Personal Narrative: My First Generation College Student

Even though I did try a little harder, my test scores barely improved. So when I finished the second trimester with a D in the class, I was completely devastated. Only then did I realize that there’s no going back and that my time was running out. I was thrown into a pit of despair, probably due to the unconscious stress that’s been building up. But it was then when I finally came to realization of the problem: me.

Since middle school I have maintained straight A’s through high school and the first term of college. My developed work ethic has guided me through new challenging experiences that have made me into who I am. In hindsight, things could have gone a very different way in middle school, and I could have become a completely different person, in a different place, with different dreams. I’m fortunate my mother used my first mistake to teach me a lifetime of good

I had to fight myself and stay up late to study every day. I have never missed any assignments on any of my classes. This semester my goal is to get into the nursing program which is very competitive and requires very high grades. So far I am doing good in all my classes and I am happy that I did all of this as an

My freshman year of high school was difficult for me to adjust to and I did not perform to the best of my ability on my biology honors midterm. Due to this discrepancy, I was unable to be accepted into the Science Honor Society in junior year. Although disappointed that a singular grade had the ability to decide a part of my future two years later, I continued to work hard, especially in my science courses. Junior year, I decided to challenge myself and take an AP Physics course, even though I had never taken a physics course prior. This class was excruciatingly demanding and a new experience for someone who had never taken an AP class before.

I struggled all semester long and it really took a toll on me. I have never had to work so hard on an assignment to meet my professor’s approval. I had to go to the writing center a number of times just to understand what my assignment was really about. Overall, I learned that everyone has their struggles in college, not everyone understands it. I learned that even though I struggled every day in this class, I learned what I needed to work on the most and that was applying myself more.

My mother and father have always wanted the best for me, like all good parents do. One of the many things that they expect from me is to receive a college education, something that they never had the chance to do. My parents always advise me to not to make the same mistakes as they did, to go to college so I can get a good job and not have to struggle in my life.

My favorite quote from Jackie Robinson is, “above everything else, I hate to lose.” That perfectly sums up my attitude towards grades, and for me, any final grade below 90, is losing. Using determination and commitment, I was able to win, and not lose, in the first semester of my freshman year. It is hard for every kid to make the transition to high school classes, but coming from a small private school with about 250 kids to an enormous high school with almost 2000, I had no idea what to expect. After 3 years of hearing my older sister complain about horrible teachers, hard finals, and difficult SAT’s

I was upset for some time, considering dropping the course altogether, but after some scrutiny, I acknowledged that giving up would not solve my problems, only allow them to follow me into my college career. My goal is to be a chemical engineer, and if I thought I could do that without understanding calculus, I would never get to live my dream. I took the failing grade as a motivation to do better next time; I put more effort into studying and practicing, even when work was not assigned, and I was miraculously able to earn an A for my semester grade, and a passing score on my AP exam. As cliche as it may sound, the failure helped me by motivating me.

Returning to college has been an exciting and terrifying decision for me. My husband has

The first week was relatively easy and I had no worries, but then the second week came along and changed my perspective of the class. The heavy amounts of math were not my favorite. I was sufficient in math, but this was more complex than any other math I had experienced before. I struggled on the first couple of quizzes and tests. I started to become discouraged with my capabilities.

and I was doing well for the first few months. As the assignments got more challenging, my grade seemed to be slowly dropping. It usually dropped .01%, but that was still something. In all honestly, I wasn’t worried as I’d always got by doing the bare minimum. By the time the final rolled around my grade was at a 91.34%.

Again, this made me nearly drop those classes. Again, some of the other class which were not science were hard for me to cope with from the beginning of the semester till the end of the semester. One of it was English 12 and History 20. I had to go to the writing center about three times on every assignment that I do. Spending of my time on those subject discipline that the other which affected me on of

and I managed to pass the class with a B. My weakness this year was probably not having enough sleep. I get cranky when I don’t get enough sleep, and I realized I can’t focus when I’m in class. My strength this year was probably becoming more organized and setting a specific schedule for myself everyday. Since I have to work, I need to make specific time for my homework. I also need to have specific time to shower and get ready for school in the morning.

Through the experience of working as youth leader for freshman connection I have grown as a better leader. To help incoming freshman was incredible experience for me. I joined freshman connection to serve school and defiantly to get knowledge and team building skills out of it, so that it can help me make my college experience better. I think I have achieved all the goals that I wanted to through working as youth leader. Additionally, not only that but also to work on community service project on bullying has really allowed me to serve as teacher helper. I liked how I was able to assist student to make poster on bullying. It was fantastic experience to help students in class to come up with ideas on how they can serve through different ways

How much luck does one need to get drafted by their favorite team right after college? A lot of people say that all it takes is hard work and dedication but I am going to do a little more. Its not my dream to become pro, its a goal because not all dreams become true. If my goal fails, I would like to be in sports medicine.