My First Semester:

A lot of people have a different definition of growth, but since I have been here I would say I have completely grown in a way that I could not have imagined I would be at this point in my life. 

When I first got to college I thought I knew what I was getting myself into; but in reality I was in for a huge awakening. Everything happened so fast, and the pace was completely different from high school. I also had some friendships that did not end up working out which sucked but it was for the better. I will be completely honest and say that coming into college really took a toll on my mental health because I was always so used to having my family there but I had to learn to be independent and figure things out on my own. I have grown in many ways with one being my mindset and prioritizing the important things before things that aren’t as important, and realizing that if I truly want this career path I cannot play any games and I need to be one hundred percent committed and ready to take this on. My expectations were high coming in because I thought college was going to be a challenge but not something I couldn’t handle. Coming into college and having this first semester really taught me that while I may be prepared for something, at the end of the day you never really know what you are taking on until you are in that position. I wish I knew that in order to succeed in this college life I need to have a better mentality and that people may oppose to be your friend or like you, but that is not always the case. Having one good friend is better than having many friends that constantly drain you. I also wish I knew that it is okay to talk to people about your problems because it is better to let your emotions out and talk rather than bottling it up. College is hard, and while you may feel prepared and ready for everything it offers you never really are.

Study Habits: 

All honesty I would say I study a lot more now than before, because at the beginning the workload was not as bad as it is now. I tried in Chemistry, but I will honestly say that I do not feel I tried hard enough. I had to drop/withdraw from Chemistry because I was failing and did not want it to mess up my GPA. It sucked knowing that I did all that work just to drop the class, but now that I know how college chemistry works I can better prepare for when I retake it over the summer. My study habits have changed because I spend more time on what is due rather than actually studying the material; which I have changed because I now know that in order to succeed I need to understand the material as well. As far as resources I will say that my success coach really helps provide that comfort in knowing that I can get through it, and she helps me to find a good schedule that works for me, and just overall lets me know that there pretty much is a solution to everything I go through and I really appreciate her for that. Going into next semester I will use techniques like planning a schedule and taking time out of my day to sit down and study for each class, I also will make flashcards and study habits to better understand the material. I want to actually do better and now that I understand what college is about and what it comes with, I feel that I am ready to lock in and do what I need to do in order to succeed. 

Health Professions Learning Community:

The courses I took all seemed to be connected in a way; in History and Sociology we were broken into groups to complete certain assignments. I feel this happened because we all had similar career paths and interests and the professors felt we all would work well together. In a way everything was connected based on the students in the class because we were in classes with some of the same people, which allowed us to have the opportunity to reach out if we needed help and to make friends. 

Parallel Plan: 

If I had to choose two other majors I would choose either Sonography, or a biology major. I would choose Sonography because I find interest in ultrasound techs and what they do and feel I would enjoy that field. I would choose Biology major because with that I could really take that and keep going in the medical field towards medical school in any medical career. This is beneficial because if the major I am in right now, Nursing, seems too hard or I want to change my mind then I have this parallel plan to fall back on. This goes with my intended major now because I want my major to take me to medical school, in order to become a Pediatrician. If that gets too hard, then I will have my nursing under my belt to fall back on. Biology could help take me to that point as well, and will take me to medical school in order to fulfill that Pediatrics career. Sonography is just another major that I would be interested in if the others did not work, and this sort of goes with my intended major now because nurses can work in any field including Sonography.