University of Wisconsin-Madison Top Questions

I graduated from high school with a class of 51 students. When I came to UW-Madison, one of my first classes consisted of a two-floor, theater style classroom with over 600 students. It was definitely a culture shock. But going to college opened my eyes to see what the world has to offer beyond the comfort of my hometown. It was both refreshing and challenging to be living independently for the first time and to know that, as young adults, no matter where or what we've come from, we're all embarking on this journey together.

This school has enabled me to really understand psychological processes and to do research with faculty to learn more about the process behind studying psychology. The school also has one of the top psychology programs in the country, so it has given me a good base to expand to future studies and eventually go to graduate school in order to get my Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. The professors I have met and friends I have made at this school can never be replaced.

I think one of the most important lessons that I have gotten out of my college experience was learning that once you are in college as a young adult, you are made accountable for all of your actions. Time management and responsibility are things that all students must learn when they first make it into college. I think learning these lessons has helped me be as productive as I can be and to fully take advantage of the opportunity to attend college. It has been valuable for me to attend college because college has helped me become fully aware of all of my responsibilities and has helped me realize what I need to do to achieve my goal of becoming one of the first doctors in my family.

College has opened me up to a variety of new people and experiences that I never thought would be possible in my small Midwestern hometown. I am proud to be among the best and brightest of my peers that recieve their degree from UW-Madison, being aided and inspired by professors who represent new worlds and ways of thinking. The world is not as an oyster falsely impregnated by a grain of sand whose pearl is destined to be merely another on a strand. My world is a book and each page contains experience and knowledge I intend to collect.

My degree has been my union card in the workplace.

Being in college has allowed me to come out of my shell and has given me the chance to find my own person. Through meeting new people and working through my college classes I have been able to see my own self worth and have learned that when I put my effort to it I can succed in reaching my goals.

I have received so many gifts while attending UW-Madison. I have been able to broaden my horizon on my own goals for my life while understanding how those goals can be integrated into the community. I have become involved in the Schools of Hope Juventud Program here in the Madison, Wisconsin area. This program made a bridge between my personal goals of traveling abroad and becoming a Spanish teacher with helping the community. I tutor sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students who tend to need some help with their English Language skills. I would never would have had this opportunity if it wasn't for the service learning course offered by UW-Madison. The professors, academic advisors, students, and volunteer operators have all assisted me in achieving my goals of learning what I am meant to do with life. If it wasn't for UW-Madison I would still be undecided, wandering around a campus somewhere, wondering what to do with my life. Now I have focus and perspective, along with goals that will benefit both the community and myself.

At the University of Wisconsin, I discovered who I am. The amount of personal growth I experienced as an undergraduate profoundly changed my identity. When I transferred to UW-Madison as a sophomore, I simply hoped that I would begin to enjoy more academic and social freedom than I had at the small, Catholic college I’d attended my freshman year. Instead, I found my life’s direction. My diverse academic classes pointed me on a path of discovery that introduced me to professors who would become my mentors and to peers from whom I gained inspiration, knowledge and lifelong friendships. My journey even led me to study abroad in Cairo, Egypt, an experience that has forever reshaped my perspective on the world and life itself. Perhaps most importantly, as an undergraduate student I met the man who would become the love of my life. My years as a UW-Madison student taught me to seek out those moments that can change a life. When I started college, I needed to learn how to step forward and take ownership of my life. UW-Madison showed me the way, and that is a lesson for which I am forever grateful.

My initial impressions of success in college life were purely focused on good grades and getting to know and impress the professors. I could not have been more wrong. Although both are very important, they are only a small part of the college experience. The relationships that I have developed, on this journey to my adult life, are what really have surprised me. I came to this school with a narrow understanding of people and with a small group of friends in tow. Now in my second year of college, I have developed a wide variety of relationships. These relationships vary from very close friends to sports mates, to a self developed prayer study group. A year ago I would never have thought that I would have thrown my relationship net so wide! This is what I now believe the college experience is really about, forming new relationships and making life long connections. And if I am correct, I look forward to a successful completion of my college life and the realization of a transition to my chosen career.

I started college because I knew that I wanted a better life for myself and my future family. I needed to know that I could be independent and would be able to take care of my family. College was going to make me a better person. It was hard for me to take college seriously when I first enrolled. I believe this was mostly because I doubted myself and partly because I was still trying to figure out how I was going to survive outside of college. I struggled through it at first and hit a few bumps in the road, but I worked through it and eventually got to a place where I started believing in myself. I figured out better ways to study and manage my time. Feeling like I finally had a purpose in life made all the difference in the world. It changed my approach and my outlook on school. I have been successful in every class since then and am so excited to start the nursing program in two semesters. I can see a light at the end of the tunnel that keeps getting bigger every time I look up. Never give up the dream!

So far I have found my college experience to be eye opening and very helpful. In the short amount of time I have been on campus I have learned many things that have helped me to become a well rounded individual.

In the short month and a half that I have been at college, I have already pulled and stretched myself in ways that I never thought possible. I am living in the Green House, a housing community centered around leading an environmentally friendly existence. I am taking a Japanese language class, and twice a week I attend a Psychology lecture of 350 people. I am becoming more familiar with a beautiful culture, and I have learned how to think in ways that will help me lead a happier life. I also work in a dining hall about three times a week where I make nachos, deliver pizzas, and cashier. I have become more efficient, and I have fun while also earning a little money to pay for my food. Perhaps the scariest thing I've done yet is volunteer for the student radio. I've never been involved with radio before, but I am being trained to be a DJ on my own music show. I am now friends with the soundboard and I can fade in and out of music. I plan to take myself out of my comfort zone even further and maybe even learn how to cook!

Life is regretful without going to college. From elementary school to high school, we are still like birds in the nest. We still follow adults' wish, we still accept elders' protection, we have not open our wings to really fly by ourselves. But college is like the first time when we stand on the edge of the nest: we look up to the sky to see its wideness, we also look down to be aware of the dangers. We are luckier than birds, we have a process named college, where we can prepare ourselves before we really going into the society. In college, I took many science , math and engineering classes, they have been enjoyable and helpful, providing me better preparative for career in engineering. Also, because I have done many labs with different partners, I found out that good teamwork is the key to success, to build a good teamwork, friendship is the base. Studying in college is different from high school. Unlike high school, professors are not supervisors anymore, they just hand out the assignments, then you are on your own. So self-supervision is another important thing I learned. I believe I benefit a lot from college.

I've only been in this campus for about a month so far. However, I can already find myself being so attached to this school for the reason that there is just so much things I know that I will not be able to experience at other colleges. I've already been exposed to a learning environment that is very challenging but yet, exciting as well as to all these numerous opportunities to be a part of extracurricular activities such as kendo, fencing, drumming, and ethnic clubs in which I can explore.

Out of my college experience, I have gotten many things that will benefit me through out my life. To name just a few, I learned that my view of things were different from other people's point of views. Entering a prodominately White college from a prodominately Black high school, my view was only based on where I came from, so I had to learn to be submissive and passive to other people and how they view different things. I had to begin listening and learning from others before I opened my mouth and said what I thought and how I viewed it. I also learned how to be independent and make independent decisions that was vital to my college experience and my life. College has been valuable to attend because it gives you a chance to learn how to prioritize and take care of your business. It also gives you the prespective of how the real world will be after college. while in college, it's slight different because you focus more on yourself than others most of the time, however, when entering into the real world, it's about how well you work well with others.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has opened my eyes and my mind. Here I have made friends from across the world, am taking classes that interest me and do not only fulfill requirements, and have been given the opportunity to study abroad. I have been taught by leading researchers, published authors, and the most caring and interesting faculty any school would be honored to host. Every semester I am inspired to take on new tasks, challenge myself and others, and to, most importantly, learn. Though Madison is challenging, I enjoy what I am learning and am encouraged to be creative in even the most traditional subjects. Thus far I have gotten a well rounded, inspiring eduaction, I have grown personaly and academically, and have cheered on the best sports teams in the Big Ten in sold-out stadiums!

I have experienced the chance to live on my own and feel what it is like to support myself. My parents help me when they can but I am basically responsible for myself. I work part-time and go to school full-time which has been a good balance. I have plenty of time for studying and hanging out with friends. Madison, Wisconsin is a beautiful city to live in and I've enjoyed going to college there.

Great thinkers postulate that people learn best in defeat, finding success only after a thorough grounding in failure; by attending college, I found this to be true. Our Creator Yah endows everyone with at least one Gift from broad spectrums of potentialities. Over time, with favorable circumstance and intent, we each may hone and perfect our Gifts, perhaps earning some other(s). Ideally, the microcosmic environment of academia provides controlled atmospheres in which to intimately familiarize oneself with both one?s own Given wings and the winds upon which they soar. Testing theories and practices, embarking upon flights of imagination and supposition, trying the outermost limits of tangible reality, probing the depths of conjecture and faith, all of us fail repeatedly and often miserably. Yet in failing, we fall back down to begin again until finally, transcending the mere ignominious lucidity of failure, we begin to realize the image and likeness of our Creator. There we find our individual answers, strengths, contributions and destinies. Attending college enabled me to see, if only for one brief, infinitesimal moment, through the prism of unfettered experience and witness the true potential of humanity as the Omniscient sees it; I am improved forever thereby.

I haven't yet been able to attend college, due to financial difficulties in my family. However, my college preparation itself has been a huge learning experience. I never realized how much patience it would take! I've researched countless scholarships, filling out any application I've been eligible for, and submitted my FAFSA every year, only to watch my friends leave for college, leaving me behind, the only one unable to reach her dreams. However, I'm still trying, still working toward my goals. Someday I will be able to go to college, to finish my education, to start a life for myself and my future family. And when I get there, I'll have the satisfaction of knowing that I did everything possible to help myself reach that dream.

What I've gotten out of my college experience was that nothing in life is easy, nobody's going to hand you your degree, work must be done or otherwise you pay. It has been vaulable to attend because I discovered you can fnd good friends; they may be completely different from you but you love them just the same.