Upon entering college, I was not sure what life lessons and nuggets of wisdom I would learn. Would I finally learn a deeper analysis of a Hemingway novel? How to budget my money? A math that is useful in everyday situations? What photosynthesis truly entails? How to un-shrink a sweater? While these are useful and perhaps important lessons I learned, the most important thing I learned in my first year of college is to make my education my own.
I never truly knew what teachers meant when they told me this and it was not something that was always a topic of discussion. However, it is a vital lesson to anyone who wants to pursue a higher level of education, but what does it mean to make your education yours? Let us start there.
Making your education yours means making it uniquely yours and taking the classes you want. It means going for the major you want or taking on that minor. It means talking with your advisor and other professors about what is feasible and what you can do to tailor your education to what you want. This all may sound vague and like common knowledge, but it is seriously important. College is a time to have fun and experience new things, but if you are spending x amount of dollars for your education, make it count.
As a freshman, or a first year as some schools may call it, I had no idea what classes I should be taking. I had my major, my advisor to help me, and a guideline of classes I needed to take, but I still did not know what I should be doing with my education. Here's the answer that in two semesters I have learned: make the most of it. It seems hard because of the cores you have to take, the required classes for your major or because you do not know what classes to take because you are undeclared. It is not impossible, though. Make your education your own. Talk to your advisor about classes and minors and different possibilities. Sit in on a few different classes or the same class with different professors. Find what you are passionate about and ask how you can pursue it.
It can be difficult to do what you want and take every class that peaks your interest, but truly consider the ways in which you can make your education yours. It may mean taking a summer class or a semester of 18 credits, but it may not. It may mean talking to a department chair or a professor so that you can take that religious studies class that is already filled or that upper level math course. It is your education and in the long run, you decide what to do with it.
