quarter now, it is safe to say that it has made a huge impact on my life. At the beginning of fall quarter, I was really struggling with being away from home and away from my family and friends. At that point, I was not sure what I wanted anymore and especially if I would want to continue at CWU Winter quarter. To keep myself busy, I started getting more involved with volunteering and meeting people in my dorm and it really changed my whole experience. I am now best friends with my roommate, joined the Lacrosse team (which we will be traveling for games starting March 5), constantly looking for more clubs to join, and keeping on top of my school work and feeling confident about it! I have learned so much in the past five months, not only from my professors, but from the people around me. I respect everyone that is here because it takes a lot of hard work and time to be where we are now and we have a full journey ahead of us.

While I have learned many things during my time at Central Washington University, the greatest thing I am taking away is a sense of responsibility and pride in my work. Growing up, I was never challegend to the degree I have been challenged at college. Through this challenge, I have gained confidence in my abilities and really take responsibility for the work that I complete. I have learned that hard work, no matter what the outcome, is something you can always be proud of. These lessons are something I will cherish and use for the rest of my life. Without the challenge that college has presented to me, I doubt I would have learned these lessons. Because of this, I cannot place a value on my education.

Some see college as the so-called liberation of the human mind, while others see it as mere preperation for a career. I personally see college as preperation for living, a kind of security net in starting out in the world. For me college has been the first time that I have been living relativly independently, and yet I feel free to experiment with different ways in livivng my life. I have interacted with people in different ways than I normaly would, in order to attempt to determine the best method of interaction. Does college offer an oppertunity for the expanding of intellectual horizions, while at the same time offering preperation for a career? Absolutely, but that is only the beginning of the true value of college. The most valuable element of college lies in the education and experience of human interaction. I believe Star Trek said it right "Genius doesn't work on an assembly line basis. You can't simply say, "Today I will be brilliant." All we are is the sum of our experiences, and college offers a forum in which we can try new things in a relativly safe enviornment.

When I started at Central Washington University, I knew only my roommate. My college experience has not only allowed me to make new friends that I will keep for a lifetime, but also gave me real life experiences. I am able to make my own decisions all the time and that means that I also have the consequences for those choices. Every day I am able to make small decisions, should I go to classes, should I eat food, and whatever else it arises. This decision making is a part of growing up which I have done a lot of since I have attend CWU. Also, taking classes at Central has made me sure that I truly do want to teach Elementary students. In my classes I learn the best ways to teach future generations. I am able to see every day how the information I am learning will be useful in the future. Central has been valuable to attend because it is helping me achieve my goals which I believe is the most important thing.

Well right now i am only a freshman at Central Washington Univerity but so far i have made so many different kinds of friends from all over the place. My college experience has been great. I think that making freshman live in the dorms their first year is probably one of the greatest ideas. All of us freshman are going through the same idea with not being at home and around our families. So we all help eachother through a hard times. Central Washington University has been valuable to attend because it has the major i would like to go into which would be Exercise Science. Also another reason why CWU is valuable to attend would be all the outdoor activities that we get to attend too.