Sunday, March 10, 2013

College Student's Decade-long Journey Nears Its End

Graduation is right around the corner. It’s been a long, bumpy road and it actually feels surreal that I have the finish line in my sights. Being an on-again, off again student for over an entire decade isn’t something to be too proud about. I suppose persistence is a trait that could be derived from it but things definitely turned out differently from what I had originally planned on doing with my life. Yet, here I am, eleven years and four colleges later, and so close to having something to show for my hard work and determination. June can’t come any sooner.

By any means, balancing work and school is no easy task. In order to do so effectively entails being well organized and requires extensive time and sacrifice. When I first enrolled into college, I showed none of these characteristics. I would enroll in a full schedule and quickly fall behind, resulting in bad grades or dropped classes. There was a time when I became frustrated with my repetitive, irresponsible behavior and began to question whether continuing college was the right choice for me. I decided it was time to start acting like an adult and do whatever I needed in order to turn things around. I started by repeating every class in which I received a poor grade, working extremely hard to raise my GPA. I managed myself better as a part-time student and enrolled in online classes whenever possible. I successfully turned myself around and graduated from Bellevue College in June 2011 with an Associate Degree in Arts & Sciences.

During my last quarter at Bellevue College, I felt confident and comfortable enough to apply to the University of Washington. To my excitement, I was accepted and couldn’t wait to begin. I was honored to be a husky and I still am, as UW is a university with a brilliant reputation. As a UW student, I have fully committed myself to every one of my classes, impressively maintaining a 3.5 overall GPA. I am currently on track to graduate this spring with a Bachelor’s of Arts, double majoring in communication and social sciences.

Graduating from the University of Washington will be a great accomplishment and milestone in my life. I know that my degree will open more doors for me and allow me to find a job that I actually enjoy doing. By slacking off early in my college career, I created an overabundance of additional work for myself and almost gave up hope of graduating with a degree. Not being able to accept the embarrassment and letdown of it all, I whipped myself into shape and got back on track. With hard work and determination, almost anything can be achieved. Take it from me, I never expected to be where I am today.

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