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January 30, 2006
I made it! Now get me outta here!
There was a story in the Philadelphia Inquirer today about students who transfer colleges as early as freshman year. The angle was basically about how you can think that a college is everything you want...but when you get there, it's not always what you thought it was going to be. Overall, I thought it was a well-balanced article. On the one hand, it was like--if you know a place isn't right for you, there's no point in beating yourself up over it. On the other hand, you need to be sensitive to the possibility that if you're transfering because you're unhappy, it's not necessarily the institution that's the problem, and it may be that there are some personal issues you need to deal with--regardless of how green the grass is.
Anyway, I got to thinking about my experience when I was a student at Case. I remember a little in my freshman year, and definitely in my sophomore year, I was like--man. I'm not so much into this place. I was having a hard time, because I wasn't sure what I wanted to study, and what I originally thought I wanted to study didn't turn out to be what I wanted, so I was kind of floating. Case is a tough place to feel like you're floating, because the classes are demanding, and your classmates are by and large pretty focused and geared up.
Looking back on it, I also realize that I was struggling with some identity issues. I had come from a small town, where I had grown up and lived all my life, and so my role was pretty set. But at Case, all of that was shaken up. I wasn't the smartest kid in class any more. Success didn't come nearly as easily. And so I guess I was figuring out how I was going to cope with all of that.
Long story short, I didn't transfer. I guess I eventually found my groove--got into some classes where I dug the subject matter and/or the professor, sunk my teeth into various outside-of-class pursuits, became closer with the friends I had begun to make freshman year, etc. And now, I have so much passion for Case, and have this incredible fondness for my experiences as an undergraduate here--so much so, that my job is to tell the Case story to high school students who are thinking about coming here.
Of course, in that light I question myself--am I presenting an honest picture of what Case is all about? Am I giving prospective students too much of a rosy perspective? Are the visit programs as true to life as they should be? etc., etc. I think we do a pretty good job of this, but I'm always asking myself these kinds of questions.
I think that's where a venue like this can be valuable--in a blog, we're giving you the Real McCoy. There aren't any glossy pics, classes meeting on the quad, tweed-jacketed profs, etc. And you can cruise through blog.case.edu for more voices.
So how about it? How are we doing with presenting an honest image of Case, and in what ways can we improve in telling you what we're all about? What questions do you have that the website and brochures aren't answering?
Posted by rrm3 at January 30, 2006 04:36 PM
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