College Anyone?

by NYCkid 25 Replies latest jw friends

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  Soledad

  What is/was your major and how do/did you find the experience?

  After HS I enrolled in an Associate's Degree program at a private business school and majored in Business Administration. That was my mom's/congregation elders idea, not mine. Then after 3 years I enrolled in State University and majored in Sociology. I found the experience to be very rewarding.

  Do you find it difficult to choose a major?

  Yes. I couldn't separate my thoughts from the thoughts of all those around me. My father pushed for me to be a computer technician, while my mom thought that I should be an accountant or financial manager. When I tried to examine both fields, I found that I wasn't particularly interested in, nor was I good at, either computers or accounting. I had a Liberal Arts/Social Sciences inclination so that is what I went for.

  Are you going full time or part time?

  Graduated 1998. Went full time

  Are you a traditional student or an adult student?

  Traditional student not living on campus

  What are your favorite things about college?

  Learning! Class discussions, reading, exploring, and the state of NY paying for most of it

  What do you dislike?

  Term papers (arrrrrgh!) the 45 minute drive to and from school

  Do you find it easy or difficult to acclimate to intellectual and campus life?

  I felt like I didn't fit in at all so there was no real "campus life" for me. I just went to class, went home, went to class, went home........and so on.

  Are you in debt because our parents didn't plan for us to attend college and we have to pay for it ourselves with the help of scholarships and loans?

  Modest debt, as mentioned above NYS paid most of my tuition through need-based grants. My parents didn't plan my attending college at all, and when it was time for my HS graduation ceremony it's like it hit them all of a sudden. Even though my father was never a JW, he didn't think that I would go to college. My mother apparently thought that Armageddon™ would arrive prior to my graduation----what, with the first Gulf War going on and such, surely The New System™ would be Right Around the Corner™.
• 

  LDH

  Happy B'day!

  You are one year younger than me. If you were raised in the New York area, we may know each other!
• 

  NYCkid

  Thanks for sharing and thanks for the B-day greetings. Yeah the big 35...people tell me I look like I'm in my twenties..don't know how since I smoke drink socially but it may catchup with me someday (plan to quit smoking after this week), occasionally I get carded which is cool. I was raised in the Northwest, but I moved out to New Jersey when I was 19 (after pioneering a year) and became involved in a NJ congregation for 3 years or so.

  I definitely encouarge everyone to attend college if they haven't already. The whole world opens up to you. It's so worth it. I did community college part time which took me 4 years, I just want to get my BA asap so that's why I want to go full time next semester.

  Has anyone found it difficult to read and form opinions? Having been raised a Witness, studying publications where each paragraph is written for a specific answer and the questions are provided for you. I still find it difficult to read critically. I tend to agree with the author without really forming my own opinion which is a challenge when you have to write about what you have read...just curious.

  In all fairness my mother who is talking to me now, is trying. She's from a rural area where few people attend college and was raised a JW so the college thing is very foreign to her. She's learning the terminology and requirements, etc...so she's starting to ask questions, but I often have to prompt her. Also my JW witness brother who's older than me just started going to a community college last semester after realizing that he can't make a decent living going from job to job, many times working for JW's who never pay health or retirement benefits. Anyway, she's more accepting since he's going.

  Thanks again,
  NYCkid
• 

  damselfly

  Has anyone found it difficult to read and form opinions? Having been raised a Witness, studying publications where each paragraph is written for a specific answer and the questions are provided for you. I still find it difficult to read critically. .

  This is a huge issue for me. As a kid going to meetings I didn't like to read the publications because I would get panic attacks, so I learned to scan them quickly and underline what looked about right. I still find myself trying to scan my texts for the obvious answer. I also have an ongoing issue with lectures, all those years of daydreaming at the hall, I find myself tuning out often. It's gotten better then when I started school 4 years ago.

  On the student loan issue, I have recieved loans for all my course and even though I'm about $27,000 in debt ( with more to come ) it has been worth it!!!

  Dams
• 

  sass_my_frass

  Hiya! I pioneered my college days away, but am fixing that by having just started a business degree, and I'm going to major in economics. I have a strong interest in international aid, and can get part-sponsorship on some of the management-type units. I'm studying via an open university system where you can get a degree from a regular uni studying by distance. I'm part-time at the moment, working at a pace that would take six years if I stuck at it, but if I amp it up every few months I can get it down to three or four.

  I have found it absolutely liberating to tap into my critical thinking ability, and it's exciting to be learning new research methods and finding enormous online libraries.

  I'm just finishing my first unit and have been getting high distinctions on the assessments, so I'm pretty pleased with it all.

  Also if anyone is on Facebook, we should be "college friends."

  I don't know what that is, but it sounds neat!
• 

  sass_my_frass

  Has anyone found it difficult to read and form opinions? Having been raised a Witness, studying publications where each paragraph is written for a specific answer and the questions are provided for you. I still find it difficult to read critically. I tend to agree with the author without really forming my own opinion which is a challenge when you have to write about what you have read...just curious.

  I usually find it difficult to agree with the reading now, because I'm so skeptical about everything these days.