What No One Tells You About College—Until You Attend This Seminar
What No One Tells You About College—Until You Attend This Seminar
Graduation day. It is the final day of high school and you made it. Your emotions are through the roof since this would be the last time you get to see, chat, and hangout with your high school friends. You are excited and terrified at the same time because you manage to close one chapter of your life only to begin another one. However, college compared to high school is not the same.
Here’s a personal story:
It’s been six months since I finished high school and enrolled in LaGuardia Community College (New York) back in Fall 2018. And I have to say that the change is pretty big. Despite that, one of the first classes that I took gave me the courage and support to help me adapt to this change that is college.
This class was the First Year Seminar. This seminar in my opinion is - the perfect course for recent high school graduates - who don’t have any college experience but it gives them the support and knowledge that are necessary in order to succeed in college and the real world.
Not only that, it helps them be more prepared in whatever path they choose for their future self. Our teacher, Mr. Luis Rizo always tell us: “to leave our high school mode behind.” And he was totally right. I immediately knew that he wasn’t playing around and wanted us to understand that we have to take this seriously.
Rizo would talk to us in a way that would make us bond with him, he would share priceless advice in order for us to move forward. Mr. Rizo’s goal is for us to be successful not only in the college years, but also in life while also pushing us to strive for more.
Once you learn the knowledge given by the seminar you’ll be able to apply it to your career-making decisions and interests while also making realistic and achievable college plans.
One of the best topics that you will learn in the seminar is SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats). This exercise is a reflection on yourself - it helps you see what you're good at, bad at, and what you can do to improve it.
For me, one of my weaknesses was independent work. In life being independent is a good thing but I realize that in college that’s not the case.
Whether it is an assignment you don’t understand or a topic, you must acknowledge that if you are not able to do, or understand something, you should ask for a second opinion or assistance.
Additionally, another benefit that I really liked and have learned thanks to this seminar is career research. During the course we manage to make an essay based on our major and do a PowerPoint presentation.
My major was Computer Science. At first I didn’t know the difficulty and challenges this major requires, until I did my research.
Without the career research I wouldn’t be able to know that my major is one of the hardest ones in college, thanks to its diverse mathematical content and programming the tasks required for each of the jobs that computer science offers.
Thanks to it, I get to learn a lot more of my major, giving me a future perspective and exactly what I want to do once I get that piece of paper (aka, degree).
To conclude, the First Year Seminar taught me about the values and ethics one must possess in order to graduate from college, while also helping you reflect that in life nothing’s easy and the only way to get to the finish line is by applying hard work and motivation. In the path to success there are no shortcuts and one must be willing to go all in to win.
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Talk to see you soon!