University of Idaho Top Questions

I am currently not attending college, I will be starting in the fall of this year. I think that college opens up so many more oportunities for you as a person and as a family. I am a single mother and would like to be able to give my child every oportunity he can have. I believe in order to do this I need to better myself. College opens the door for so many things and I am hoping I can give that to my child.

Being out on your own isn't always easy. I've learned what I want to do in life and who I am. It wasn't until my sophmore year that I decided to go see a counselor due to my unsocialization skills and my depression. The experience I have had at the counseling center has changed my life. I couldn't have asked for better advice. By going to counseling I have really gained a sense of my life and how to be in control of it. This has been one of the highlights of my time here at college. I've gotten to take classes with superb professors. Everyone is different, but many of the professors I've had at this school really change the way you view things. This is what good teaching is about. Though I struggle with classes and keeping my GPA up, I never forget that there is always help right around the corner if I need it. My experience at the University of Idaho has been beneficial to my well being and invaluable in experience.

College has given me independence. This independence has challenged me. I am constantly confronted with choices and opportunities. I am also barraged with global issues, new ideologies, and challenges to my core beliefs. College has forced me to recognize that I do not really know who I am, what I believe, and why I believe it. In facing this realization I have embarked upon a journey of self discovery. I believe that this is the most valuable part of my college experience. I want to be someone who knows herself, stands by and lives by her beliefs, and can back up those beliefs with logic and sound judgment. I had a professor once tell me that college is about learning how to learn. I am not just building a knowledge or skill base on which to shape a career. I am becoming an individual who can function in the working world. An individual who is constantly learning, is not afraid to ask for help, and who can rely on herself to get through whatever life throws at her.

I never thought I was able to go back to school. I have a dream to obtain a degree. I am more determined to continue my education now more than ever. Because I am legally blind I am more persistent. I called the University of Idaho regarding any means of support services. The Disability Support Services (DSS) has helped me adjust to college. They provided me note takers, tutors, and personal counseling. I have needed these services to persevere. Being blind is difficult and frustrating. I have spent most of my life seeing. Then in 2002-2004 the loss of my vision had impacted me. I was one day driving then the next I wasn?t able to drive. The loss of my sight was a big adjustment in my life. This meant to me that I as a person had to work harder. Even though being blind is difficult, I have learned to work past it to continue my education. I instill that there is no limitation to accelerate in life and follow your dreams, regardless of challenges that life would throw at you. This scholarship will give me the means to achieve my dream: having a Bachelors degree.

I learned about hard work and about how to always continue learning.

My college experience has been vital to me in the sense that I have really grown as a person. Not only is my education incredibly important to my but I am thankful I have had the opportunity to attend college. Right out of high school many if not almost all of my friends didn't go to college and ended up having children at the age of 19. I am proud to say that I know that there is much more to life and many more experiences that can be and should be attained. College has helped me learn this and I have a feeling there is much more to be learned.

I have had the most intense college experience imaginable. This college has opened up doors that I never thought would ever open for me. I had a great internship last summer because of school. This internship gave me so many tools that will make me succesful in life. I am the president of two organizations, I have become a leader by attending college and being involved. To be involved there has to be something to get involved in. The university of Idaho has it all. By making me step out side of my comfort zone this university has made me into what I am becoming a responsible and important individual that values education.

My name is Paul V Barbaritano and I?m applying for this scholarship with this essay. Growing up as an inner city kid I didn?t take education very seriously and as a result I only attended school to the 7th grade. It has been so ever since that I felt the void of that missing education and so greatly regretted my actions as a youth. I?m a fairly intelligent person with a wealth of life experience but still lack the education. As I embarked on a spiritual journey as an adult, I began to realize that something was missing, something wasn?t quite right. I was able to pick up jobs here and there to sustain my needs. My family counted on me to be the best Dad, the best caregiver and the ?go to guy? when things were needed. I ?nickel and dimed? it, and that is no longer my desire. One of my favorite commercials is a Nike commercial where they say ?never let them see you sweat? I choose not live that way any longer. I am asking that you believe in me also.

College has changed me. It has turned me into a stonger version of what I knew I was, but has also shown me a side of myself I was previously unaware of. It has cemented the compassion, tolerance and openness with which I view the word, while allowing me to become a more independent and autonomous individual. I have been challenged socially- I quickly went from being well known and liked at my high school to completely unknown. Consequently, I had the chance to decide if what I had been was what I wanted to be, and was challenged to push myself in the art of making friends. I have been challenged politically-the University of Idaho has support groups for many political ideas, and not actively participating in something can be looked at as indifference. Therefore, I had to re-evaluate many of my ideas, and decide if they were actually what I believed. I have been challenged personally- never, until college, had I gone from hopeless to euphoric in a matter of minutes. This has pushed me toward a newfound love and support of myself and my dreams. College is changing me into what I want to be.

Always be prepared. No matter what situation you get yourself into, you need to be able to make things smoother. This will take away a great deal of confusion and stress from your college life. Keep all of your school work organized, bring required materials with you at all times, and write everything you possibly can down, focusing on due dates. Do not procrastinate. This is by far one of the worst things that you can do as a college student. Once you get an assignment, find the time right away to complete it, because you never know what can happen tomorrow.

If I could go back in time to talk to my younger self I don?t think I would tell them anything. In the first year of my college life I was able to learn what it is like to be on your own. You also have to find a drive and motivation to go to class and get your homework done. If I were to go back and tell him everything that went on and how things were going to be it would be pointless to live for that year. I feel like you need to live and learn, with out making mistakes or failing you never learn what you need to change or do better so that you can be successful in life. So with that I would only tell him to live life and do what he thinks is right and life will be good!

If i could go back in time and talk with my self the first thing i would make shure my past self had done would be to pick out a major. The next thing i would advise my self about would be to know which colleges i would want to go to and which one i would want to graduate from. It is to easy to lose credits or get ones that won't apply to your degree when you change colleges. The last thing i would advise my self about would be about student loans and the cost of college. It does not take long before your student loans began to add up.

I would give myself the advice to live a little more and take more opprotunities as they arise.

As clich? it may sound, I would go back in time and tell myself to cherish every moment of my final year of high school, and I mean that in all honesty. Once you leave for college and get a dose of the "real world", the image of home you held growing up is shattered. Home will never mean the same thing. I would tell myself to enjoy walking the dog, to enjoy fighting with my siblings, to enjoy the days when I awoke in the morning and had absolutely no plans for the day - and was happy with this deficit. When I walk in the streets of my childhood, everything is different. The warm and sheltered feeling given off by the houses is gone. I now feel like a stranger in my old neighborhood. I wish I had...soaked up that atmosphere prior to my departure. Looking back on it now, I realize I squandered what I should have treasured. As they say, you can never go home again.

I would tell myself to spend more time reading. Reading grows your vocabulary and equipts you with knowlage that helps you sucsed in your colloge cureere. I would also Inform myself of the importance of volinteer work, not only are you giving back to the community but you'll build your resume and Increase your hirability.

I wish that I would have been more informed about the different opportunities that college has to offer. I always knew that I wanted to go to college, but I was not well educated on different colleges when it came time to apply, then eventually choose what college I was going to attend. I wish that I would have gone to visit more campuses and that I would have thought more about what exactly I wanted to do with my life. Instead I was focused on my friends, which is not a bad thing, but I just wish that I had taken the time to educate myself on my future. I also wish that I would have applied for more scholarships in my senior year of high school. There are so man opportunities for scholarships during this time, and I wish that I would have looked into that more.

I would let myself know to decide which college I'd like to go to before the FAFSA deadline for that school is over. I decided a week late and didn't get any financial aid except for a scholarship from the school. I would also tell myself to apply for more scholarships before I got up to the University of Idaho. Other than that the only advice I would give myself would be to be as social as I can. Make a lot of friends and just be yourself.

If I could go back in time and talk to myself in my high school senior year there would be so many things I would advise myself. Academically wise I would tell myself to take school serious and take the hardest classes so I could be prepared for the college level. I would especially encourage myself to take Biology and Chemistry classes at the AP level since my major is Molecular Biology. Friendship wise I would advise myself to choose my friends wisely. Rather than having friends distracting me from school, I should have friends that support me when I told them that I cannot go out because I have homework. True friends would want me to succeed in life by going to college and getting a good education that would place me in a career. Family wise I would advise myself to spend more time with the family especially my parents. I had friends here and there but me family will always be there for me. I would tell myself to learn to love my parents for all their hard work so I could attend college. Being away from home my family is what I miss the most.

Although I am highly satisfied with the way I have utilized my time away from school for the past decade, I would express to my younger self the enormous value and importance of a higher education. I would impart that fact that no matter where, or when, you do attend college, it will cost money. There are many satisfactory schools near where you want to be and taking advantage of in-state tuition can provide you with an outstanding education at a minimal cost. Primarily, I would stress that education is truly an investment in yourself and your future; gaining knowledge is undoubtely a way to show respect for yourself and to nourish your potential to its highest degree. Cultivating world knowledge in addition to academic pursuits is essential, in my mind and heart, to create a world that you can be proud of. My younger self was aware of the benefits; however, I was deterred by the financial output. I would communicate to my younger self that albeit a clich?, knowledge is power.

I would tell myself to enjoy the little things in life and develop strong friendships. My collegiate life has been filled with hardship; I have attended six funerals in my year and a half enrolled here, but my friends and teachers have been there for me to make these troubling events experiences that have made me stronger. I am incredibly grateful for the great friends I have here. I would also remind myself of the importance of getting involved with like minded people; I am in Army ROTC and play Rugby and Water Polo for the universities club teams. These people have helped guide my focus and made my time in college enjoyable and beneficial. Enjoy the little things and the people that you surround yourself with, and don't be afraid to step out of your shell!