Personal Narrative: Why I Came Back To College

After a pause of almost 25 years, I am returning to the college classroom and to say that there are mixed emotions would be an understatement. Sure, I’m excited to start but also a bit fearful if I’m being honest. I’ve worked for large and international companies during this time but getting back to college has always been a goal of mine. No time like the present I guess!

The infamous answer to the question, “What is your primary goal for going to school?” is “to further my education, get a job, and be successful” such a cliché if I must say myself. My goal attending school is to make my family happy, as well as myself. In high school, I did not apply myself like I should have done because I was not sure if college was in my favor. Also, being the child of a single parent wanting to attend college seemed impossible, especially far from home. In a family where no one has surpassed the first two years of college, I feel a spotlight is on me to not only finish, but also finish strong. I know how proud my family will be of my accomplishment and how rewarding it will be for me trying to obtain a decent job in the

During the start and the end of the fall semester year of 2015/20116 at Montgomery College, my life changed dramatically for me. Going back to school after graduating four years ago at Baltimore Freedom Academy high schoolHigh School has been challenging for me, but of course it’s challenging for anybody with the same circumstances of not being academically active for all those years, and almost forgetting all the retained information that was given from previous teachers. I felt like my brain was rotting, yet the really bad part about it is that, I wasn’t doing what I loved, which was playing organized college basketball. Throughout my journey of the fall semester, challenges came my way from left to right, but the hardest of all that I’ve faced are adjusting to the student athlete life style again at a college level, trying to learn and complete all that’s given to me from my professor, and working a part time job to help support myself.

With senior year of high school coming to a close, comes an overwhelming amount of stress about moving away to college. At the beginning of this school year, I was eager to leave and excited to go away, but I came to a realization that leaving home alarms me. At this point in time, I began to notice just how much my parents do for me and just ruminating about everything I would have to do on my own now, makes me nervous. School has never been an issue for me but what my friends say about college, makes it even more petrified to go. Being constantly asked questions like, “how do you always get your work done?” or “how do you have such good time management?” reassures me that I will do fine in college. With neither of my parents having attended

I believed my life was pre-determined the moment I began college. The five-year plan I constructed detailed how I was going to graduate with a computer science degree in three years and become head of a tech start-up company. I was going to be a female Mark Zuckerberg by the time I was 25, and nothing could stop me. My world was meticulously ordered down to the minute. So when that plan failed spectacularly, I was destroyed. The life I had set out for myself unraveled before my eyes I could do nothing about it. Worse still was that the failure was my own doing.

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

I began my undergraduate education at Colorado State University in 2004. I declared my major as Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing. At this point in my life, I had no clue what I wanted to do for my career and thought this would be the best option and give me the most diversity of career options. Going into my sophomore year, I began a job in the emergency department at the hospital located in the college town. During my first day, I got to see a variety of emergent and non-emergent medical procedures. The level of care that the varying healthcare professionals provided to these patients was fascinating and became intrigued to a career path in the medical field. Over the next couple of years, I narrowed the possibility

College is a very serious topic for many individuals. For some people, it is an open door to a great career or a nice stable life, but for others it is an obstacle that they feel obligated to overcome so that they are successful in life. There are many factors that could influence someone to graduate or not graduate college. Personally, I am definitely going to go to college no matter what.

Something such as returning back to school was long gone and in my past goals. After a couple of years I never thought I would end up going back to school since everything that I wanted was going good and according to plan. However sometimes we are faced with tough situations where we must find other resources in order to improve and better ourselves. Going back to school was one of the most important and wise decisions that I have ever made.

My most significant endeavor since attending community college would be helping my community to receive an Adult Daycare. Thought this endeavorer I have applied my knowledge that I have learned about the disease to educate others in my community who may not have to know the impact of it. I have also used and sought the aid of my relationship that I have built by being at my community college. This Adult Daycare service or Coltrane LIFE center is something that I am passionate about having in my hometown. My grandpa has Alzheimer's and I have seen the stress that tolls on the family and caregiver. To have an Adult Daycare in my area would ensure a safe and calming environment for elderly patients. Also, provide help and relaxing time for the

Coming back from summer vacation is difficult, but coming back and having to start in a totally new environment makes it even harder. I remember coming back and being confuzed. Not just academically, but also socially. I would wonder how I would fit in with my new peers, and if I would start falling behind in my classes. Lucky for you, I have some advice for you, so you can do your absolute best in Jr. High, whether it’s academically, socially, or anything about personal responsibility, I’ve got you covered.

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.

If I were the person that I used to be back in high school, or even directly after high school, I would fail these classes with straight “F”s. The reason is not because I was not smart enough, but because I was not willing to put in the effort, concentration, and dedication needed to get a good grade. This is hard work! Good thing I decided to grow up a bit in the past 14 years so I take it seriously.

When beginning my college search, the three keywords that I based my search on were: Catholic, liberal arts, and California. Each of these aspects holds a great deal of significance to me because I hope to continue my Catholic education and nurture my faith. I also want to focus my studies in the field of education because I aspire to be an elementary school teacher and would like to attend college in-state to be able to visit my family often because they are a very important part of my life. With these aspects in mind, the college search engines gave me extensive lists of colleges, but Saint Mary’s College was always one of the top five matches on the lists and also the one that appeared the most frequently among the different search engines

Have you ever realized that as you get older you slowly have less and less time to do anything fun or spontaneous? For me, I may not be considered old, but lately it seems to be getting harder to do anything such as hanging out with friends, hanging out with my girlfriend, and even just watching television. As I get older it is becoming increasingly difficult to stay young. All of my time has been taken with the pressures of school, so that I can build a career, and working 2 jobs. I’ve been working at McDonalds for about 3 years and The Home Depot for almost a year now. This last semester I finally decided that I wanted to go to school. This way I can have a better career, so that I won’t have to have two jobs. However, that made even