Michigan State University Top Questions

When graduating high school it is the normal routine to hear all your friends, family, teachers and supporters to tell you how much you should enjoy college. Usually the phrase "these are the best years of your life" comes up at least a dozen times. It is their way of telling you to live college to the fullest and make the best of your experience. Looking back they are right, I know for me it took me twice to apply an undergrad college to appreciate that, but I sure do realize it now. College is a time of growth in so many areas. I have detail with cerebral palsy all my life and I am a survivor. As for me I applied to the same college twice,paying off a debt that I owed to a previous year that I attended. It was not easy with no funding, working fulltime and attending classes. I found myself just crying at nights and prying for a better tomorrow. My life is better with the support of husband and our children. I am shown by my children that being mother an a fulltime student and wanting a brighter future for my family.

It is often said that attending college is an experience that is insurmountable; I agree with this statement. Having the opportunity to attend such a scholarly school as Michigan State University has opened my eyes to a world of possibilities that I had no idea existed until I came here. Making the adjustment from living at home with my parents and attending a relatively small high school to being at Michigan State was difficult at first, but as I familiarized myself with campus the adjustment became quick and easy. From my experience thus far at Michigan State I have been able to meet new people, begin an interesting course of study, and I have been able to mature and transform into the person I am going to be for the rest of my life. Being at Michigan State has been an amazing learning experience for me and I would not trade what I have learned for anything.

So far in my college experience I have learned better time management skills, how to cope with stress, and how to put the things that mean most to me first. These skills have allowed me to make the Dean's list here at MSU and have helped me enjoy my time here rather than loath school. I have learned a great deal about my major and find myself turning the page looking for more. This school and my experiences have been valuable to me because it is teaching me not only how to be a successful student but a successful person as well.

My academic goals have changed dramatically throughout my first two years at Michigan State University. My original aspirations were to become a nurse, but quickly learned that wasn?t my calling. The decision to change my major to Elementary Education has been one of the most amazing and gratifying. I discovered that my true aspirations are to become a teacher, and great mentor to my future students. As a resident mentor at Michigan State University, I have had the opportunity to directly influence students? lives. I have worked with hundreds of students supporting, encouraging, and motivating them as they embark on their undergraduate careers. I am learning it requires more than I thought to develop these skills, and allowing ideas to be formed, broken down, and built again is essential. I want to be the encouraging force in students? lives, and MSU is helping me achieve this goal. I believe that my struggles and path throughout my own education has allowed me to cherish each opportunity I am given. My goal is to become a great teacher, while transforming the ideas, lessons, and curriculum into a meaningful, wonderful experience for my students.

I have gotten a lot out of my experience at Michigan State University. From all the experiences the most valuable one is that I found myself and who I am as an individual. Growing up I always had values and morals, but it was at Michigan State that I had began to grow as an individual and create my pathway towards my future. With the academics provided, I was able to identify which areas were of interest for me and which were not. Being the first to attend university in my immediate family put a lot of pressure on me, but with the university's systematic ways of delivery, I was able to complete my program of Dietetics successfully. The amount of exposure I had received to different ethnicities and cultures was a great eye-opener that the world is such a large yet small place. With that exposure came friendships, and I can say with guarantee that the friendships I had made at MSU are going to last me my lifetime.

My college experience has been absolutely amazing! I love coming to school to learn about things on a higher level. In my art degree, I get the chance to experience college in a different way than people who are going to school for business or other degrees. I feel priviledged that I get to be here and I wouldn't give it up for enything. I know that having a college background will allow me to live my life the way I picture it because I will have a job that pays well, but more importantly I will have a job that i enjoy going to everyday. I hope to be able to go to the highest level of education, or atleast my masters degree so that I can become a proffessor and teach other students so that they can succeed as well.

What I have gotten most from Michigan State is excitement. I'm excited about the future because I've been able to find internships and seminars and other opportunities that relate to my Linguistics major. I'm excited about my coming years in college because I'm going to be involved in a Study Abroad program and clubs and protests about the things I care about. I'm excited about meeting new people because I know everyone around me is different and can give me new outlooks on life. I'm excited about volunteering because there are numerous organizations that set up fun, fulfilling programs for me to reach out to my community. And I'm excited about finding a career because I know MSU will prepare me as a well-rounded, educated person that employers will want in their staff. It has been so valuable to attend MSU because no matter what I choose as a major, there is help and guidance to lead me on the best path to finding a career that I will enjoy my whole life.

I am still attending my college so I hope I haven't made a mistake in entering this contest. If I have, please forgive me. It just sounded like fun and something that could help me get through school. So far, however, my experience in returning to school after so many years of living and working is an unfathomable rush to me! By that, I mean that when I open my eyes in the morning to face my school day, I am filled with so many new revelations about life and education and the contribution I can make for our world and our human kind. I have always been an independent thinker and a non-conformist, but until I came back to school, I would often mistake my unique thoughts for rebellion or for some other type of non-conformist behavior. My self image was less than flattering or productive. Now that I have gone back to school, I have a new appreciation for the concept of opposition and a new perspective on almost everything I have ever known before. Its wonderful. I am grateful to all powers for these revelations. I never knew how many things I never knew.

After I graduated high school, I attended the University of Nevada Las Vegas. My expectations for college were definitely different from what I expected. The most important thing I got out of that experience was personal growth and awareness. Being away from home and just being in college in general allows you to really take a look at who you are. And from that I was able to become a better person through working on my weaknesses and focusing on my strengths. Even though high school was just a year ago, I had become a completely different person; more disciplined, more independent, and ready to take on any challenge that stood in my way of success. College changed my life because had I not gone I would still be the same person I was in high school, and with lack of growth your bound to fail. I used to be afraid of change, but if I could tell my self one thing about college while I was a high school senior it would be ?Don?t be afraid of change?

In my college experience I have learned that success is in the eye of the beholder. Before coming to college I was focused on what would make everyone else around me happy. I knew prior to entering college what I was passionate about, but I felt as if the career I wanted to take was not satisfactory to others. I went on believing this until I finally entered college. In my first meeting with my academic advisor, she explained to me that I only have on life to live and I should live it doing something that was going to make me happy. Therefore, the most valuable lesson I learned in college was to pursue my dreams and the money will follow.