At the end of my freshman year of college, I took a little time to reflect on my not-so-average year. Over the semester I actually went to two different colleges. My first semester was spent at a community college with my second being spent at a larger university. Not everyone in their first year of college goes to two different schools, but I found I needed a change of pace.
I understand the financial needs of having to go to community college. In fact, it was one of the main reasons that I went to community college to begin with. Upon starting community college, I noticed that I was almost always out of place and had a large lack of friends. I found most of my professors having lost a desire to teach. I love writing, and it has been a huge passion of mine over the past few years. However, one professor I had during my time at community college almost ruined my desire to even continue to go to school. The professor would simply hand you a writing prompt and tell you to write a paper without any direction or advice on how the paper should read or what it should contain other than the poorly-worded prompt. All of my friends from high school moved away to college in different states or far out of town, so almost all of my friends I would hang out with were gone.
Over time at college I found myself resenting even signing up for classes. I grew to understand that maybe it was time for me to try to move away like my friends had tried as they seemed to be enjoying the university life more than I was enjoying my experience. In the middle of my first semester, I applied to go to a larger university five hours from my hometown. The school I picked out had a couple of friends I knew from high school, so it would be a little easier to make friends, but not too many friends that I might as well be going to my high school reunion. Even on my first day I had already made more friends than I did at my previous school.
Upon moving all of my stuff into my already inhabited dorm room, I was bombarded by friends who were ready to greet me and show me around the campus, some even offered to buy me dinner. I thought all of this attention was due to the fact that I was just a fresh face on my floor, but some of these friends I made on the first day are still knocking on my door as finals week is just around the corner, asking to head out for a bite to eat at the dining center. I spent as much time as I could soaking up the freshman lifestyle of the dorm life, as I only had half as much time as everyone else did. However, I think I managed to get just as sick of dining center food as everyone else did.
When I look back on my jump from community college to university, I think I really made the right choice. Not everyone may prefer the same type of college experience as I had, but in the end it's all about how much you are dedicated to your learning that you get out of it.
