Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Welcome to College:

The Irony of Rain

September 2012

On Tuesday September 18, 2012, I woke up. I woke up from the fact that I thought that college work wasn’t going to be that bad, and I could just get by. I figured the day would come I just didn’t know when, and it just happened to be raining on that day.

            This day was different in a couple of ways. It was the first time that I had to meet a professor about my work, and it was the first day that I had to walk through the pouring rain. When I mean pouring rain, I mean it was raining so hard that my umbrella was blowing in all different directions. Like I stated before, I have two classes on Tuesday, so the thought of walking in the rain doesn’t seem to terrible, but trust me, the monsoon rain was not a pleasant experience.

            After returning from my first class soaking wet I thought the day couldn’t get any worse. Well, of course I was wrong. Remember the wake-up call I had been waiting for, well it was coming in a matter of thirty minutes. The meeting with my English professor, not only woke me up from the thought of getting by, but made me realize that if I really want something I have to go get it.

            I really haven’t explained what my goals are so, here we go. My number one goal right now is to be accepted into the Kenan-Flaglar Business School here at UNC. The business school at Carolina is currently number six in the nation. The admission is very competitive, and only the students with an exceptional academic record and extracurricular activities get into the business school. The average GPA of acceptance is approx. 3.5.  When I first heard the GPA of 3.5, I thought that would be easy. However, I have quickly learned that a 3.5 in college is not the same as a 3.5 in high school. There are no weighted classes, and the classes are much more difficult on the college level.

            When I am accepted into The Kenan-Flaglar Business School I want to major in Business Administration with a concentration in marketing. (you notice how I said when, not if, you have to believe if you want to achieve) One day I hope to own my own marketing company that creates commercials for goods that promote the “go green” initiative. My goals are very large, but I believe that with small goals I can achieve the big goals I have for myself.

            Alright now that you know my goals I would like for you to write yours down now on a separate page. My goal for you is to forever keep these goals with you and to post them on your wall in your dorm room and to read them every day. I have learned that doing this really does make a difference.

            When I arrived in Dr. Rivard’s office on Tuesday I was a bit nervous on what here comments were going to be on my paper. I thought that I had gave it effort, but I just had that feeling that she was going to “tear it up.” I set down in her small office on the fourth floor of the Greenlaw Building to be devastated. She began to explain to me that my detail was exceptional, but I had not followed the prompt. She said that in order to receive a decent grade on the paper I needed to make sure the points followed the prompt clearly. Since I thought that I put a decent amount of effort into the paper; the only thing that came out was, “Do you think it would be best to start over?” She replied without hesitation, “Yes.” Wait… what? NOOOOO! All I could think was I really didn’t mean start over. However, I could tell by the look in her eye that starting over was the best possible solution. The n she said, “Times up, any more questions?” I grabbed my book bag and walked out the door, and was hit with the pressure of stress and falling raindrops.

            I will be the first to tell you that redoing a five page paper on memory in one day is not exciting.  Oh and did I mention that starting over meant finding new scholarly sources, which are a pain to find. The walk back to my dorm was probably the most important walks I have had since I have been here. It symbolized everything that college is about. When it’s raining and you feel hopeless, you keep walking because your future depends on it. I do have to say realizing that in the pouring rain has some positives to it. It gave me the encouragement to finish my paper in two hours, and taught me that college isn’t going to be easy. Never forget that when something negative comes into your life, always make it positive, no matter how wet you get!