Looking Back at My First Year of College

As a freshly graduated high school student, the word “anxious” could not begin to describe my feelings about starting college. Although I was an extremely successful high school student, I began to dread this date: August 19th, 2019. More specifically, this date would signify my first day of classes at Lincoln Memorial University. Since I grew up 12 miles away in Ewing, Virginia, location was not an issue. Instead, I was most notably nervous about meeting teachers, making friends, and being faced with harder curricula.

Once I got through the first month or so, though, I realized that my feelings of angst and anxiety began to subside, and I then remembered my original reasons for going to college: acquiring a career, making better study habits, and achieving my goals. Previous experience, focusing on long term goals, and accessing available resources will all contribute to my success in college and throughout life.

Beginning in high school, my education became more serious to me than ever. I knew I wanted to go to college, but I didn’t know where I was going or how I was going to afford it. In addition, I knew had to get an education in order to better my own life. From that point on, I studied as if my life depended on it and took every rigorous class available at my school. Fast forward four years later, I was giving the Valedictory speech at my high school graduation ceremony. Because of my hard work and dedication to my studies, I was awarded the Valedictorian/Salutatorian scholarship by LMU, which helped me afford my education. Because of this, I will now be able to fulfill my ultimate purpose of attending LMU: becoming a doctor.

My short-term goals at this point of my college career are in their infancy yet are still relevant to my success. For example, my worst habit is procrastination and to combat this, I would like to improve on my time management skills. I have been progressing toward this goal, especially with the help of the textbook for this class, “Your College Experience.” On page 26, there is a list of time-management tips, which includes making an academic calendar for each month. Also, on page 27 I read a very good piece of advice from the book: “Using the course syllabi provided by your instructors, create your own monthly calendars for your entire term. Provide details such as the amount of hours you anticipate spending on each assignment or task.”

This has helped me stay on track of my assignments and complete things ahead of time instead of waiting until the last minute, which adds unnecessary stress to my life. In addition, another short-term goal I have is purchasing my first vehicle by the end of the semester; this will make my day-to-day life less stressful, especially at school, and allow me to get more involved on campus by joining clubs and participating in activities. These short-term goals will help me approach my long-term goal of becoming a doctor one step at a time. In medical school, having reliable transportation will allow me to travel between clinical sites and residency arrangements. In addition, improving my time-management skills will help me with the grueling coursework that medical school requires.

As a first-generation college student, there isn’t much information that I can collect from my family about upper-level education. Because of this, I am extremely thankful for not only all the resources available to me, but especially for my UACT class. I have grown in ways that could not have been possible before. Discussions in this class have broadened my thoughts especially by seeing how my classmates are handling their first year of college. To illustrate, my friend and fellow UACT classmate, Brea, manages her stress by exercising at least twice a week after school. By taking this advice, I have learned to healthily relieve anxiety. In addition, in-class exercises and assignments have been extremely helpful.

For example, in the beginning of the semester we discussed and wrote down our goals for the school year in UACT. This has especially helped me stay on task and see the bigger picture of my goals. Other resources that have contributed to my success as a student thus far include going to professors’ office hours and making appointments at the Tagge Center in the library. College is a different environment and often, more resources are needed to achieve success; luckily, they are all readily available to me.