Former editor-in-chief offers tips, shares college advice

Some days it feels like I just graduated from Fresno Christian and other days it feels like a lifetime ago. In reality, it has been three years since I graduated and left behind the school that I had come to love in my six years of attendance. Looking back on my time at Fresno Christian, some of my fondest memories are attending football and basketball games, knowing all of my classmates, but mostly my time spent on The Feather.

Although I was reluctant to join The Feather my junior year of high school, it was one of the best things I have done to help me in my college career.

I am currently in my sixth semester at Fresno State and am pursuing a BSN in nursing. College at first was a wild ride; I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. My first week in English my instructor emailed me asking me to re-submit my first essay due to not following proper instruction, which is something that had never happened to me in my entire academic career. After coming down from my initial shock, I was fearful that I was not going to be able to succeed, but failure was not an option. I buckled down and school had to become a priority.

After leaving a small campus like Fresno Christian, Fresno State’s larger student population size caused me to need to make adjustments. At FC you know everyone’s name, or at least can recognize everyone by their faces. At Fresno State you would be lucky to see the same person twice in day. This has both its benefit and disadvantages. A benefit being that the opportunity to meet different people and make new friends is endless, but the disadvantage being it requires more effort.

The work I did on the Feather and during my first year of college English has helped me tremendously. I noticed all the other students would begin to panic at the thought of writing an essay and I could not understand why. Looking back I realized having adviser Greg Stobbe constantly looking over my shoulder and pushing for higher quality articles, prepared me for any essay given to me in college.

All in all, my advice to high school students would be to do your research before deciding where you want to go to college and make sure you are truly ready to go away for school. I know the allure of wanting to leave home and have freedom from your parents but many of my peers have gone away for school right out of high school and did not do as well as they had hoped. — Sara Peterson, ’15

My purpose in going to Fresno State was to allow myself to stay close to home and save the money I would have spent on room and board. I chose Fresno State because I did very well academically in high school and did not want to just attend a community college, but looking back I wish I had chosen to attend a community college first.

At Fresno State, the nursing major is impacted, which makes registering for classes near impossible due to the increased amount of students. The overcrowding of students has pushed me back a semester from where I should be. So to combat this I have taken all my biology courses at Fresno City College, while still taking my general education classes at Fresno State. This has allowed me to not slip farther behind. After this semester, I will be taking my TEAS test in June and apply for admittance into Fresno State nursing program for spring 2019.

All in all, my advice to high school students would be to do your research before deciding where you want to go to college and make sure you are truly ready to go away for school. I know the allure of wanting to leave home and have freedom from your parents but many of my peers have gone away for school right out of high school and did not do as well as they had hoped.

Most of the time they end up back home before starting their second semester. There will be pros and cons regardless, but if you do your research now you can benefit dramatically in the long run.

One of the mistakes I made my first semester of college was taking a food and nutrition night class. This class met once a week for three hours, and to be quite honest, I did not care much about the subject. I did not study at all and when the first test came I definitely did not do well. After that I started to study and managed to get a B in the class. However, to this day I still regret taking nutrition as a night class, because it is the only B I have ever gotten in my academic career.

My first semester of college I had a very hard time adjusting and at this point, I cannot quite remember what exactly I was struggling with. I specifically remember telling my dad and my grandpa, ‘I have done well with school thus far but I do not think I can or want to do this college thing.’ The response I got from both my dad was, “just take it one day at a time and you will make it through,” and my grandpa said, “anything that is worth it, isn’t easy.” I have held tight to these two pieces of advice and implemented them both in my academics and personal life.

Sara Peterson served as The Feather’s editor-in-chief during the 2014-15 school year. She currently attends Fresno State and is pursuing a BSN in nursing.

Slideshow images below show Sara Peterson with friends and family.

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For more view from the outsides, read View from the outside: Jenny King and View from the outside: Phillip Christopher.