My First Semester of College is over. Wow what a ride!
Dec 14,2019
Well, I am finally done with my first semester of college. The morning after I turned in my last final exam. I treated myself and slept in until five a.m. instead of keeping up with the hectic pace of alternating between studying for five different sets of final exams; then taking the exams twelve hours apart from each other. My mentor suggested this approach towards taking the final exams because I could pace myself studying and stay better organized, more focused on the material and give my entire focus to one subject at a time. Again, his sage advice proved to work well for me, and I will be taking this approach with all my mid-term and final exams in the future.
Lessons Learned from my First Semester of College
Truthfully, I am still trying to absorb everything that I have learned over the last six months since graduating from high school. I have been working hard to get where I need to go, however one lesson I have learned from my first semester at Sam Houston State University is that 18 college hours is an investment of a lot of time and a virtually impossible task without the quality of work suffering. I passed all my courses and did well on my finals although I did not do as well as I had hoped overall. The last seven days were very stressful no matter how you look at it. I was so stressed out as well as mentally and physically exhausted. By the end of the first 48 hours, I was literally snapping at everyone.
An Idea is Born
Now that the finals are over and my life can go back to a normal time schedule, I have thought about some of the things that helped out through those long hours of studying and taking notes and it inspired me to create a new gift basket called the Finals Survival Gift Basket. This basket has an assortment of the necessities that helped me through those long hours of study. I will be unveiling this new gift basket at the Cougar Country Market on Saturday, December 14, 2019 at the Cy-Fair ISD located at 11206 Telge Road, Cypress, Texas 77429.
Don't Take on Too Much Your First Semester at Sam Houston
Now that I have mentioned my new product, on to a more serious note. I was asked in a recent interview what advice I had for college freshmen. That interview will appear on the front page of SHSU website early next week. My answer has not changed; however, I would simply add to my previous statement on the subject by stating don’t bite off more than you can chew. I am forced to take a hard look at my academic performance and I am being truthful with myself when I say although my assignments were turned in and I did well on my quizzes, essays and exams overall, the best quality of my work was simply what was lacking. I cannot help but realize that no matter how many hours I think is enough to devote to pursing my academic goals, that alone means nothing if the absolute best quality of my work is not what I am submitting.
Quantity Affects Quality
Another lesson learned my first semester in college was that making high grades in college requires your time, Taking 18 college hours, I thought I could handle it. I realize now that might work if I just wanted to barely get by or if I was not working part-time and running my website and craft shows marketing Christmas gift baskets to pay my tuition and education related expenses, but truth be told I don’t want to just “barely get by."--at least, not when I know I am capable of so much more. My desire is to get into U OF H Law School and that is a hard school to get into. Nothing short of my best is going to get me into that school. Experience has shown me I need to make sure that I spend at least three hours per week for each of the 15 hours I am taking this spring. I must do everything I can do academically to be on the President’s List for the next three years so that without a doubt I will be able to take the LSAT and score so high so that U of H will not even take a second look at me as I will be their first choice come time for admissions.
Revising and Moving Forward
With that being said, I am making some serious modifications to how I organize my time and execute my goals in the second semester of my freshman year at SHSU as an online student. I am devoted to ensuring that the quality of my work will be there so I can get into law school in the next couple of years. Nothing is going to stop me from achieving my goal of becoming a lawyer.
I know when I have been blessed and God has been pouring out his blessings upon me. My Heavenly Father has been placing me in the path of those honest and wonderful people who have been helping me on this journey. Through faith I continue on my journey and with the help of my family, my mentor and other special people in my life that will continue to help me on my chosen path, I will close my eyes tonight knowing that I have been and will continue to be blessed. God continues to open doors for me where they were closed, and he prepares my path before me. I have been and will continue to be truly blessed beyond measure.
Well, now it is off to the Tomball FFA Barn for Christmas at the Barn tonight! I am looking forward to seeing my friend Ashley’s pig and catching up with a lot of my old friends. I am so excited!
Karen
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