Western Washington University Top Questions

The most important thing I have gotten out of my college experience is myself. I have been able to mold who I am with the knowledge I have recieved. I learned who I am and have started down a path for who I will become. The college experience has allowed me the opportunity to meet a wide range of different people and engage with them, thus enhancing my cultural competency. College has been an invaluable experience because I have been armed with the knowledge that can lead me to success if I so choose to use it. I have been enlightened by instructures who have given me the light and knowledge that allows me the chance to succeed. I know that without the college experience, I would be disadvantaged and unable to reach my maximum potential. As I continue with my schooling, at the master's level, I am afforded the opportunity to grow, learn and stretch myself in ways I did not think possible. I am a more rounded individual who can contribute to society in a positive and constructive manner.

The opportunity to learn not only what I need to fulfill my degree, also what I need to know how to survive in life. It has been a pleasure to learn from all kinds of people besides my instructors. I can honestly say that my college experience has been rewarding and life changing.

I made the decision to attend college with few ambitions or ideas about what I might find there. I was told this was a very difficult, life changing decision, but it felt like every other decision I had made up until that point. It wasn't until spring quarter of freshman year that I looked around for the first time, and started to realize the unique moment of my life I found myself in. I started to notice the people around me, the environment I was in, and the opprotunities I was a part of simply by being there. My interests, developing into ambitions began to dictate my future. My interest in the local music scene became my job as the concert coordinator and talent buyer for our coffeehouse venue, my insatiable desire to read anything and everything became my english literature major, my awe of the outdoors became hiking, kayaking, and exploring the Pacific Northwest, and my need for community became Western Washington University. It wasn't until I jumped in head first that I found the true value in where I was, and that the opprotunity for growth may never be this open and welcoming to me again.

My college experience has been absolutely amazing and life changing. It has allowed both my personality and mindset to mature as well as open my eyes to the vast amounts of different cultures and people that I would now love to experience more fully. I enjoy being able to make new friends without having to worry about cliques and what other people will think. In doing this I am able to experience different personalities and I have become accustomed to dealing with difficult situations in which personalities and mindsets have clashed, calmly and maturely. In essence I am now able to think critically. Furthermore I have learned to manage my expenses and I most definitely appreciate my family, namely my parents, a lot more now. I believe I am more equipped to handle the harsh world of living on my own. I believe that I have flourished as a person at college and I will soon have the means to obtain a professional job where I can help people develop maintain and or restore movement as well as function throughout their body through physical therapy.

I have only attended Western for one quarter and already I have had the most insightful and worthwhile class I've ever taken. A history class tends to be memorizing names, dates and events and why they were significant to what happened later on but this was a new take on history for me. We did not use a text book, instead lectures, articles and small books made up our class agenda and we wrote short essays on the books and essays and how they relate to one another. I learned how to evaluate an author's thesis and find evidence of it in a monograph (history book). I learned how to formulate my own thesis and how to build an organized paper that compared the work of others simultaneously. I learned how to read between the lines and come up with my own theories about the authors' ideas and if they were meant exactly the way they were described or if there was a deeper meaning. I have never improved myself so much and I think the most important part of the class was not the information we learned, but rather how we learned it.

I have gotten the ability to think outside the box and gain real world experience. I also have got the opportunity to study abroad in China.

College is the ultimate reward a young person can receive for their academic accomplishments. That acceptance letter was my ticket to a place of freedom where my only responsibility has been to focus on myself; my dreams, my future, my life. This responsibility is possibly the greatest that I will ever take on. When I fail and fall, I am the only one around to pick myself. I no longer have to do what parents or administrators tell me, and I can take pride in making the right decisions. I am in a pool of thoughts from thousands of different perspectives and I don't have the option to shut them off. Daily I am forced to think, engage, and mature. If I didn't do these things here, in college, I don't know that I ever would have. My future is reliant on my college education, thus, whatever value the future itself holds, that is the value of my college experiences.

My college experience at Western Washington University has given me confidence and piece of mind with continued interest in furthering my wisdom. I was able to apply and expand my full potential through hands-on experience. Western's community is open minded and outdoorsy, there is a niche for everyone but, they are all interconnected anyway. I enhanced my study skills, learned how to lead, follow and facilitate while refining my talents in an interesting program where I felt like I belonged. This school prepared me for the rigorous Master's and Doctorate to follow. I feel 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} comfortable saying that I found everything I was looking for at WWU. I met amazing students, staff and faculty on a regular basis and have made friends for life. I was able to harness my direction in life and find a grounded path towards the future. Western helped make me who I am today and will definitely influence the future to come. It was easy to be happy in this school and its surroundings, even when being pushed to the brink of my intelligence quotient. I learned a lot and lived a lot, enough said.

I am still realizing what I am receiving out of my college experience. My first year at Western, I walked around with jaw dropping excitement peering out of my eyes. The first few months of wanting to make as many friends as possible, do every activity and participate in every off campus party, wore me out. But I think that is okay, I think every freshman should be over excited and anxious about having the new experiences. My experience has gotten better, not worse but it is also seen from a different view point. Apart from the new things I am still experiencing, I have gotten to know what I am passionate about apart from anyone else. Now, I know that I am in love with being at school and learning. Attending college gave me a burst of fresh energy and new perspective that was necessary for me to grow into who I am now and that knowledge that I can continue progressing and changing.

I have gained very valuable research and career oriented skills and knowledge through all of my classes at Western. I know these skills will be invaluable in my future career and my life in general. I really feel that my education will help my succeed at life and make a difference in the field of marine conservation. I have also had the chance to live in an absolutely breath-taking city where I was able to explore activities that I will enjoy for the rest of my life. I have also gained friendships and confidence in myself. And along the way I had exciting classes and teachers that were always willing to help me, and went above and beyond their job descriptions to help me grow as a person and as a scientist.