Pages

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

My Experience as a High School Senior By Diana Armas

Barrio Writer Diana Armas shares her-story of applying to colleges and how by early preparation one is able to obtain anything. We are very excited for Diana to go off to college!




Since I was a child I was determined to attend college right after graduating from high school and now as a high school senior about to graduate in less than four months I can proudly say that my goal is almost fulfilled. 

All that is left for me to do is decide what college I will be attending in the fall. However, the experience of working towards a college education to applying for college was not what I expected it to be. Others might consider applying to college a hassle because of all the requirements and deadlines. In my opinion it is all a matter of being responsible, prompt, organized and most importantly behaving as an adult not a child. 

During my process of applying to different colleges I would always have to keep myself accountable for submitting everything in a timely manner and making sure I allowed myself time to proofread or double check anything I would submit. If I had any questions or concerns I would seek assistance from my counselors or mentors. However what was extremely helpful in keeping me organized was using charts and folders. 

For example, I created charts in order to keep track of what schools I had applied to and what schools I still had to finish applying. In addition, I used charts to keep a record of how much it would cost to attend college for one year and I did this for every school I applied. I used folders to help me separate important scholarship and college material. 

After, experiencing the college process the best advice I could give a high school senior wanting to attend college: Be responsible, organized, and never give up even if you feel like the sky is falling down. Just know you have nowhere to hide because that’s when you know that everything you done was everything you were ever capable of doing. In the long run you will earn everything you worked hard to earn. 

I did everything I could throughout high school to earn decent grades, be involved in extra-curricular activities, serve as a volunteer for my community and even with mediocre grades in mathematics I still managed to pull off a GPA of 3.7 which allowed me to apply to fifteen colleges and so far I have been accepted into eight colleges. 

I don’t believe in the impossibility and neither should anyone else because a college education is attainable you just have to work for it by starting your freshmen year in high school.

I remember when I was seven I would be asked what I wanted to be when I grew up and I would respond by saying,  I want to be a kindergarten teacher but as I grew older I began to say,  I wanted to be a lawyer. Eleven years has passed by and I have a different perspective and  I want to become a college professor with a Ph.D who teaches Spanish & Creative Writing, without any hesitation that is who I will become.