My way to college -David (guest post)

Hi everyone! My name is David Chen and I am currently a super-senior student at UC Berkeley. In case you are wondering what a super senior is, it is a phase used to describe students who have stayed at Cal for over four years. It also applies if you stay for over two years if you transferred. The latter one applies to me so hopefully you’ll get a different perspective en route to college. I attended Glen A. Wilson high school. It is a high school in Southern California. Like many other high schools, it had its share of the overachievers, underachievers, and everyone else somewhere in between. As for me, I would probably classify myself as an underachiever. Unlike most people I know who took the typical route to UC Berkeley which usually consisted of tons of AP classes, SAT I, SAT II, and International Baccalaureate (IB) classes, I did just enough to get by. While many of the overachievers and average achievers were slaving away their lives to get into schools like UCLA, Stanford, University of Pennsylvania, UC Berkeley, etc., I on the other hand took another route.

I took the normal high school classes, but I could care less about my GPA, my SAT scores, extracurricular activities, or college in general. I was somewhat indifferent when I got a C as a class grade. I took the SATs for the hell of it. Instead of joining those typical clubs such as the Key Club or the Leo Club, I ignored all clubs. I did not bother doing any extracurricular activities either. In general, my friends and I generally did enough to get by, went home, and played video games or something like that. It’s not like we never got good grades. We were generally underachievers. In fact, one of my friends, who was in the academic decathlon, ended up getting a D for economics. The funny thing was that he actually won an award in economics during the competition. I got good grades in some of the classes I really enjoyed. I was generally a fan of history, government, and computer oriented classes. When the time came to apply for schools, I didn’t bother apply to any colleges. Well, I lied. I did apply to a community college about 11 miles away called Mt. San Antonio College.

So, I spent the next few years in community college. I would have to say, it is an experience I still cherish today because it had such a tremendous influence in my life. As I took classes to fulfill the general breadth requirement that was part of the transfer requirements to both UCs and CSUs, I would say I underwent self-actualization / self-discovery. First of all, I gained a better understanding of what I truly enjoyed. At Mt. SAC, I generally enjoyed taking Political Science, Psychology, Philosophy, and Literature classes. One thing that drew me to Psychology was its relevance in my life. For once in my life, I understood the possible reasons why I felt how I felt. Each field of study influenced in me one way or another. When I transferred to UC Berkeley, I placed my focus onto Psychology and Political Science.

Second, I gained a better understanding of who I am as a person. I would have to say I underwent somewhat depressive and philosophical phases, sometimes a little more extreme than normal. Some of the questions I constantly asked myself included who I truly was and whether there was a purpose in life. Long story short, through tons on introspection, I’ve gain answers. Though some of the answers are not entirely satisfactory, even today, I gained a much better understanding of myself. Let’s just say that everyone has to discover these things for themselves. Third, I would say I gained a much better understanding of other people and friends. Don’t even get me started on all the time and effort I wasted on so called “friends”. I developed an understanding of what I truly appreciated in other people and what they truly appreciated about me. Finally, I’ve also learned to be self-disciplined. No longer were teachers forcing you to do assignments, read textbooks, etc. You have to be motivated and disciplined. The ball was on my court. I had to discipline and motivate myself to study for subjects I both liked and disliked. If you preserver, you have a great chance at transferring to a great college.

In general, my experience in community instilled far more changes than I can describe in this simple blog entry. But I found it a useful path to take especially if you are at a crossroad of life and you do not know where to go. I sure did not. You might gain a better understanding of what you truly enjoy, etc. You might not. I can give no guarantees, but it is an alternative path that you can take if you do not feel like spending the next few years in high school stressing about grades, competition, SATs, etc. There is no shame in taking this route. I know friends who transferred to other schools like UCLA, UCI, and numerous others. I transferred to Berkeley. In general, do stress out too much about high school. Above all, ENJOY LIFE because we were not placed on this world for the sole purpose of earning money and ensuring the survival of our genetic makeup (at least according to me). And till this day, I have still ignored all clubs because of my convictions though I have engaged in some extracurricular activities purely because I enjoy it.