Being a student: what it means for me

As a current student at Arizona State University, I have witnessed that being at a university is not a game. Everything is more difficult especially now that you are on your own. I am mature and know that if I have to do something important, to not procrastinate about it. It is challenging for many people, being alone is usually not their thing. Everyone has a purpose of being at this university and that is to get a degree. I am convinced that I will become someone that people will look up to and a really extraordinary engineer.

The papers are a lot more difficult to write. Assignments are usually due at 11: 59 and you do not have any room for error or excuses unless it is an actual emergency. Usually people in high school tend to procrastinate all the time and if they were not ready for a test or did not complete a written assignment, they would decide to skip school the next day, but the people that would do that way often most likely ended up not attending college. Being in college, there are no excuses at all because most the assignments are due online. Students spend their hours in tutoring centers, dorms, study halls, and other places doing their homework, which is something that I would usually not see in high school. I now spend hours studying and doing homework every single week, the amount of time I spend doing that is insane.

When I decided to major in Computer Science (Software engineering), I was excited, but worried at the same time because I did not think I was going to be able to handle the extreme amount of workload that engineers have. It was a challenge that I wanted to take on in my life and overcome with hard work and dedication. My parents have always told me to never take the easy way out and to always work very hard from the beginning, and in the end, everything will pay off, and I believe that. One specific experience that I had recently in my CSE class really amazed others and I by the professor showing us multiples codes. Everything in college shows how integrated learning is. The English courses I took in high school also taught me how powerful the written word and language can be. Learning about how to write an essay or just any type of paragraph can be challenging, especially for students whose primary language is not English. From the classes I have taken, I learned about the world, its people and its history; through literature I learned how we as humans are all related. By writing about what we learn and or what we believe, we are learning how to express ourselves. I have always struggled to put my thoughts on paper in a manner that is coherent and correct according to assignments. I can remember the teachers saying “ organize your thoughts” whenever we would have to write an assignment. Even though in some of those times I would try my hardest, I would not receive a decent score on my papers. Writing and reading have not always been my strength, but they have definitely improved throughout the years.

There are a couple of things that I do feel I lack the confidence and skill to perform, and that is what I hope to gain from studying every day and getting help from my professors, peers, and tutors. A majority of people in schools decide to not ask for help and think that they will learn everything by themselves, and I don’t think it is wrong to think that way, but it is definitely more helpful to ask someone that has previous knowledge about whatever topic you need help with. In the current time that I have spent at Arizona State University I have learned how to be more independent and how to manage my time a lot better. I am half way through my first semester of college. Every day I learn something new from a professor, a peer, or just anybody that I meet at a random place in campus. I am excited to see what the future in college brings. Throughout my life, I have been through trials and tribulations. The trials I have had to overcome is what has made me the outstanding individual I am today. My goal is to make it through college, get a job, and to provide for my family. Everyone in this world wants to be successful and I will gladly say that I am part of that mindset. As a current student at Arizona State University, I have witnessed that being at a university is not a game. Everything is more difficult especially now that you are on your own. Everyone has a purpose of being at this university and that is to get a degree and to accomplish something in life.

Most people nowadays are afraid to overcome the obstacles that life puts in their path, and I am not one of them. One of the quotes that one of my teachers from high school taught me was that “ Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard”. I am convinced that I will become someone that people will look up to and also stride to be an extraordinary engineer.