When I was in high school, everyone in my life told me college is so different from my earlier school years and it was going to be the best four years of my life. When I started my college journey, I went to Nassau Community College. Although I was not very happy about it, I did learn a lot about myself. After some time there, I transferred to Binghamton University. Even though I have only been here for a year, I have learned and achieved many things.Â
My first semester at Nassau Community College was challenging. I didn’t know what I was doing and felt very lost. I recall not doing well in my classes because I thought I could get away with not studying. I was so wrong. I became overwhelmed with my classes and was isolated from my friends and family. I was barely able to pass my first semester. After those first few months, I realized I needed to apply myself more if I was going to continue with my education. I had a month to get myself out of my depressive hole and start a new semester with a fresh start. That spring, I decided to pay more attention and started to study a lot earlier for exams. I went to office hours and took advantage of other campus resources like tutoring. I also started to branch out and make friends. I decided to join different clubs and teams. Even though I have moved on from Nassau, I am still very close with these people. I had the best time during this semester until the Covid Pandemic hit. Due to the stay-at-home mandates, everything went online, but I still did not give up. I treated every day as a normal day of school, where I would still go to office hours or have zoom meetings with friends.
After another semester at Nassau, I transferred to Binghamton University in the Spring 2021 semester with an improved GPA of 3.2. I was online for the first semester at Binghamton and I had trouble with my time management again because it was a new school and I did not know what to expect. Throughout the semester, I learned to ask for help and slowly started to see a difference in my grades.Â
During the Fall semester, I was in person for my class and I started living in the dorms. I really started having the college experience. I spent time with my apartment-mates, went out on weekends, and had group study sessions. I made so many new friends and had the time of my life. I started to put myself out there and had really good results in both my academic and social life. I truly believe that it’s all about balancing and how you approach college.Â
I have learned a lot about myself during these past three years in college and I am going to really miss all of it when I graduate. Thankfully, I know that I have made friends for life and will always be connected to them. Thinking back to my first semester, I can’t believe that I wanted to quit and not go to college. I am so glad I did not make that choice. I continued working hard, and am now feeling like the best version of myself. If I had told my freshmen year self how well I am doing, I would have never believed her. I am so happy I stayed on this path because at the end of the day everything works out.