I Am A First Generation College Student Essay

Although I was born in America, I have always felt like an immigrant. Why? Because I was a different race from the majority of the people around me. I live in Garrett County, where the majority of the population is white. My family was the only Chinese family in the county. On top of that factor, I had spent most of my toddler years back in Fujian, China with my grandparents. I came back to America when I was five years old and began Pre-K soon after my arrival. Throughout my years in public school, I have learned that the American identity is achieved by assimilation while retaining some unique characteristics.

In the article, “What Is College For? (Part 2)” written by Gary Gutting we see a description of his ideal vision to improve education and the intellectual culture of our citizens. Mr. Gutting emphasizes that preparing students for employment should be the job of the elementary, middle and high school rather than college. He argues that higher education is basically unnecessary for the practice of many professions.

The words “You can’t”, have been apart of my mind set since day one. I was always told that it isn’t possible for me to be as smart as my sister, or on the same level of my brother who is special needs. I was always in the in between, but the main reason I am striving for success is because I know I can and even though at times I don’t think college is for me, I know I can achieve anything I set my mind to. In less than three years I will have a whole new life started for myself, all because I made it possible for myself to receive a college degree and start the perfect life full of success, money and happiness.

My name is Lin Marie Michelle Flores, I did not have to deal with gangs but I had to deal with the color of my skin. My parents are both from Mexico. They both came to the states as teenagers and met here in Los Angeles. I am the youngest out of four and the only girl. I was born and raised in Los Angeles with my parents and siblings. To some I had a privileged education, to me it was an education provided by working class parents. Both my parents worked hard to give me a good education. My father was the first minority to graduate from Saint Bernard High School, an immigrant who struggled to do his best to educate himself. My mother came to the United States as a young teenager. She did not finish High School in the pursuit of the “American Dream.” My dad became a LAPD officer and my mother had her own housekeeping business. Both my parents worked hard to give their children the opportunities they did not have, thus providing a private education for their children.

I 've faced many challenges because I am undocumented, my parents and I immigrated to the U.S when I was eight months old. When I was nine my parents told me I was illegal, they told me that we had crossed the border illegally and that we would get deported if the government found us. They also explained to me that being illegal meant I wouldn 't have the same opportunities but it wasn’t an excuse not try. If anything it meant I had to work twice as hard because they believe I could achieve anything with hard work. We believed that even if I was undocumented my good grades would make me an exception and every night we prayed I would receive scholarships. Since that day, if classmates or friends asked me where I was born I would say

I don’t really remember exactly when I was first truly aware of the concept of race, but I do remember some instances where race came into play in my life. When I was young, I remember my dad being pretty racist. I remember him saying awful things about African Americans, and of course, like any ten-year-old kid would, I thought he was right. Unfortunately, I even became a pretty racist

America’s gift to our generation is the hope for a better future is because we have the power to change our fate, change their life and turn their turn it around.

In today’s modern society, college signifies much more than just pursuing a two or four year degree. College ready means that students need to be prepare for college level education to be able to succeed or do well in credit-bearing college courses without the need of remedial coursework. Being college ready refers to the level of knowledge and skills students are required to possess in certain subject areas such as mathematics, reading and English and to be successful in any and all future accomplishments. Students need to have good communication, critical thinking and problem solving skills to be able to succeed in college.

The distinct scene of race diversity was not introduced into my life until I was at the age of 8. Especially since I was born in an impoverished third world country of 15 million (Cambodia), I was not introduced to another ethnicity besides my own. Heck at one point I presume that my country was the only one on this planet. It was not until my transition from middle school, high school, and college did I started to get a better understanding of the word called “color”. Most peoples might relate to this, but what make you differ from everyone else? Well, the answer is simple and it is classified as “color”.

As I developed, I began to notice certain things, such as barely seeing my mother because she worked long hours, my father being constantly stressed about paying bills and praying he never got pulled over. My parents advised me and my siblings to never to open the door to strangers, especially policemen, even though we had not done anything wrong. They later explained to us that our family had no “papers” to be here in this country. Slowly I had an epiphany, we were a family of low resources living illegally in the United States. Initially, I was not sure how this could affect me in the future, or how I even felt about it. At the age of one, I was brought here to the States, something I had no control over. So I started Kindergarten in America just like anyone else would. Teachers described me as charismatic, I had a lot of friends and school came so easy to me despite not having any help at home. Little did I know that later in my life my legal status would hinder my education, privileges, and my residence in this country. As the years went by, I seldom visited the doctor because that was a luxury my family simply could not afford. My friends turned 16 and rapidly got their driver's permits, and then their license, something I knew I was ineligible for and loathed getting asked as to why I have not gotten mine yet. Being raised by loving and supporting parents that always push me to excel has taught me

Over the course of the semester in “Mapping Your Future”, I have uncovered meaning in the question “What is college for me?”. Various activities in class contributed to my self-discovery within this question including identifying my Myers-Briggs personality type, creating a family major/career tree, and reading “You Majored In What” by Katherine Brooks. Furthermore, college is the opportunity to find myself through the several moments and events available on such a large campus like Indiana University.

Education and school, these both word always has been the main priorities for all of us. Pursuing the American dream of graduating college can be the best feel ever but it can also cost a price. College tuition is increasing more and more every year due to the fact of the rising economy. With student want to be successful in life they will need an education to a degree, which will land you a decent job in life. The problem is when the cost of gaining that degree outweighs the financial advantage to the career. Many of people are not able to pay for college out of their pocket. The result of this is that students seeking higher education are forced to take out an enormous amount of student loans. College tuition is on the rise, and a lot of students have difficulty paying for their tuitions. To pay for their tuitions, most students have to take out loans and at the end of four years, those students end up in debt. Student loan debts are at an all-time high with so many people graduating from college and having difficulties finding jobs in their career fields. So they have difficulties paying off their student loans and, they also don’t have a full understanding of the term of the loans and their options if they are unable to repay.This means that they are entering the workforce after college already thousands of dollars in debt and under water. I believe that students who borrow money from our government should not pay for their student loans.

Growing up in a diverse society the concept of race really does not exist. Obviously different races exist but people were not seen by the way they looked. People honestly looked past one’s race and looked at the person's character instead. This was the way I try to be. I say try because once I moved to Midlothian Texas my mind set started to shift from looking at someone's character rather than their race to looking at someone's race and then their character.

Freshman year, the year of many first; the first time living away from home, the first time being away from friends, the first time a student has control of their own learning. Freshman year requires a lot of discipline, but a lot of students do not possess this trait. The factors that contribute to the success of first year college students are social support, comfort within the college environment, self control,responsibiliy and positive self concept.

As I graduated high school, I thought college would just be yet another four years of high school, and I was wrong. College opens many new doors in a young man or woman’s life. There are new responsibilities and pressures that you will have to deal with, and with more freedom these responsibilities and pressures can be difficult to handle. College has changed a great deal over the years and these changes, such as more freedoms, make college a much more challenging experience. You need to start preparing for college now by making yourself more responsible and having more self-control. Although you think college is merely partying with easy classes on the side, I have experienced pressures and work loads that make the experience challenging