Personal Narrative: My Transition To Community College

After I graduate from Community College of Philadelphia, I plan to attend a four-year university. I want to receive my bachelor’s degree in accounting. I have a few schools to choose from. The school I am going to transfer to is Temple University. I am choosing Temple because it is close to home, it has a good accounting program, and to continue a legacy.

My decision to attend Trinity Valley Community College was influenced by two primary objectives. One was to conserve funds, as this is one of the most useful features of community colleges. The second objective was to maintain a 4.0 GPA. This is where I failed.

In the 2013 fall semester, I entered Bronx Community College to pursue Dietetics and Nutrition Science, and by grace, I successfully graduate with an Associate in Science (A.S.) degree. Base on my dream, I already took all the nursing prerequisites courses. The prerequisites courses that I took are Introduction to Psychology, Introduction to Sociology, English Composition I and II, Anatomy and Physiology I and II, Probability and Statistics, Human Development, General Chemistry I and II, Microbiology and Infant Control, History and many more.

I started to work as a waitress at very young age. I stopped receiving education because my grades at school were not good and studying seemed to be boring. Working in my twenties appeared to be more adventurous and full of promises. As the time passed by, my routine at work turned out to be a nuisance. I was feeling empty inside without knowing the reason. As my level of expertise in the catering business was growing, the idea of starting up a restaurant on my own was beginning to take shape. I believed to know how to handle a business but I was missing all the technicalities. Getting back to school was a good alternative though I did not feel ready.

Before my admission to Houston Community College, I was lost on how to succeed in my courses. However, my admission to this institute exposed me to different courses which educated me on different lessons on how not only to survive in college, but also how to succeed in my classwork. There are two main lessons that I wish to pass on to other students on how they can flourish in their courses.

Looking back at my life to where I am now. I can honestly admit if I did not come to Community College my life would have been different. Here at community college I have made the most out of my experience I not only saved a significant amount of money but, furthermore I have grown not only with myself but with my grades as well. I struggled with a numerous of things in high school. However here at college I actually took the time to listen and observe. I have made friends and individuals that I can honestly call my family. I have taken the initiative to progress in my chosen fields.

Tumultuous is the word I would use to describe my personal transition to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Maybe tumultuous exaggerates my experience slightly, but I did endure my fair share of highs and lows. I was born and raised in Appleton, Wisconsin which is about three hours from Eau Claire. As much as I thought I was prepared to leave the safety of home behind, I soon realized that my sense of security was false. It was probably week five that I had a little meltdown; I seriously questioned whether I wanted to be at Eau Claire or not. I’m an English Education major and examining the Appleton Area School District, and surrounding communities reveal that many of the educators in my desired teaching area graduated from Oshkosh. I

Last week at East, we had students going to the community college two days in a row and a school sponsored blood drive. The county office and community college scheduled the college days for our CTE students and seniors. It was hectic to say the least and the teachers had to be flexible. Some of the drove buses, others covered classes to give our students the opportunity to visit with college representatives and local business owners. By the end of the week, I could sense there was an undercurrent of stress. The feel or pulse of the school was off and by Friday, we had several teachers absent. To show appreciation, and to help combat high staff absents on Fridays I asked for money to buy the staff ice cream and to begin Fun Friday.

After recently graduating from Fullerton College with two associate degrees in psychology, I could have not accomplished this goal all by myself without the proper guidance that I received from EOPS and FYSI at the time. These programs were established to support former foster youth at Fullerton College in their education as long as they met all the conditions for each semester. As a result, this was valuable for me during my time as a community college student, allowing me to guarantee that I would finish all my requirements on time to transfer to a good university, and becoming more involved with the campus each semester. That being said, this is one of the main reasons as to why I am applying to your program, so I could receive the support

It’s never too late. These are words I whole heartedly believe. A year and a half ago I decided to go back school to study nursing. Coincidentally, a week after I enrolled in classes I found out I was ten weeks pregnant. As any woman would I had my doubts about whether I could handle going to school and now being pregnant. But then I thought, I now had even more of a reason to go back. I would soon have a child who would be looking up to me. I wanted to be able to set a good example for them. I started attending classes in the fall as a part time student. Considering I had not been in school for over ten years the transition was a lot easier than I had thought it would be. My teachers were nice as well as my classmates. I finished a semester

Ever since I was a kid I have always thought about what college I was eventually going to go to. I made the decision in high school that I wanted to be a special education teacher, so I thought about some schools that had that teaching program. My number one school I wanted to attend that had the best teaching program was East Carolina University. Having ECU as my number one choice lead me to apply there. Weeks after I applied I got a letter telling me some sad news that I was not accepted. Since I applied to ECU and did not get in, I was now thinking about applying to other schools like Methodist University or maybe a community college.

When I was a junior in high school I wanted to go to a four year college, however I changed my mind and I decided to go to a community college because of reasons. The first was when I came from Ethiopia I felt like I got a second chance on my life. I wasn’t a bad student back there but I wasn’t a very successful student either. I was always in the middle. Because I got second chance I wanted to use it very well. I want to do big things in my life.

WEll, I guess this is the beginning; the beginning of a new journey, a new life, a new me--hopefully.

As I immigrated to this country at the age of five, I knew I had to opportunity to grow up in a prominent country unlike my family. Growing up was a bit difficult because I was different. Although now, I strive of the fact of being different; as a kid I suffered trying to be similar. This idea led me to transfer primary and secondary schools’ multiple times. My childhood and teenage years were unpleasant; however, I did manage to graduate in the top of my class in high school.

In short, the move to college was rough. Transition into college is an experience unlike any other and one that I had to find resources for on my own. Being the first generation in my family to attend college, I didn’t not have much by way off aid in order to help guide me through the process of applications and subsequently the process of entering the university academic world. Having no knowledge of how to write an essay or what college would require of me, I attempted to take it head on, and spent my junior year working; spending all of the money I made in order to hire a college counselor who could help me, first, even get into college. This turned out to be a poor choice on my part; I made it through the application process but never learned the why to the choices we made for my essays and applications or how they would relate to other applications in the future.