De Leon 1 Alejandra De Leon Professor Vana DerOhanessian English 114A 5 December 2013 Your Reflection On College The reality

check that I had of finally going into college was unbelievable. Going into a university at the age of seventeen is pretty intimidating. I think that professors expect much more from me than what my teachers back in high school did. Preparing for college wasnt as bad or as hard as I thought it would be. In high school, I learned how to manage my time. I learned how to manage time by always buying agendas to keep track of what and when an assignment was due. I also would set goals for myself. That really helped me in high school. The way you are in high school affects your freshman year in college by getting to use to the habits you had, that it reflects in your overall performance in college. As a child, I always needed everything to be flawless. That is why I studied so much throughout my high school years because I wanted that perfect report card. I could honestly say I didnt do that for my parents, I did that for myself. Thankfully, Im still like this in college because the way I was in high school reflects how I am in college. Studying is a skill that I accomplished on my own. However, my teachers taught a technique called the process of elimination." I basically eliminate answers that dont fit into the question that is being asked. A skill that I will always use is summarizing and synthesizing. I feel that this skill prepared me for college because its used so many times in English class. Its a good way to show the professor that I understood what I read. It also shows that I did what I was told to do. If I already had this skill set in my mind when I was in high school, I will still process this skill in college for the fact

De Leon 2 how it did good for me. When I read the article, Shitty First Drafts by Anne Lamott, there was a line that changed my perspective of college English. The quote read, Very few writers really know what they are doing until theyve done it (Lamott 1). This line stood out to me because it demonstrated that its okay if I dont do a first rough draft perfectly. It made me feel like Im not the only one out there that doesnt do so well in first drafts. I now feel comfortable in writing because I understand that mistakes are okay. I learn from my mistakes, and I work twice as hard when I get to fix them. For instance, when I revise my final essay, I do a much better job comparing to my first draft. The quote inspired me to study harder for my next math exam that I have coming up because Lamott asserted that its okay if I dont get an assignment right the first time. I should practice and practice, in this case study harder to get better results. Setting goals for myself has become a great habit of mine. My high school counselor named Mrs. Zook taught this skill. She mentored me to set goals for myself, whether they were short-term goals or long, she would inform me to always accomplish them no matter how easy or difficult they were. It was important for me to have good mentors or counselors in high school because it affected me in many solutions. As in, if I want to get a decent grade on my midterm for Anthropology 153, my short-term goal would be to pass the test. In order to accomplish this goal, I have to study very hard. Fortunately, this is a good habit that was transferred from high school to college. This skill that I have learned does reflect in my overall performance in college by having a motivation to do well in my exams. Since its my freshman year at CSUN, some skills havent been yet transferred. For instance, managing my time. I find it to be difficult to manage my time right now because I feel that I have a lot of time in my hands. In high school, I would see the same teachers day to day and an assignment would always be due the following day. Now with college, you dont see your

De Leon 3 professors as often. Some assignments might be due from a week it was assigned or even a month. Since I have more time to do my assignments, its easier for me to forget to do them. For example, I forgot to answer a discussion forum for my University 100 class because it was due four days after the last class meeting. For me, four days is plenty of time, and it made me vulnerable to forget the assignment. It surprises me that managing my time hasnt been transferred because I would always buy an agenda. It probably also has to do with the professors not constantly reminding me like my high school teachers would. However, my study habits have been transferred. I like to sit in a quiet place like a coffee shop or my room to study for my exams. College and high school are two different worlds, but in those two worlds, they do, in fact, have things in common. In other words, learning by reading articles that are assigned are used in both, as well as summarizing and synthesizing, creating your own thesis, and by learning from lectures and power points. When it comes to learning, I feel that power points really do help. When I have a professor speaking about what is being informed in the power point, and I get to copy the notes, I tend to learn quickly that way. Even though I learn from what I hear or see, there are certain things that I learned naturally. For example, being polite wasnt something that was taught to me in class. Managing time and obeying the rules is something that I just naturally do. This unbelievably happens in college too. I naturally learned how to be professional. Im more aware of my surroundings; Im growing as a person, so Im learning to be wiser and punctual. All of those things that I learn logically help me become more of a mature person than I was back in high school. Even though I graduated with honors and got into a university, I should have done things differently to prepare myself for college. I only took the SAT once and the ACT twice. I regret to

De Leon 4 say that I didnt study for any of those. I also only took one AP class, and that was AP psychology. I felt intimidated by those classes because I felt that I wasnt good enough for them. One thing that I wish I couldve done to prepare myself for college was to do more research on careers that Im interested in. Im not sure if I want to be an obstetrics gynecologist or a radiologist. Im stuck on those two career paths because I dont know which one would be best for me. The bad habit of not knowing how to be prepared reflected on my college performance by not knowing what type of classes I should take for my major. Most importantly, I should have created a plan to graduate college for four years. Ultimately, the way I was in high school affects my freshman year in college by getting to use to the habits that I had, that it reflects in my overall performance in college. Therefore, the study habits that I created are most likely going to be used in college. For instance, the study habits that I used in high school are still used in college. I go over the topics that I learned in a quiet place for exams or just to review what I learned in a class. If I already set my standards high in high school, than those standards will be high for college as well. It matters how I was because without being a good student in high school, I would have an extreme chance of not being a well-rounded freshman in college either. High school and college are two different worlds by one of them preparing you for the rawness in education while the other is the set deal. They both use distinctive techniques because the levels of education in college have increased. However, you still could use some techniques that worked best for you in high school.

De Leon 5 Work Cited Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New York: Anchor, 1995. Print.