One day at a time

Well here I am trying to finish up my semester and guess what I got a ton of work to do. To name a few this blog and the report associated with it, an econ exam review, accounting on cengage, finalizing my final essay for comp and preparing for the next one which is assigned tomorrow. Yah I know it sounds like it is impossible to conquer. Dont let the amount fool you it is actually more I have only included the basics that are due within the next two days. I still have additional work that needs attention to so that when those assignments become due im not running like a chicken without a head. Believe it or not this process of work is still possible. It is more academic work than I have done in my entire life. Hard to believe because I actually have been involved in the Honor Society, and etc. So you would assume that I would be used to it. The realistic side of the situation is that nothing prepares you for what it takes to succeed in college. It is one of those hit and miss things that always leave you on the edge of your seat. Actually, when I try to rethink about what I have accomplished presently I cant remember the time that I spent on any of the assignments. I guess the most valuable information is the unknown information that carries into your subconcious. None of this work seems managable from the photo essays to the pop quizzes. If you keep with your original thought mentality it doesn't . I am looking foward to proceeding in the world of academics and evolving my foundation of knowledge. At times when I feel the work load is impossible the best advice I see myself learning is that I am only one person. Being that I am only one person, I realize I can only achieve one task at a time and that can only happen one day at a time. I hope that as I mature further and learn the jacks of the trade that I will learn more about handling work loads. I also hope that all the skills that I develop on campus will transfer into my work life. With the foundations that I learn from school I plan to move throughout my life and be succesful every step of the way.

apexbehavioralhealth.com

Signing up for Spring semester

At last finally I am coming down to the end of my first semester in college. I thought it was going to be so easy and just an extension of highschool. However, that wasn't the case for me. I have been told by my friends at other colleges that it is just an extention of highschool. In my experience I am now aware of a full load of school. I feel that I have grown as a person to the point where I am very succesful at time managment and prioritizing. When I first started the semester I was one of those students dragging in and coming into class the last second possible. Well, Im not saying that the scenario described will never become to describe me again , but I did learn that it isn't the most accurate way of achieving what you want. College is more than the educational experience it is the entire growing up process. I didnt expect for college to change my point of view all together but the further I get engulfed into the world I learned to be different. I have recently accepted the reality that for the next five years fall, spring, and summer courses. I know that it will be a very challenging road to get to the end but the end result will give me justice. Highschool does not aware you of the real reality of college. In fact , they actually try to avoid the positives of college lifestyles and only let you know the bad aspects. They only tell you that wont make it in college. They are mean professors in college. I haven't seen mean or horrifying experiences with professors yet. Yes, they are challenging but if I can make it then all incoming freshman can. It is only a matter of self initiative and caring enough to put all your effort into the task that you are wishing to pursue. Back to my original point, I have made it throughout the first semester and to this point looks like I am going to recieve credit in all the classes I started out pursuing. College life will make you realize that there are a million plus things to do in life. The reality is however, you only got the ability to pursue one at a time and stressing out won't get you anywhere. My advice to an incoming freshman would be don't get overwhelmed and take it day by day to recieve the greatest results.

netfiles.uiuc.edu

College Causes Lack of Sleep

When I look around in class I can tell that all the students around me are tired. The deprived students are lacking both mental and physical awareness. At the beginning of the semester all the students were full of emotion and they burst with opinions and openness. Now, everybody goes from point a to point b and reluctantly do the steps to get to the next point. I personally have been feeling the impact of the lack of sleep. At first I started the semester and felt as if I had plenty of time and I could handle even more classes than I had signed up for. Wow was I wrong. Now I am busy the basic 8 to 5 normal work schedule and that is only the physical appearance of work and classes. Homework is an entirely additional issue that engulfs me at times. Somehow I have been able to manage and not get behind on any of the task at hand. Mentally I am drained and counting down the days to the next break. The type of time management skills that I have been taught in my freshman experience program have helped. I find myself looking for these techniques to help me survive. Before College I never would have got caught writing down and scheduling my day. Now I can't go another day of the week until I view my planner to prep me for the day. I have already had to experience alot of the skills I will need in the real world after school and I am glad I am learning all these skills now because I rather have an easier tomorrow. Overall, I am weak and tired from the lack of sleep but I am at this point getting my act together to achieve all my work. Five years in college seems like a long time and I can only imagine what I will look like and how tired I will be then but I know it will be better off in the long run. Maintaining time sounds like such a simple concept but this concept is alot easier said then actually follow through with the plans that you set for yourself. I also think that alot of the reason that students have been dropping out is because they can't keep up with the time requirements. It is sad to see that all these people are having to give up an opportunity because of a tough simplistic concept. All I know is it will get alot worse before it gets better. Glad caffeine exist!

universitylifecafe.org

Drop or not to drop?

Well one of the largest decisions that can come of your freshman year I feel is the day that you have to decide whether to drop a course or continue enrollment. I am a little afraid on my decision of continuing my class but I think I will somehow pull it off. I mean a 73 with a decent grade curve makes me feel like I'll survive. The class I am struggling so hard with is Economics. The material itself isn't extremely hard but the work that goes into learning his way of thinking is exhausting. The last exam that I took in my economics class I felt as if I just aced it and there was no way that I could have failed. Well, reality caught up with me and turned out I actually did fail my exam pretty bad too. In high school the lowest I ever got on a test or exam was a 85 and I thought that was devastating but now I look at it differently. I am so depressed and feel like I am worthless and drop out but know that wouldn't get me anywhere. I don't think I would be able to face my family back home that I am unable to manage a college lifestyle. It would devastate me too to have to go up to them and tell them. At this point I can't drop without having a negative weight pulled down so from this point on I have to study even harder. I guess the best way to look at this altogether is so far my second exams are improving so I plan to continue that and hopefully raise my grades to where I am somewhat satisfied. All I know is that I am continuing to learn what it really takes to survive freshman year in college. Just when you think you have learned all you need to know to survive you get challenged with another obstacle. I'm not sure if it's the freshman year or it carries on to the years to come but I am willing to stand up to the challenge. One of my biggest concerns is also sustaining my scholarship and I can't stand losing my financial aid. When I was at orientation grades and time management was expressed repeatedly but now I am seeing the importance of all it influences. To me besides emotion and pride finances hit hard. Most college students don't have money and neither do I so I need to get myself in gear and catch up with necessities to make sure I stay at this university and making sure I keep my scholarship.

ntc.edu

Why take classes that arent important?

Accounting happens to be my major and that isn't my problem. All the courses I am forced to take outside of my degree plan are my problem. The classes that incorporate straight accounting I have an A in. However the classes that have nothing to do with the degree I have a C in. I thought that since they were required but not my certain degree that those classes should be a blow off but yeah right. Those are the classes that cause me so many problems and are driving me up the wall. The professors outside of my degree plan all act like they are helping me and I'm sure one day I will incorporate the necessities of the class but as of right now they are a pain. I mean if its hurting me more than benefiting me as far as academic scoring goes then why take it at all. I much rather jump into record keeping, better understanding excel or learning new accounting software that I always hear about. Instead I am bummed out learning other unrelated topics sitting in classes that no accounting majors are seen in. Well at least it seems like none other than me are stuck in these classes. I am glad that I am at a liberal arts education that I am able to become well rounded at and at least it seems like I already have became more well rounded. As much as it annoys me and I want to jump into the more necessary classes I understand that it is easier said then accomplished. I am considering taking some summer courses to try to get out of the university as soon as possible. I am really ready to get into the full workforce. I keep getting told that these are the best days of my life and to embrace the current time and enjoy live it up. I just don't feel like this time era is where I am going to be at my highest thrill. I am looking forward to working and getting my life started. I won't be totally happy until I am able to sit back on a large ranch, nice home  and a lot of animals knowing that all that I am surrounded with happens to be what I am working so hard to get. Having all that I ever wanted will make this all worth it. By knowing that I wont allow myself to give up I am confident that I will be successful in college. In addition I am using that as my inspiration to continue and appreciate what I am doing to get to my future oasis.

unifiedmanufacturing.com

First Break

College is really become a day in and day out process with little break in between. I was lucky that even my work schedule had gone out the window in the same time frame as the mid semester break. Although I still had quite a bit to get started on an complete as far as college work, I was glad that there were no classes and schedule that I had to abide to. I was able to feel like I was getting rest and actually got to spend time with my animals which I have been missing a lot. As far as the break, it makes me realize that I may need to form a different schedule next semester that fits me better. I am starting to realize that the schedule that I have right now is not working for me physically it leaves me being overwhelmed and frustrated from it. I have to work and go to school because financially that is what is needed for me to be able to experience the college lifestyle. When work is present in the schedule it really doesn't help with me being able to focus on the work that is assigned. Not to mention the physical toll it puts on me. When I leave the campus to go to work my mind is filled with class lectures, just to arrive to work and start thinking about what happened that week at the company. This continuous process always leaves me one step behind where I need to be at both places work and school and leaves me agitated.  Waking up, going to class, and keeping up with homework  is pretty difficult when you are trying to keep up with what is needed of you at work. Personally , I never wanted to work a job like HEB or Fast Food so I am working at a company as a secretary to continue learning business and gain better references. I feel long term this will be a better fit but it does cause even a larger brain participation in and away from work. No break will seem long enough to make me feel replenished but I know the reward I will receive at the completion of this university will be worth it. I know alot of your success later in life comes from the foundations of today so I am pretty confident that I will be able to be prosperous then. I assume the best thing to do in this certain  situation is to remain positive and know that later on my satisfaction will be pleased.

newfamilytree.net

First College Essay

Writing on a college level. Well it seems like an easy assignment until you comprehend just how much work it takes to achieve that college level. When I was back in high school I was assured that I was on the right track and had all the concepts down. I was happy thought I was well prepared. However, I failed to realize that this wasn't a university professor providing me this information, it was  a high school teacher. In my time so far in college I learned the tricks that made you successful there aren't transferring into my college experience. Overall a good way of learning just what college is about is learning to write all over again. My first real essay happens to be about a close community and mine happened to be about how the oil industry kills rural life. My thought process through the paper was at first, well this will be easy just everything I know slapped onto a page like I used to and be praised for my brilliance. Well this logic works until you get feedback on your first draft and learn that you truly aren't that smart. Then you look at it again and say oh duh I knew all that, add some quotes and a little MLA format and there you go a prize winning paper. However the same outcome occurs with the second draft. At this point I started realizing that the paper and writing skills that I once saw as the most efficient in writing a paper isn't quite what I put it out to be. Instead  through my process of failures I learned that the best way of being successful at writing in college is to just start your learning process all over again. If you remain stubborn through the process that they are trying to teach you, then you may never truly be good at writing in a correct format. From just this experience in my composition class, I am going to start learning how to take the professors advice on what will work. After all if you look at the logic behind it, They might be one of my first professors, but I am not one of there first students. Experience is the only way of learning by trial and error and for me to have assumed that I could out smart a professor was pretty dumb. So I will chop it off as a loss and go ahead and change my viewpoint of college learning. It it truly different and the professors aren't there to put up with you. They are there for a purpose, its up to us to take in the information and utilize it.

unipapers.org

Exam Results

So obviously no one said it was going to be easy. In the end I came out being 2 for 4. Guess that isn't too bad considering it was my first actual exams in college. My range on grades went from 57 to a 94 so now I got an idea of what I need to focus on and what I can maybe look at last minute. Although when I turned in all my exams I felt like they were a solid B at least, the results gave me a different reality of what truly occurred on my "confident" answers. I studied for all my exams and didn't even cram the information in last minute. When I got my grade of a 57 back I felt devastated, I mean in high school for those answers I would of been getting extra credit and a definite 100. However, news flash always seems to ruin that certainty and college is not high school and the reality is what worked there isn't very applicable to college settings for the most part. After realizing that the professor that just gave me my first failing exam in college was one of the toughest on campus I didn't feel as bad. In that particular class there are about 5 people retaking the class because they did not pass it the first time. When they said there scores were only 70 to a 78 my 57 somehow didn't feel as shameful. I know that the grade isn't what I normally would desire but I am looking at that as a lesson that I need to take advantage of the Si sessions available and find out strategies to be successful in that particular class. Another lesson I learned in another class was  a simple but important one that thinking back I was taught in high school, "RTDQ". RTDQ stands for Read The Damn Question. If I would have listened to this advice on my algebra exam I would have got a 100 but instead of reading the questions last instructions I overlooked the part that sated "check your answer". I lost a lot of points for just not showing my answer was correct. Overall I was disappointed in my exams and felt I had more control of the outcome and had too much confidence. It was an eyeopener I will use on  future preparation attempts to ensure that the same outcome will not result. Failing out of college is not an option and I will make sure my strategies adjust so that I will overcome this exam and compensate it with exams to come.

cartoonistgroup.com

First College Exam

Well, like most people I feel I have pretty much bombed my first real college exam. No matter how confident I felt answering the questions on the review, I left the classroom feeling as if I were a dog running out of the room with my tail in between my legs. That exam was nothing that I would have expected to encounter. I spent the last week studying and reviewing. I looked up concepts I did not know, read through the material, and revised my notes. In the end, What do I get? A big ol' feeling of failure. I wish I could magically have known the questions on the exam. I guess the biggest disappointment is that I have spent more time trying to review my material for this exam than any other exam I have taken in my entire life. I didn't even study for the SAT which was the test score that gave me guaranteed admission into the university. So, yeah I am upset. Anyway, now that I try to look back I figured that in the end no matter how much you actually study it comes down to two possibilities of an outcome. You either definitely know the material  or you don't have the slightest clue as to what is being asked and therefore will fail miserably. I wish I could have felt confident on this exam so I could continue the semester feeling confident. I now feel like for the rest of the semester I am going to have to play catch up just to pass. I guess it being a subject that I don't really care about just makes it worse. The only reason I am taking it is because it is a prerequisite for the next classes I need to take to obtain my major. I am only just beginning my majors requirements and already feel like I am a failure. At least my class with the principals of my major I feel I am successful in already. I understand that prerequisites are important in having success but they sure are a pain when you have to sit through the class. When your in the class knowing that you are being held back from furthering your interest in the field you are pursuing. Although I feel like I am already behind, I know in the end I will catch up. This is the first of my ten semesters I will spend finishing my degree. I just have learned that all the studying in the world sometimes doesn't truly help.

picturesof.net

Simple concepts on College Level

I never really thought that drawing kittens and unscrambling words would become a subject talked about in my college class. I was really suprised that those two concepts could be related to a serious topic and turned into an assignment. I never really realized that the opportunity cost of product can be related to just about anything. I like the fact that my professors try to relate these concepts to show us that it relates to the real world in many ways. I think it is important for me to see these concepts in this way so that I am better able to understand them. When I first recieved the packet handed out by my professor I felt like I was back in Pre K finishing an assignment on making all the faces look alike. This activity was then followed by unscrambling words related to the class. At first you think wow this is so lame I can't believe that I am actually wasting my time doing this, however by the time the real reason for doing these activities come into reasoning you are then asking yourself how something so simple can be so large of a concept when related to the objective at hand. Kittens and Words help you realize which one you are better at, after recognizing this you know which one you could efficently produce so that you are optimizing your outputs. When these results of my activities were brought to my knowledge through this view , I was literaly blown away. Being at a Private University I am happy that I have  a professor that takes the time to really put us actively into the class and have us take in the information.When I am sitting in class I think when I get an example of how to take in the information I will not stop there but rather make my own examples. I probably haven't got in that great of a habbit of automatically thouroughly glancing at the concepts. This simple task was a true eye opener of what I know and what I think I know. Im sure in the future I will continue to be mislead about what I know but hopefully I will look back and think about Kittens and go over what I thought one more time.  All my professors have been rambling on saying that I need to utalize my knowledge and take it into the world with me. At first I thought to myself, well I am already doing that. Although I thought I already was showing this concept of truly showing my knowledge, through this exercise I found out I really didn't apply it to all what I could have.

factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com

College tearing away from your normal life

When I decided to first attend college, I didn't forsee any problems with keeping in contact with family or friends but here it came around to the time where I thought I could keep in contact with everyone but no one is around. My family owns a business so they are always busy and never really have time to call or communicate. I often times try to call, and when a response comes through to let me know that they are there I am often quickly reminded that they are busy and need to get back to work. The friends I have known since I was 5 years old are quickly fading and often no responses to any questions or concerns. Many of them did not go to college and could careless about the situation. The second week of the semester just happened to be my birthday, like most years I thought I would have dinner with my family and spend time with them. However, this did not occur I had work to do and they were busy as well so instead of a nice family dinner it was cut short to a text message and a we will have to catch up later. When I head back home to visit all my animals are ready to play and more entergetic than I could have ever imagined. My family and friends are country and I have always been out on the farm or ranch. So moving to even outskirts town, was still a good cultural change. I went from having at least 50 acres to having maybe 50 sq ft. Many of my friends don't want to come and visit because we are used to having fun in the pasture, yet here there is land around the school it is by far not the same. Having this type of cultural change has changed my life by far already. This experience has already taught me to be more social and go out and experience new things with new people. I have so far gotten along fairly well with the new situation. I would suggest for anyone heading into the college life to expect little to no contact with previous aquantinces but reather be open to having new experiences and people. I learned that we are all in the same perdicament here on the campus and learning to spend time with new people is the best thing for you. I have learned in already 3 short weeks that for you to move on you must be willing to experience everything as a new child and with excitment. When you lose contact with those that you were used to coresponding with, you quickly learn the ones who really mattered and which people led you to a good path of life and the ones you can do without.

leaderslab.wordpress.com

College Classes Combine for Big Idea

Shortly after starting my freshman year of college, I quickly came to the realization that my train of thought is going to be changed for a lifetime. After attending my first session with my Econ professor he had made it sure that learning is basically 4 steps, ( repeat information, comprehension, analysis, and utilization.) Following, this conversation a few days later I was assigned to read a reading that highlighted these same components. Learning only truly takes place on the analysis and utilization levels. Even a parrot can repeat phrases to please a master but until you can go in depth without hesitation I believe you cannot truly say you know that particularly understand the information at hand. Now, I know that this process is by far not easy and will not come to me overnight but I am willing to take on the opportunity and see if I can accomplish this learning process. When there is a topic at hand that is not interesting this is going to be very difficult to do. I really hope through my learning process that I will be able to be at this level. Just entereing college though, I know this will be harder. I have yet been able to comprehend a lesson or a reading the first time through. I have to go back think and think before I come to my own conclusion of what was being stated and the meaning behind the words. Overall what I learned in my lecture about levels of learning and the reading assigned to me a few days later is that all my life what I thought I learned I haven't completly. I know how to regurgitate it like a parrot but to fully explain many topics I would stare like a cow staring at a new gate. This opened my eyes and I think that it will give me a new outlook at how to approach my college experience. When I attend classes, unlike high school that gave me little preperation, I am now taking notes and looking over the information. I have come to a conclusion already that notes alone will not get me to this level that I hope to reach. I need to be able to orally translate my mental notes with analysis and examples. College definetly isn't what I have expected so far, and yet not as hard as I have heard about it. I think that in this discussion and reading it is trying to potray that when experiencing the unknown that dosen't come natural to embrace it, learn it, and eventually know it so well you would be able to teach it. This discussion helped me and I hope that the thought I feel about this conversation will carry with me every class I attend this semester and semesters to come.

roswellguidance.wordpress.com