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The Girl Who Goes to Community College

My Thoughts & Experiences

By Kim McGlynnPublished 6 years ago 4 min read
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When people think of community college, they think that it’s a school for lazy people who will never amount to anything. This stigma is far from the truth, so if you are one of those judgmental people who throw shade, oh do I have some news for you. community college IS just as impressive as going to a university.

For you guys to understand where I’m coming from and why I believe the statement above, I need to give you a little background on my life. When I graduated high school in 2014, I knew I wanted to work with animals, but wasn't exactly sure what field I wanted to work in. So, I applied to Northern Arizona University (NAU) because they have an amazing biology program, which surprise, I got accepted. I was excited and proud of myself for getting accepted into a university, mainly because when you’re a senior in high school your peers, teachers, and counselors talk about how great it is to attend a university so, obviously getting accepted to one, I felt on top of the world. But then I started thinking, do I really want to do the biology program? Am I ready to leave home? Can I even afford this? After talking to my parents and thinking to myself, I decided that I wasn’t mentally or emotionally ready to leave home and commit to a school I was unsure about. So, off to community college I went and four years later here I am about to apply to the vet tech program. Throughout my college experience I have gotten judgment about my choices or questions about whether I want to transfer to a university or not, but in the field I want to work in, the most vital thing that could help me is experience, which doesn’t come from Bachelor’s or Master’s Degrees. People may not understand the path you choose but it’s your path and what you take away from it, is imperative.

When the judgment, questions, and failures start to get to me, I think of the main things I have taken away from my community college experience, which, of course, is the money I have saved rather than the money I could have lost if I went to a university. I luckily have close to nothing in debt due to the low cost of community college. Also, the more ambitious I have become. Community college is full of people who are there to learn and achieve their goals. That type of environment rubs off onto you and keeps you focused and determined. This has made me realize how important my education and goals are. The last two and most important things I have taken away from this experience is to be patient and not doubt yourself. Only you know what you’re truly capable of and you control the speed of your academic success. It is okay to take your time to figure out what, how, and when you want to achieve things. If you don’t know what you want to do, be patient and take some random/fun classes to help spark your interests. If you are feeling stuck or unsuccessful, think of how far you have come and how far you can go. There will be times where people will judge, or school will get so hard that you want to give up, but know that this is your life and you are the only one that will be living it.

My point of this post is that there will be times where you come across judgmental people who are solely stuck on the fact that you go to a community college, but ignore them and keep working on the success ahead. Having a degree or not having a degree doesn’t determine your success and your life. What matters is that you are working towards something that inspires and makes you happy. Don’t let people make you feel worthless just because they decided to take a different path. No matter your age, gender, or race, you CAN achieve anything and everything, as long as you put your mind to it.

(NO SHADE TO UNIVERSITIES, I JUST THINK BOTH SHOULD RECEIVE THE SAME RESPECT.)

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This article is all about my experiences with making decisions revolving around college.

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