My College Experience

Hi everyone! I figured I would do a post on my college experience. Maybe you’re someone just starting college and are looking for some tips, or maybe you’re way past college and looking to see how things have changed. OR maybe you never went to college (which completely valid, especially in this day and age) and want to hear what it was like. Either way, I’ll try to include some helpful tips and some do’s and don’ts along with some funny stories for ya.

So if you’ve read my Me and My Blog post you’ll know I went to college in Ohio and graduated with a BS in Environmental Engineering. This post won’t be so much about the coursework as it is the experience I had. Clubs and Orgs, coaches and professor interactions, campus life, that sort of stuff. Since this covers four and a half years of my life (that’s how long my degree program was) my thoughts are already pulling me in a million and a half different directions I can take this post. I’ll just start with the beginning…

In the Beginning:

I attended college from 2020-2024. Yes, I started my college career at the height of COVID and yes, it was awful. To be honest, COVID really derailed my college experience before it even began. Normally you get to hang out at the student union and meet new people or sign up for different organizations to build connections in your field and start padding your resume, but I did none of those things. And part of that is on me, because as a freshman in 2020 who had yet to go to therapy and work out all my issues (story for another time), I did not go out and do anything extra. It would have been a struggle for me to put myself out there anyways, but COVID was the final nail in the coffin. Some organizations were having zoom meetings, and some people really liked that, but I remember thinking how depressing it was sitting alone in my dorm on a zoom call with the Hot Chocolate Club, being constantly reminded of the college experience I was missing out on. I didn’t attend anymore zoom org meetings. And that’s a real shame because when it comes to Engineering, organizations are your key to making connections and building up leadership experience. I can’t tell you how many places (oh wait, yes I can, ALL OF THEM) want to see you participating and holding a leadership position on your resume. That’s what sets you apart from other candidates, and I had virtually none.

Aside from the missed opportunities of socializing, freshman year was alright. We had a hybrid class schedule where some of our classes were online and some were in person. I can’t tell you how helpful it was to have Chemistry 1 and Calculus 1 online with recorded lectures you could go back and rewatch, especially because the professors both had heavy accents and talked super fast. I would normally do classes at the library because my roommate would do his classes in our dorm. I ended the first semester with all A’s, shockingly continuing my honor student facade from high school (the one and only semester I managed to do that). In many ways the first year of college was the hardest because they like to jam pack your schedule full of entry level (but still very difficult) classes intended to weed students out of the program (I have thoughts on this topic, but I’ll save them for later).

If you’re waiting for a funny or embarrassing story you’re in luck, because the first weekend on campus before the semester even started I went to a friend from high schools dorm and we had a good old fashioned dorm room party. I met all her friends and we drank A LOT. That was the first time I was exposed to shots of vodka, because in high school all we ever drank were the Smirnoff Ices. Anyways, I was not able to keep anything down for three days after that. It got so bad I had to have my friend go down to the front desk of our residence hall and ask the lady what to do if someone she knew had alcohol poisoning. Of course this lady had to notify the office of student affairs and call someone to come check me out. When I came downstairs an officer with an attitude questioned me and asked if I wanted to pay for an ambulance to take me to the hospital. I said absolutely not and my friend drove me that night. It was indeed alcohol poisoning. Thankfully because the “incident” happened more than 24 hours ago the campus police couldn’t do anything about it, but I still had to meet with the office of student affairs and do my penance with them. Needless to say I did not take many shots the next few weeks. But in college it’s hard not to run into a party, and I was back at it before long.

After the first semester was done and over with, I decided to give the university counseling center a try, because I was in desperate need of some help, let’s be honest. When I had a full on breakdown my senior year of high school and was sent to the counselors office, he sat me down and said “Your school will have free counseling services in the fall, I suggest you start talking to them once you get there.” and then he sent me on my way. Looking back I still can not believe that’s all he did for me. Keeping in mind this was still COVID I had to do all the registration and meetings online, which was very hard for me. I’m the kind of person who has to be there in the room with you to see how you react to what I’m telling you and get a sense of how things are going, which I could not do over the phone. But I pushed through the pain, and I’m glad I did because talking to them was a literal life saver. Over the next four years I would talk to the same counselor about anything and everything from my past, familial relationships, my struggle to be social with my anxiety and the depression that caused, my insecurities, my gender and sexual orientation, and of course school in general. Probably one of the most helpful and beneficial things my counselor did for me was to recommend reading The Happiness Trap by Russ Harris. The link is still in my bookmarks tab to this day four years later (even though the link is now expired I just checked). I would highly recommend giving that a read if you struggle with how to determine who you are as a person and what you want out of life. What I learned from that book allowed me to reshape myself into a better, happier person. Anyways, I stayed in the counseling program on and off the rest of my years in school, even doing a few group therapy sessions one semester which was surprisingly fun. 100% the most important thing I did in college because I can now live my life freely without all the baggage that had been holding me back!

The Middle Bits:

Once I started working on myself in counseling and got used to the flow of college life, things were able to form into nice predictable routine. Move all my possessions into a little dorm room for a few months, do some school work and some real work (I had to work my way through school), and then do it all over again like 8 more times. During that time I was able to get to know the other people in my major and start building relationships with them. By the time we graduated people called our little group of Environmental students a clique because we only really spent time with each other, but hey, when all my classes are with these people of course I’m going to get to know them better than some guy taking business classes.

Speaking of business students, they were so unserious (at least the guys my floor). Not trying to hate on any business majors out there, but the guys on my floor I swear had absolutely no work they ever had to do at any point in time, at least compared to us engineers who were working 24/7. The typical business student schedule on my floor was to wake up at 1pm (any day of the week) and immediately start drinking (any day of the week). From there they would continue drinking, progressively getting louder and more destructive throughout the night until sometime around 3am when they would pass out and sleep until 1pm where they would start the cycle over again. And when I use the word destructive, I 100% mean destructive. The bathroom on our floor was constantly being destroyed. And when I use the word destroyed, I mean literally destroyed. I once found the toilet paper dispenser from one of the stalls laying in the hallway. And things got so bad an email was sent out that if one more repair was needed in that bathroom they would start charging everyone on the floor. I went to check out what the big deal was and when I walked through the door the entire 8 foot long bathroom sink was being help back up with construction clamps. These guys did some damage.

Luckily through frat rushes most of the more dangerous and boisterous personalities were rounded up and confined to the Greek village, which I never really ventured over to. Pretty soon I was also off the hook from having a roommate the rest of my college experience because our engineering co-ops started (not that I didn’t like my roommate, he was great! I do prefer living on my own though). A co-op is basically just a paid internship you do in place of classes for a semester. At my school we were required to do three, and although it was very helpful in the long run it was also very stressful trying to find a co-op, especially as environmental students.

The first career fair we went to to find co-ops was still during COVIDs influence and instead of having 400 companies to interact with we had less than 150. And of those 150 maybe 8 dealt with the environment. AND of those 8 that dealt with the environment, I’d walk up to them and they’d tell me “Sorry, we’re not looking for environmental engineers.” Really? Your company called Environmental Solutions isn’t looking for environmental engineers? Wonderful. I ended up settling for a company that dealt more with chemical and mechanical engineering, but it turned out to be okay. They were a solid company and although I was their first ever environmental co-op, they tried to find things related to my field for me to work on. I stayed with them all three times (because hello? I’m not going through that whole process again) and it turned out fine. They were located an hour away so every other semester I would pack up everything I ever owned and haul it an hour east for a few months.

My first co-op was actually when I got my cat. Right after I moved and had this big empty apartment to myself I decided I needed some company. I went to the local humane society and picked out my baby. My criteria was that they had to be friendly and I didn’t want a cat that shed a ton. He fit the description perfectly. I went up to the lady at the desk and told her which cat I wanted and she said “Oh, I’m sorry, he’s already been claimed by another family.” Worst news of my life :( But in the end I don’t know what happened to that other family, they called a week later and said he was available and now he’s my baby. He’s much much bigger now, but he’s still my baby :)

Senior Years:

It wasn’t until the final year and a half of college that I started to feel like I knew what I was doing. The classes were all specialized, which meant the material was all of interest to me (and I was finally done with math classes woo!! Calc 4 was horrible). This also meant the class sizes shrunk and I was finally able to interact more and build relationships with the professors (the COVID restrictions finally put behind us also helped with this). I was enjoying my classes, my friends, my life! And then it all ended (naturally, not my life though, I am still alive). Graduation came and went highlighting all our work the last four and a half years. The majority of my friends already had jobs secured at the places they co-oped for. In the 6 months after graduation I have grown to miss college if only for the forced contact with my friends. It’s always hard not seeing people you got used to seeing every single day, but we keep in touch. I’m happy to say I was able to pay off my whole college tuition by the time I graduated, which freed me up to start planning to move overseas.

Looking back, of course there are things I would have done differently (getting alcohol poisoning for one, there were also some legal problems I had somewhere in there, and of course choosing better study habits and preparing myself better for life after graduation) but I’m happy to say I can look back fondly at my college experience.

I also want to say that, like any point in life, you are faced with a lot of tough decisions towards the end of college and it is okay not to know the answer right away. My senior year was filled with doubts about what I wanted to do after graduation. I started applying to places in the states, then changed my mind and decided I wanted to move overseas. I went back and forth on this several times as I tried to figure out if I had the money to successfully move, if I’d be able to stay long term, and if it was worth leaving my grandmothers here knowing there was a possibility I might never see them again. This is a huge decision, one that will undoubtedly alter the course of my life, and I still have doubts even now that I’m a month out from the move! But that’s okay. Nothing is ever going to be perfect and I’m not always going to have the answers, but I have a goal and I’m moving towards it one step at a time. That’s all you can do!

The Finances of College:

I wanted to take a moment to mention how I paid my way through college, just in case it might help or comfort anyone going through the same situation. My immediate household growing up was very poor, so I received no financial support from my parents. How did I manage to pay for it all myself and pay it all off before graduating? Mostly scholarships. I was a 4.0 student in high school and I applied to every scholarship in the book, and that eventually paid for half my tuition. The other half was a combination of subsidized loans accepted through FAFSA (subsidized loans do not start collecting interest until after you graduate!) and working one and sometimes two part time jobs while in school. Through working part time and the paid co-ops I was able to pay back the subsidized loans right before I graduated, leaving me debt free.

So my suggestion to any prospective college students who are faced with financing their own education is to apply for every scholarship you possibly can (and they have them for pretty much anything) and to look into subsidized loans. Of course at the time I’m writing this the US Department of Education is potentially not going to exist much longer, I don’t know how that is going to effect FAFSA and the loans the government offers!

Just take a breath, it’s not easy if you’re on your own, but you’ll get through it!

The People in Power (Professors/TAs and Coaches):

Some advise from me regarding your professors and TAs. Use them. I know this is easier said than done if you are someone like me who is scared of social interaction, but they really are there to help you and all you have to do is ask. If you need clarification on a topic or are struggling with something school related (or even not school related) chances are they are going to do their best to help you. That being said your entire class experience will depend on the professor. Some professors out there are just plain bad. They either don’t care or don’t teach in a format that is helpful to you. In those situations there is probably not a whole lot you can do, so just try to push through it and make the best of it!

HOWEVER! If someone is abusing their power or treating people in a way that you know isn’t right, please speak up and say something. If it’s a TA go to the professor, if it’s the professor go to the administration with your complaints. During one semester I took a lab taught by the TA, in which my best friend (female) and I were lab partners. It quickly became apparent that there was something off about this TA. He would talk down to us about our experiments like we were supposed to be professionals. He was unhelpful, very rude, and very sexist. You could tell there was a difference in the way he talked to male students vs. female students. The final straw for me came one lab when we called him over for help or to check our work. He came over and bereted us for doing the experiment completely wrong. My lab partner explained how we did the lab and he instantly honed in on a mistake she made, but instead of acknowledging her presence at all, he walked over to me and started telling me how I shouldn’t have done the lab like that. My partner asked him why he was getting angry at me for a mistake she made and he responded by telling us we wouldn’t get any credit for the lab. After this happened we just left. We scheduled an appointment with the Professor and informed him about the situation. To my surprise he actually listened and cared. He let us pick a new lab to transfer to and said he would have a discussion with the TA and start sitting in on the labs he taught. Moral of this infuriating story is don’t let people treat you poorly, even if they are the ones in charge, and sometimes people can surprise you by listening to your complaints and taking them seriously.

Now I’ll pivot over to the coaches. The engineering program at my school provided each student with three coaches (Academic Advisor, Co-op Advisor, and Success Coach). Before I continue I just want to acknowledge that I know these people had many many students to work with and other obligations to fulfill, that being said, I’m just telling my experience. The only coach who was ever actually helpful to me was my success coach. She was always friendly and engaging and I could go to her with any problem I had and she would listen and offer advice. If she didn’t know the answer she would call someone who did or point me in their direction. I went to her with school and non-school related issues alike and was very happy with the response and results she provided. So of course what does the university do? They cut the success coaching program. The only coach that was helpful. The irony was not lost on the student body (apparently many other students felt the same way I did about their coaches).

My academic advisor was unfortunately rarely helpful. He was in charge of overseeing our course scheduling and answering questions about classes and electives, as well as bypassing restrictions on our accounts. I quickly learned that it’s better to do all of this myself. The gist of my interactions with this man was me sending him an email with two very clear questions I wanted answers to, and him responding four weeks later with three paragraphs regarding the first question but not actually answering it and completely ignoring the second question. It was aggravating and just plain not helpful.

My co-op advisor was in charge of helping us secure our co-ops, simple enough. This man was not only no help, but was a hindrance. He sent out 2-3 emails a day which all had “IMPORTANT!!!” in the subject line, with random sentences and paragraphs highlighted and bolded, and no clear message or importance to any of it. He also liked to act like we should be able to find a co-op on our own (which fair, to a point) but also got upset when we didn’t ask him for help or check in with him. Again, aggravating and not helpful.

But lets cut the program that actually does interact and help the students! Big brain moment. Good job university.

Closing Arguments:

Like I said, on a whole I enjoyed my college experience. It allowed me to reshape myself as a person and evolve my view of the world. A lot of your experience will depend on your campus, their policies, and what advisors and professors you get. So my advice is to just do your best, figure out what works for you, and try to have fun while it lasts because once it’s over it’s over! College is just like life, full of ups and downs and many doors for you to open and walk through. Don’t try to make it perfect, just try to experience it in the moment!

Feel free to reach out if you have questions about my experience or college in general. I’m no expert but I’ll do my best to help!

-Atlas