My First Year at University: Experiencing Life as an Adult

I don't think my life before university was very sheltered. I worked hard in school, I played sports, I worked part time during the school year, and in the summers I worked sixty hours a week in my parent’s restaurant. I bought my first car with money I had saved up. By the time I was finished with high school, my family pretty much treated me as an adult. Then, I began college, and everything changed. My freshman year of university was the first time I was truly treated like an adult. This was an experience that was both rewarding and challenging for me. Being treated as an adult involves more freedom. On the other hand, when my professors, advisers, and peers treated me as an adult, it was a challenge to me to act more responsibly and to take ownership over my own education. For me, that meant being mature enough to acknowledge where my academic skills were lacking. In my case it was writing. Now, I am not saying that I had horrible writing skills. After all, I graduated from high school with good grades. I achieved a high enough score on my SAT test to earn a small scholarship. What I am saying is that I did not have the writing ability I needed to have to excel at an elite university.

 

Taking Responsibility for My Own Weaknesses (and Fixing Them)

 

As a high school student, I waited for other people to recognize when I needed help, and I waited for them to offer that help. As a college student, I knew I was becoming an adult when I realized, on my own, that I needed writing assistance. I knew I was becoming and adult when I sought that help on my own without any prompting or help from my parents, or college instructors. I obtained that help by taking several steps.

 

• I asked my instructors for honest feedback on  my writing
• I made a commitment to spend at least two  hours each week in the university writing lab
• I looked for help online in order to improve my essay writing skills
• I joined a study group where it was required that all members write several thousands of words each week and present those written works to other members of the group.

 

Of course that's not to suggest that any of this was painless. Sometimes the only way to discover a shortcoming is to fail, or to let other people down.  Part of my maturity in college comes from the fact that I was one placed on academic probation. I am not proud of that, but I am ultimately proud of what I accomplished.

 

Anyway, by taking the steps above, I earned the respect of my instructors and my peers. They recognized that I was willing to work hard, acknowledge my short comings, and do whatever it was that I needed to do in order to improve myself. When my professors saw that I was developing these skills, they went out of their way to offer me more and more assistance in improving my writing skills. My fellow students began asking me if I would be willing to lead study groups because they saw my commitment and self-discipline.

 

Personal Growth Follows!

 

Eventually, these experiences led me to view myself as an adult. When that happened, I changed my life in many ways. I wanted to help other students. So, as I went through college, I made it a point to mentor and tutor students who needed help. I wanted to give back to the community. I was proud of my newly acquired writing skills, and I used those skills to help several charities. I helped out an animal shelter by writing a grant proposal for them; I provided the wording for posters encouraging people to participate in a program that involved cleaning trash out of ponds, riverbeds, creeks, and streams; I also volunteered to work as a teacher's assistant in several of my classes, and to participate in other activities in order to help my fellow students.  Eventually, I was even motivated to change my major.

 

Why did I change my major? My first true life experience was in college. That experience was learning to become an adult. I was so proud of the skills that I had learned. I was so proud of the respect I had earned from my peers and instructors. Then, I realized something that truly made me an adult. I realized that I should be grateful for the opportunities that I had in high school; I should be grateful for the opportunity to work in my parent’s restaurant. That's why I changed my major to culinary arts and restaurant management, so that I could prepare myself to lead my parents' restaurant in the future. I knew that I could use my new talents and my respect for our family traditions to contribute to our family's legacy. 

About author:

Laura Callisen is a currently a blogger at the Grabmyessay. She worked as an editor and proofreader before but now her passion to travel took her out of officework to free writing.

Author's Note

I'm currently working on some non fiction and I'd like to enhance my style so I really want to hear your feedback. You may contact me via social profiles Google+ Facebook Twitter