What I've Learned in College

As my four years of college are rapidly coming to an end, I realize that I have learned a lot of things since my first day as a freshmen. One of the first things I learned came from my freshmen chemistry class. I learned just how powerful determination can be. When someone is determined to do or get something, they usually end up getting it. I found this out for myself as I came close to failing my first class ever, but luckily I was able to avoid that.  

My first semester of college had started and I found myself in a classical college stereotype. My chemistry professor couldn’t teach at all. It was awful! I could not follow anything that was going on in the class even though I had the stuff we were learning about in high school. The tests were extremely hard, partly because they were timed (we got 25 min, but most of it was spent on figuring out what to do). The first time we had a test, I didn’t even know we had a test. It was a complete surprise to me. So, needless to say, I failed the test with a 30%.  After that, I learned to look on the syllabus, but knowing when test day was still didn’t help me. On the next two tests, I still failed them significantly by getting somewhere between 30 and 40%. I was in a state of shock, I guess you could say. Going from being an A student in high school to this felt earth shattering. I quickly learned that college has a way of making you not care about grades as much…..you just do your best in the class and it usually results in a B, at least for me. 

So I was failing chemistry. It was kind of traumatizing and I began to think of changing my major. It was irrational to make such a decision based on one class, but that’s what I thought. I figured I would end up failing anyway and maybe biology wasn’t for me if I had to put up with having to take this class. 

 We had a total of 6 tests in the class and so far, I had failed half of them. I was really scared that I was going to fail this class and have to retake it…….and I really, really, really didn’t want to retake it. It just seemed like a waste of energy having to do something you already did. So, I only had one option:  I would have to work my ass off to pass this class. I was already in a huge hole and now it was time to climb out of it. There were 3 tests left, which meant that I HAD to pass them. It was vital. Passing each test by getting the minimum grade wouldn’t cut it…..I had to get a high grade on these tests. It felt like so much pressure to do that.

It became my single ambition to pass this class. I read the book every chance I could get and did all the homework problems. I was so motivated and would do what it took. If I failed, then I would have no regrets of not trying. My hard work did pay off because I started to understand lectures…..I no longer felt lost with no sense of direction. Of course this came from teaching myself the material. I felt like I was one step ahead of some people in class because they were still clueless. 

 So, to cut the chase, I did do well on all of the remaining tests. I got a B on two of them and even an A on one. I also did well on the lab quizzes that we had every week, something that also helped bump my grade in the class. I literally couldn’t believe how I accomplished doing well. It was gratifying and all, but I still was not out of the forest because I didn’t know how everything would balance out……I had 3 failing test grades and 3 passing ones. After the semester was over and when grades came out, I was extremely nervous that I would see that I didn’t pass. But thankfully that is not what I saw. I ended up with a B- in the class…..how that’s possible, I don’t even know. I had overcome a very hard obstacle. I couldn’t help but think that the professor saw the improvement that I made and bumped me up some. However, without that improvement, he couldn’t have done that in the first place. Just the sheer fact of doing well on one of Dr. Wismer’s tests was amazing to me. I learned that determination really can get you places. In the end, I got to live out one of my favorite quotes:  “The greater the obstacle, the greater the glory in overcoming it.”

Now that I’m a senior and reflect back, I’ve certainly had my share of bad professors and hard classes, but it was that class during freshmen year that taught the most about having determination. Sure college can be hard, but you’ll get through it.

     Other Things I’ve learned in College:

1. Sliding down a bank of ice will result in injury. 
2. Make sure the waiter isn’t behind you when talking about him. 
3. Racing yellow cars is fun. 
4. The right way to pronounce pretzels is prexels. 
5. Having two back-to-back snowstorms is completely awesome! (the epic Feb 2010 snow)
6. All-nighters are inevitable.