University of St Thomas-Saint Paul Top Questions

The most valualbe thing to me is the ablitity to learn and think for myself and to anyalize arguments in detail. I dont want to take what somebody say as the truth. I want to form my own opinions in the matter. Also I have meet great people. People that I will stay in touch with for the rest of my life.

Each high school graduate looks forward to their college experience, but college isn’t just about reading books and sitting in classrooms. After completing a semester of college, I know I chose a great school for myself. I love the small class sizes and the professors actually care about their students. Even in a big city, I feel safe on the St. Thomas campus. To be more involved, I joined a club that is part of a national sorority. Gamma Sigma Sigma is a service sorority that strives to help others while making friends doing it. My involvement in it has helped me aware that I need to help others and can have a great time doing it. I have also learned that living with three strangers takes effort. We are often mad at each other. You learn more about yourself than about the other three strangers when first living on your own with new people. I realized that I could ignore it or learn from it. Not that I have always, but I try to learn from it and be a better roommate. Compromise is annoying, yet necessary for a peaceful room. I really appreciate home now.

The most important thing that I have gotten out of my college experience is the knowledge that I can influence the world when I choose to do so. In college I have the unique opportunity to be guided by people, whether they are my professor, peer or boss, while deciding what I want to do with your life. Personally, I have grown from knowledge that I am responsible for myself and can choose to make a difference as I learn from those that already have. Only college provides this fusion of personal identity and growth with education and social responsibility.

College opens up your mind to an entirely new way of thinking and understanding, and also forces independency and responsibility on young adults. Looking at my college experience thus far, I realize that although I have learned a lot of information, I mainly have learned how to think in ways I could not before which has allowed me to understand challenging problems and concepts. As college has expanded my mind, just as it has for many others, I have grown to appreciate the talents and skills of others which I do not possess. College has sparked interest in learning about things very different from my every day life, such as other cultures, and has shown me that no matter how much I learn, there is so much more that I do not know. Besides a change in mindset, going off to college has forced me to realize that now I need to take responsibility over my own life, which at first was a rude awakening. No longer am I depending on another person to feed me, pay for my education and tell me what classes I need to take. My future is in my hands now.

From my college experience, I have gotten the type of community that I have longed for ever since I was a child. I was very active in high school, in terms of volunteering and helping out the community, but I never had friends who were as active as I was so I had to do a lot of it alone. When I came to St. Thomas, my activism attitude completely changed. St. Thomas prides itself on helping out the community and encourages its students to change the world. From my college experience thus far, I have learned that the most important factor in changing the world is having people to support you through all the hardships and success you will encounter. When your peers and your university support you through it all, you learn that you do indeed have what it takes to take on problems that are much larger than the community you reside in. Knowing this has made me grow as an individual and taught me valuable lessons I wouldn’t get anywhere else.

In life you learn and experience so much.Through college I have learned the world is not in blacka nd white and you have to interact with so many different people(races/sex/religion/ect.). Although its not always easy to work with different people it is a good example of the real world because you cant pick and chose your boss or even the people you work with. College is an experience i think everyone should experience because you learn so much about the world and even yourself. You get a reflection of your study habits things you need to work on and how to work with others which is very important.

My most valuable college experience would have to be learning to pick a major or career. Many people grow up with their parents telling them what is expected of them. Many people are told what they have to strive for. For example, I grew up being told I have to study to become a doctor or go into some health-related field. I have learned that it is entirely up to you what you want to be when you grow up. Your parents can only tell you what they want you to become. It is up to you as the student to decide what you want to be or do with your life. Do what your heart tells you. Your parents may berate you at first, but they will come to respect you. It's all part of growing up and becoming adults. Love what you do and be proud of it. My parents were somehwat lenient on letting me choose a major/career. My dad keeps telling me that it does not matter whether or not I become a doctor. The only thing that matters is that I have no regrets and enjoy the job that I will have.

I’ve experienced my greatest life lesson in college. Surprisingly, it was not obtained in the months dedicated towards acing Accounting. I’m the youngest in my family, the “baby”, always chasing after my siblings achievements. I never could grasp a hold of my own life because I followed comfortable paths my siblings set for me. I accepted the fact that I was “the baby”, never stepping outside of my comfort zone. I always planned on attending my sister’s college when I realized I did not have to follow in her footsteps. Why couldn’t I make my own? Within a week, I decided to attend a college seven hours away. I didn’t know one single person, however, I was an individual, not someone’s little sister, FINALLY! Independence made me realize how strong a woman I am. College forced me to step out of my comfort zone. It was the best decision I ever made. I, and I alone have the ability to achieve anything I want. I’ve never been happier and more confident in my abilities. My college experience gave me invaluable insight. I control my life, I can confront adventure, I will grow.

So far all that I have gotten out of my college expierience is a sense of greater accomplishment more than I have ever had before. I am 22 and a single mother of two beautiful baby boys. We have been living less than comfortable and no where near how I was raised at there age. I have felt so low about myself because I was unable to give my children at least what I recieved. But now threw student loans and a grant I was able to enroll in online college, I started my first class January 4th or this year. Not only that I have a true passion for the juvenile justice system, and one day I would love to own my own facility for deliquent girls in the system, I want to focus on rehablitaion and letting the girls no they can drop the hard act and how much better there life could be threw, education, perserverance, and determination. With those three things you can be invinciable when it comes to success. I want to help others in ways that I needed help. All of this and my dream is only possible threw education.

Throughout my college career thus far, I have been challenged to exit my comfort zone. Not only have I been forced to spend late nights in the library studying for my upcoming test or be forced to run around to everyone I know asking for a proof reader for my term paper, but I have been challenged in a way that I feel most students in college are challenged; however they may not recognize it. I have been faced with a clean slate, one in which can only be filled by my hard work, dedication, and the problems that come across my path. St. Thomas states in its mission statement that they create morally responsible leaders who think critically, act wisely and work skillfully to advance the common good. Throughout my journey at St. Thomas I have been faced with this mission that the University has set forth. I must determine how I want to contribute to the common good, and by what means I must go to in order to do so. College is a challenge that set me on a path of self discovery, who I am today, and who I am going to become.