Central Washington University Top Questions

I've gotten a sense of just how important putting effort into my education is. It's been valuable for me to attend because at first, I didn't see the need for me to attend college. I didn't try in high school, so I didn't get scholarships and had to stay home and go to the community college. Now that I am attending college, I see the importance of an education and the potential I have. I plan on attending a four year university after I graduate from community college.

College has taught me that everyone wants to feel needed and/or accepted. College campuses bring together such a diversity of students from different backgrounds and with different visions for their future. But we're all in this place together, and we all long to feel a connection to someone else, to know that we're not alone. I've met people that I get along with great, and other people that are hard to get along with. People who are socially accepted and people deemed socially awkward. But being in college has taught me to accept people for who they are and not to judge them based on appearances. These people who surround me are just like me, in that they have feelings, they have emotions, they have dreams and aspirations for their lives. Who am I to judge them or condemn them because they don't measure up to my expectations of who I think they should be?

This is my second year here at Central Washington University and so far it has been amazing! My freshmen experience was very good because I got involved in a lot of things here at campus, but also I have been able to grow up and mature as well. Personally it was a big change for me to move into the dorm from my house. I wasn't sure what to think of all of it and that is why I got involved in activities such as playing rugby, doing RHA (Residence Hall Association), and FUEL. Being in these organizations from the beginning was good for me because I got to meet a lot of different people, but it also made me realize how hard it is on your own. Realizing this has opened my eyes and made me see what I’m going to school for and that is to get an education so I can be successful in life. So I guess you could say that my fantastic freshmen experience has been an excellent starting point for an amazing college experience and it has been valuable for me to attend because I have matured and grown up a lot.

My college experience has been a roller coaster. I have had weeks that were absolutely horrible and weeks that have been almost perfect. In college you learn so much; in classrooms and in your daily life styles. Everyone says you learn who you really are in college and from my personal experience they are 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} right. My whole life I have been wandering around trying to find a place where I fit in and where I feel like I am wanted or accepted. Going to college has taught me that I can't deny who I am. It doesn't matter that I am different and that I don't fit into a certain 'group' I am who I am and no one can change me. It's been a life altering experience to go to college and see what I can make of myself. It's been difficult and sometimes lonely but I am finally realizing who I am and what I need to do to be the person I want to be. If I didn't attend college and branch out I would still be wandering and trying to figure out what things were most important to me.

What I have got out of my college experience so far is the concept of challenging my current opinions and beliefs. This has ultimately helped me to become well rounded and stronger than I was before. Everyone grows up immediately accepting the opinions and beliefs of someone that they may hold to a higher standard. Usually shaping who they become as young adults. This was a perfect depiction of me entering college. Right off the bat my foundation was rocked with a tornado of ideas, concepts, beliefs, and opinions that contradicted mine. At first, like many of us do, I shut down and became defensive and unreceptive of those ideas. It wasn’t until I had a particular professor who helped me see the bigger picture. That was to accept other people’s opinions and beliefs right or wrong. This not only helps you understand them as a person, but will cause you to look to yourself in what you believe causing you to either change your belief/s or re-affirm what you already believe. This is an important life skill that has shaped who I am and I believe is why the college experience is so valuable.

I have learned both about myself and my major of interest. I have found out more about who I am as a person through my studies than I ever thought I would. The determination and drive that it takes to complete a collage degree is something that is truely to be admired. All of the people around me want to be here as much as I do, which makes classes more interesting as well as challenging. If I had not attended school here, at Central Washington University, I would still be in the rut I was stuck in through high school: having no time management skills, and floating by with A's without having to work at it. College has shown me that everything in life doesnt come free and also that it is worth the blood, sweat, and tears that it takes to get where you want to go. In addition to helping me become a great music eduator, CWU has lead me down the path to become a great person on the inside and out.

As a double major in Chemistry and Biology, the research opportunities and jobs I have gotten through Central have proved to be an incredibly asset in preparing me for post-graduation work. Not only I have been earning a degree through challenging academic coursework, I have been gaining real-world experience in the fields that I am interested in. I feel confident in my abilities as a scientist through my hands-on college course work and the individual attention I recieved at CWU. Working with esteemed professors from around the world, I have gained new prespectives on various issues to help shape me into a more knowledgable world citizen.

What I've gotten out of my college experiance that has been the most important is the ability to listen to other peoples views. Before college it was my way or the highway but I've been opened up so to speak to be able to hear and converse with people about different or even abstract ideas. That is how people will listen to your ideas, just by being respectful and listening, otherwise they will treat your idea's like you treated theirs. One of the most important classes I've taken at Central was geography of the middle east. What we talked about though was the conflicts and different groups of people in the middle east such as between Israel and Palestine. It really opened my eyes up to both sides and why they fight. College has given me the ability to sincerely sympathize with others, even ones I haven't met yet. Thank you for your time to read what I had to say.

The most important thing to note that I have recieved from my college experience thus far would have to purly be the fact that i am getting an education. Not everyone in todays society is lucky enough to have the oppertunity to attend a university, so with that I consider myself to be very lucky. I would also have to note that getting to experience real life away from home has showen me a whole other world. It has started me on my path to success.

I'm 37yr old single mom with 4 children who recently attended a vocational technical center for Practical Nursing. I've beeen out of school f or over 20yrs and to sit a room other adults like myself was a new bringing for me. What I have gotten out of attending nursing school is teamwork and comradory. The amount of support that you receive from the faculty is comforting. Attending school has been valuabel