by Sophia Villasenor, San Francisco State University
Maybe high school was way too organized for me. At the end of summer, my friends and I joined the EOP(Educational Opportunity Program) at San Francisco State. This program was really helpful because it gave us a taste of college life. I, for one, didn’t expect it to be so broad. All the classes, prerequisites, majors, degrees, minors. I was overwhelmed just hearing about it. The EOP program lasted only four weeks. The rule of the program were no absences, otherwise it would lead to a disqualification from the program. Everyone took this seriously, I’m surprised I did too because in my high school not going to class sometimes did not hurt my grades as much as not going to class in college. This program disciplined us to go to our classes and be more determined in wanting to go daily. It did help because I realized, if I don’t attend my classes daily, I’ll be just like a lost dog. I already knew my way around the campus thanks to EOP so I was not lost, that was already an accomplishment. This program was just the beginning of a new experience in my college life.
Going to my first day of classes was really cool because my friends and I attended school on the wrong day, way too early. I attended my classes two days before the fall semester had started. I guess I was just that excited. I felt like a lost dog my first semester in college because even though I had a taste of the college life in the summer, I was still facing new challenges. The EOP program helped us make our schedule for our first semester. In high school, counselors or mentors would have our schedule already made for us so when school started students would just have to pick up their schedules. In college it is completely different because it is more independent. I would have to pick my own classes, professors and the certain days and times I decided to attend. I felt so lost because I didn’t know which classes or professors to take.
In the middle of my semester I discovered the rate- my- professor online website about which college professor to take for certain classes. In high school it was already planned for which classes to take. I started to have an extreme pimple experience because of stress. Not liking a few professors of mine, yet, I still had to bite my tongue and get through the semester, hoping my professors would even know I exist. In high school everyone knew who I was, even the many teachers I didn’t talk to. I would go to tutoring for math, English and many other classes to have all my confusing questions answered. In high school, tutoring didn’t seem like the cool thing to do. Midterms seemed like a drag. I didn’t even know what a midterm was and I didn’t even expect a midterm to really affect my grade. To me it seemed like some major test everyone was stressing about. It really didn’t faze me. Luckily, I took very good notes studied till my brain felt like it wanted to explode and passed my midterms. I high school, it was pop quizzes and finals.
When my semester was ending and it was finals, I realized how fast my first semester went and I cried. I cried because of shock. I was shocked because I saw how fast time really is. I was under my emotional state of realization. I realized that I’m not in high school anymore; I am not a child whose hand one can hold on to and guide forever. I am an adult. I had realized that I was guiding myself and steering my own wheel in my life. I never thought how fast high school really went, and I became the epitome of a shocked dog. Once I started to realize how fast my first semester went, I didn’t realize how much I could accomplish in so little time. Once the semester was over, I wiped my tears and opened up my mind to feel more confident in my studies. I understood that even though this semester was a struggle I tried my best to get through it the right way: I didn’t give up. I was determined to do my full best and figure out things for myself. I figured out how easy I had it in high school and how much more of a struggle it is in college. Yet, I found certain loop holes and comparisons from high school to college and just like a lost dog, I found what I was looking for, my independence to my new world.
