Why College? Part 5 – Challenging Yourself
When I made the jump from high school to college, it was not a smooth transition. At first, I feared the life change that I was about to make. While my fellow classmates were eager to receive their admissions responses, I was unexcited about them.
I didn’t think that I wanted to go to college because of the challenge that it posed. I had lived in my hometown since birth, and had never been away for my family for an extended period before. The first few weeks at college were an emotional challenge.
After some time at college, I grew acclimated to the new situation and embraced my newfound freedom.
During the rest of my freshman year I learned even more about people, especially myself.
When you live and study with a new group of people, you learn an incredible amount. While this knowledge occasionally comes from a stress-laden screaming match, it mainly comes in innocuous situations.
Sharing a box of pizza rolls at 2 in the morning, or taking a late-night trip to 7-Eleven creates a strong bond between people. In situations like these, people are more open with their feelings about each other and themselves.
The challenge to find out your true feelings and identity is one that we face our entire lives. College is a great chance to soul-search and learn from otherwise perfect strangers.
Let us not forget about that other challenge in college: academics.
During high school, I had little difficulty in getting A’s and most of the time I expended minimal effort to get those grades.
In college, I started my freshman year with a similar work ethic as high school. (Note: Not a good idea). After receiving C’s on my first two college papers, I knew that I had to make a change.
On a whim, I took a Comparative Literature class, and ended up in the most difficult class of my life. However, it was also the best class of my life.
How so, you say?
I had an outstanding professor; she knew all of her students by name and pressed us each to do better. She did not push us for the sake of getting better grades, but for the sake of bettering ourselves intellectually. And it worked.
I began holding myself to a higher standard, and it showed in all of my academic results.
All of these situations occurred during my freshman year, but the lessons apply anytime. The challenges that I faced helped me grow tremendously; I became more mature, more self-aware, and more motivated to achieve success.
“Why College?” is a series of op-ed articles written by Better Grads staff and guest contributors about why we chose to continue education after high school, how we got there, and glimpses into what we learned. To begin at Part 1 in the series, click here.
