Personal statement - Essay Example

I feel as though I have always learned lots in school, but never had the grades to reflect my efforts. I also tend to keep to myself when it comes to studying, so I thought studying with others might help me improve my grades. Finally, in high school, I learned that my time management skills were not very good. This often caused stress that I didn’t need to experience. As I look back on these goals, I feel really great because I have accomplished all three. If all goes well, I will have a 3.0 GPA. It may actually be higher if I do well in my most difficult class.

I met some great friends on the first week of school and we formed a study group that meets each week. I have never studied with other people and found this to be a great way to learn and to meet people. I hope that next semester will find many of us taking the same classes so we can study together again. I can say that I met my third goal because I did not freak out a single time this semester as a result of forgetting or putting off a project, paper or test. I did feel a lot of stress about my grades, but that was simply because I wanted to meet my goal of earning a 3.0 GPA. I would call it normal stress, as opposed to stress caused by wasting my time or procrastinating.

Time Management and Study Skills are the topics that meant the most to me this first semester at ASU. I knew that this was a weakness of mine coming into college. My first reaction to the topic when it was introduced in class was something like, “Oh, yea, this is what I need.” I think that the skills we talked about in class were helpful, but more than anything else, I think I am maturing and realizing that reaching goals is directly connected to decisions I make about work and study habits.

I know that for the first time in my life, I actually wrote down assignments in a planner and scheduled set study times. Establishing a study group was a big part of this success, but I actually went to the library on several occasions by myself to study for tests. This was not a typical behavior for me in the past. Managing my time this first semester made me feel in control. I was able to think about studying because I blocked time out for studying and stuck to my schedule. Sticking to a study schedule was difficult, but I was able to do it.

If I had to point to any one thing that helped me this first semester, it would be scheduling time for studying. My first semester was great. I feel as though I have been successful in many ways. The single most enjoyable thing about this semester was my study group. Having fun people from my classes to meet with made me want to engage in studying more often. I never have experienced this before and I think that it is great. One concern that I have is that I will not be able to meet with the same people next semester.

I guess I just need to trust that I’ll just meet more interesting, fun people. One of my biggest challenges this semester was meeting up with beople that knew me before I came to ASU. I was not the best student and did not always have the healthiest lifestyle. These people were not supportive of my educational goals. All they wanted me to do was to hang out. It was difficult for me to tell these people that I just didn’t want to be that person anymore. It was hard to say to old friends that I had changed and I was moving in a new direction.

What gave me the strength to do this was the new friends I met during this first semester. I am excited for the next semester and all of the