Wells College Top Questions

My college experience at Walter State Community College has given me an opportunity to believe in myself no matter what circumstances I was going through. It help me achieve my goal and taught me how valuable college really is in order to achieve your financial goal. By attending college I have been able to use my college experience on my resume and have been able to compete with many younger competitors seeking the same job position. College is helping achieve my goals and teach my children that it is very important to attend college in order to have a great future. I am the first person in my family to attend college. I now know how important it is and am breaking the chain of poverty to allow my children to experience the great outcomes and opportunities college has to offer.

When applying to colleges, I knew that I needed a small community where I would be challenged daily by the close contact with my professors and peers. Wells has certainly provided. I like that I can meet with my professors outside of the classroom setting to discuss assignments, or even the future. The attention of my professors not only challenges me to work harder, it has also given me the confidence to voice my opinion in all settings (not to mention back them up). The non-competitive environment has allowed me to become involved in many diverse areas of campus life. This includes student government, sports, writing for the school magazine, and theater -- all of which have shaped the way I think and my goals for the future. Wells is the first place for which I've ever felt any ownership. The beautiful setting on Cayuga Lake, my classmates who are passionate for learning, and my professors have made this school more than just a few buildings and a logo. I will strive to find a career for which I can feel the same kind of ownership.

The biggest thing I have gotten out of my college experience thus far is my sense of self. All throughout high school I kept to myself, and didn't step up as a leader on the athletic field, in the classroom, or out in the community. Fortunately, ever since attending Wells I have seen myself step up as a leader, on the lacrosse field and as a peer leader. I participate often in class and am very involved in my community socially and academically. I've realized how much I can get out of life when I take control of it and become an active part in it. Without my experience at Wells, I don't believe I would have grown as much as I have. I now know I can depend on myself, and I've been granted this amount of independence I've never had; but at the same time I've learned how to correctly depend on others. I know that there are people out there who are looking to help me, like my advisor and professors. I didn't really know how to trust other people and myself until my attendance here.

By attending Wells College I have learned inside and out of my classes. I've learned about myself, other people and their cultures, languages, and lifestyles. I've learned about world events, past and present. I've learned how to be independent and get along with a roommate. The most valuable of all has been getting to know other students from different countries and expanding my horizons. Learning about European and Spanish cultures has convinced me that learning about the world is important, and being open minded is key to becoming a successful individual in addition to succeeding academically within you major.

I started college when I was 19 years old, but had to drop out at age 20, when my son was born. 2 years and a daughter later I am back in school and loving it. I recently finished my first quarter at the local community college, by attending classes online. I already feel more accomplished and am excited to be doing something for me, that will help me in the long run as well. Attending college after being away for so long has been tough, but being involved in discussions and learning new things has been wonderful and fulfilling. Although I am glad that I can take classes online and don't have to be away from my children for long periods of time, I am always excited when I visit the campus to take tests or go to the bookstore. Being around other college students makes me feel like I am doing something productive and I am proud to say that I am a college student.

I have learned about who I am and what I want out of life. Attending college, I have learned how to be a leader, and how to be more active when pursuing opportunities. I was able to play on a collegiate sport, meet a wide variety of people, including friends I know I will have for the rest of my life. I directed an a capella group because I took a risk to pursue my passion for singing, which I had never done before out of fear. I was dissatisfied to find the lack of community service I could participate at my college, but instead of being discouraged, I started my own club that is dedicated to helping senior citizens in all of Cayuga County. I extracted everything out of every experience: I studied abroad in Spain, did an internship at the United Nations, taught English in Spain, taught in urban schools in New York City. I also had the most incredible academic classes I have ever been in, and I know that my mind has become much more open to new ideas. The college experience has helped shape me and who I am, and I am grateful for it.

Since the start of my college life, Wells College has taught me a lot of things. I was also able to experiment in a field that was not something I would have ever thought to dabble: Theatre. I have also been able to be in a free, non-urban setting which is the complete opposite of where I grew up. Wells gave me the chance to try new things and learn things that I may never have if I were somewhere else. I have also seen that the teachers at the college are as helpful as those that I had in high school, which is a positive. I have also been able to learn to appreciate independence.

There are many reasons why college has been good for me, but I only have room to talk about one. You go to college to learn things, and that's what I've done. I'm an English major, and have taken almost nothing but English classes at my current college (I studied other things at the two-year school I attended). There are a vast number of people who will tell you, "I don't like poetry." I was one of those people, but now I'm different. I've learned that most people don't like poetry because they don't understand it. Few people are raised reading poetry, so few people are capable of understanding it without taking a college course. Wordsworth, in his Preface to the Lyrical Ballads that he wrote in 1800, said that he wished to be a "man speaking to men." He attempted to take poetry from its pedestal and bring it to the common man, and he largely succeeded. It has been a couple hundred years now, and I believe it is time to bring poetry to the common man again, starting with children. Poetry should be for everyone.

I hate, hate, hate my college. But it has taught me one very valuable lesson; how to put up with insane amounts of bull crap. It has honestly lead me to appreciate honesty, transparency and integrity so much more by being so very bad at those things. I've learned that much of life is just muddling through the bad times, that you have to make your own happiness, and that your power to be happy and find success (however you quantify it) lies within yourself, and no one else. While I have felt that Wells has been a huge waste of my money and time, it has taught me independence and self sufficiency in ways I never thought possible. Heck, waiting 6 hours in line behind a drunken hobo in a Smolensk train station without air conditioning was NOTHING compared to the eons I've wasted at Wells, trying to get things to work. So thanks Wells, for making sure that my 'this sucks and I can't take it" threshold is insanely high. I anticipate smooth sailing after college because very little will be as infuriating as your terrible operational habits!

Since coming to Wells College I have gained a family. At the start of my freshman year I joined the one hundred year old tradition of Odd/Even. A tradition in which the graduates of an odd year (Oddline) compete against the graduates of an even year (Evenline). Since joining the Evenline I not only have a bond with the people of my graduating class, but also that of the members of the Oddline. By the end of the first semester Wells College became my home and the memebers of both the Oddline and the Evenline became my family. If I had gone to any other college I would be lost in a sea of faces. Wells is a small community that watches out for each other. I am more than thankful to Wells Collge for giving me a home for the next four years. And I hope to be able to send my own children to my Alma Matter.