The time has finally come, and a lot sooner than I expected. My college days are coming to a close, or are they? My career at Illinois State may be ending, but I have so much to look forward to in my future academic and personal career. The self-growth that I’ve already had from just attending college is something that I’m really proud of. My college experience has made me a better person, friend, daughter, older sister, and role model. I grew up in a really small town in southern Illinois with very few people who look and act as I do. I also didn’t come from a family with a bunch of money or education. I never thought that I would come as far as I did, so that’s the reason I’m writing this article.
To show you all that each and every single one of you reading this that you are good enough and that you can achieve anything you put your mind to. Of course, there are days as a college student when you feel overwhelmed, scared, and tired from the overload of assignments and exams, but college is more than just grades. It’s about exploring yourself and who you want to be in life. We get exposure to classes, peers, and professors that change who we are for the better, so this is my story about how I’ve been influenced to choose the path that I’ve decided to take for my future.
Going into college, I was scared out of my mind, which is totally okay and normal to feel! I didn’t know where I wanted to go, how I was going to pay for it, or what I wanted to do. I think overall in our country, it needs to be more acceptable to change your academic and career path. I feel like once you say what you’re thinking of doing something specific in life, people around you will hold you to that standard. It puts so much pressure on the individual to not fail, but I’ve realized after changing from a nursing major to a psychology major that it’s important to do what’s best for you and not what others think is best for you.
We know ourselves better than anyone in this world and I think it’s important to listen to that, not to ignore it. I’m still not even really sure what I want to do with my future, but I’ve gained a lot of insight over the years about all of the amazing different paths I could go down. I’ve taken the important steps JUST early enough to not fall behind. Timing can be really tricky, so it’s important to stay organized. That’s probably one of the biggest college tips I can give anyone because life is hectic and unexpected. My dad always says to “expect the unexpected,” which basically means to plan for any disasters or changes that may come your way. It’s better to be proactive on these issues instead of letting stress hit you like a truck.
For me personally, my whole academic career was in question a month ago. Remember I’m a SENIOR (so crazy to say, I still can’t believe it I was very overwhelmed, but I took charge of that feeling and decided to turn it into my motivation. I had an assignment for one of my classes that took me by surprise. I found out that undergraduate psychology majors make less money on average annually than any other major in college and that most need graduate school to pursue most of the common careers in the field. This shocked me into a different dimension.
I was challenged to explore graduate school, which I had been avoiding for so long due to the pressure and stress I felt while trying to find the program perfect for me. No one in my family has gone to a four-year university, let alone graduate school. I didn’t know where to start, I felt lost and completely hopeless. But I did NOT give up. Never give up on yourself. Certain moments may feel like the end of the world, but we all have so much to look forward to and so much time to figure things out.
I took it step-by-step, and if the slight possibility I DID want to go to graduate school, I found out I needed more experience in the area. This was my biggest flaw. I had leadership experience, a good GPA, and work experience. It was just that last step. I didn’t know anyone in the field of psychology personally besides my classmates. I had no idea how I was going to get any experience without connections. I decided to think about it and all of the possible ways I could figure out this issue. I realized that in one of my courses, one of my professors LITERALLY has us write a paper every week on community and campus opportunities for volunteer work. I thought that was a great place to start.
The Immigration Project was one of the opportunities that really interested me because I have family members who have immigrated to the U.S. and I know how difficult it can be trying to merge yourself to fit in, but also try and keep your culture and core values. I felt like I learned a lot through this class about myself as a Hispanic woman being the minority in America, I could use this opportunity to share that knowledge and my own experiences to help others in similar situations I’ve had in my family. I might volunteer with them in the summer, but what else was I going to do to stand out from all the other graduate school applicants? I thought, well, this area really interests me so why not talk to an expert on the subject? I reached out to my professor about additional opportunities and the graduate school experience. He ended up offering me positions for next semester to do research with him AND I’m going to be an undergraduate teaching assistant for him as well. I thought it was going to be so difficult to find experiences and resources on information about graduate school, but it was a lot easier than I thought. It just took some courage for me to make those scary initial steps of reaching out for help and using my resources.
After my time in college, I can see that I’ve come a long way from where I started. College was a full-circle moment for sure. Life’s starting to kind of make sense now. In high school, all I cared about was hanging out with my friends and when my curfew was. I didn’t know if I was even going to be able to go to college financially. I went from being clueless about college to an advocate for education. My parents told me that I might as well invest in my education because I’ll have the rest of my life to work. It might as well be something I enjoy doing, something that I’m good at, and something where I don’t have to be financially dependent on anyone other than myself. I’ve learned about the impact I’ve had on others, ISU, and the impact that I’ll have on the future people I meet. This all helps me to take those scary first steps and be proud of the person I am. Below, I’ve linked a high school graduation speech that was shown to me that I found really inspirational as a minority, but I think it can apply to a lot of people who have similar situations to me. I hope my story has helped some of you jump out of your comfort zone and find what truly means the most to you in life.