For me, college has always represented a daunting and mysterious future. I did not know what to expect from classes, teachers, roommates, or the campus itself. My biggest worry was and remains to be not finding a “place” that I belong at OSU. This is in terms of both choosing a major and finding a group of people that share my interests. The majority of people that I meet already know what they want to do with their lives and are excited to be taking classes that pertain to their major. I worry that I will never be as excited as they seem about any particular topic or future career path. I enjoy a wide variety of different classes and subjects, so I struggle with the idea of having to finally settle on one or two to pursue. Also, I worry about forming friendships and meeting people who I have things in common with. It is difficult to come from home where you are surrounded by close friends and family to a college where you have to form all new relationships.
Despite these challenges, I am extremely excited to explore the wide variety of possibilities at OSU. Since my arrival, I have met people from all over the country and the world, learned about clubs I did not know existed, and rode a COTA bus around Columbus. I love being a part of a campus that is as diverse and interesting as OSU. There is a different activity or event going on every day, and I have not been bored for a second. I am also excited by the academic possibilities. While having over 200 majors can be frightening to think about, it is really amazing to think that I could decide to pursue just about anything here at OSU. I know that no matter what major I end up choosing I will be a part of a quality program, and that is really comforting for me.
While high school will definitely be remembered as simpler than college, I do believe that I learned many skills there that will serve me well as I continue my academic career. I would say my greatest strengths are my work ethic and dedication to learning. I have always been greatly fascinated by my school work and love to learn new information. I know how much time and effort it takes to succeed in school and have always been willing to work for my success. I know that I will face new challenges in college but I believe that I will be able to work through them in time.
I have encountered many exciting clubs and groups on campus. Some of the specific co-curricular activities that I have gotten involved with are Book Club, Make-A-Wish, and Phi Alpha Delta, a pre-law fraternity. I have always loved to read, so I knew that I definitely wanted to find a book club which would motivate me to continue reading and allow me to discuss what I have read with others. I also knew I wanted to find a service organization on campus to be a part of. Make-A-Wish particularly stood out for me because of their efforts in aid of children. Finally, I recently have been thinking about attending law school. I thought that the best way to decide if that was what I truly wanted to do was to talk with other people who were choosing that career path, so I joined PAD.
While attending the college transition lecture, the advice from the panel that most resonated with me was to be open to new majors or career paths that I had not previously considered. As I have started attending classes and meeting new people, it has become clear to me that there are many majors that I did not even know existed. I want to explore as many things as I can so when I finally choose I will know that I made the right decision.