Hello, fellow bears and welcome to an all-new semester of blog posts! Unfortunately for us, summertime is officially over, and now it’s time to get back to work. This is my fifth year being a student at Missouri State and will be my last before I graduate unless I decide to go to graduate school. I’m still deliberating on that but in the near future, I’ll be sure to mention my decision.

This is the third week of classes so to commemorate that, I wanted to do something a little fun. For this blog post, I will answer some questions that can benefit you as a reader, and help me to think more about the future. 

Questions and Answers

How do you feel about your approaching graduation?

Honestly, I get a little emotional when I think about myself walking across the stage and receiving my diploma. My education at MSU has been a really long part of my life and when it’s all over and done with, I’m going to move on to new things. I’m excited to experience graduation with my friends, have photoshoots in my graduation gown, and just witness the changes happening on campus. All in all, I’m an excited, nervous wreck, but I also realize that I’m so close to accomplishing one of my biggest life goals and that is keeping me going.

Do you feel like Missouri State prepared you for the real world?

I feel that Missouri State did prepare me for some real-world things, but I still have a lot to experience to put that to the test. I’ve been challenged these past few years whether it was because of the classes that I was taking or networking to meet new people. From those challenges, I learned that no matter how prepared you are, anything can happen. Nonetheless, I can confidently say that the resources at MSU and my position as a student employee have helped me feel more prepared.

Looking at where you were as a freshman, do you believe that you’ve grown?

Yes, when I first started at Missouri State, it was overwhelming because I was away from home and trying all these different classes. I struggled to make new friends and learn how to study for different subjects. I knew that I wanted to go to college but saying you’re going and actually attending are two totally different things. It took some time, but I learned how the campus functioned and what it meant to put in some hard work to get the grades that you want. Not only that, but I trusted the process of making friends naturally and trying different organizations on campus. During my freshman year, I was very afraid to try things but as more time passed, I adapted to what was happening around me.

How do you feel about the financial aspect of graduation, particularly student loans?

Financial aid is something that I understand more of today, but not as much as I did in the very beginning. I’ve made great connections with people in the Financial Services Office and have learned a lot from them. Because my education is so important to me, and I am so close to accomplishing it all, I don’t really regret my loans. Loans have become part of everyone’s lives in some way, so it’s nice to know that I’m not the only one. Keeping a close eye on my student account helped me to better manage my spending and how I pay off certain things which is a great tip for students. I’m looking forward to getting a job and seeing how things go in the future because loans are becoming somewhat of a hot topic nowadays.

Takeaways

A big part of the college experience is coming to the realization that you are changing as a person every single day. My ideas and feelings about the above questions could stay the same, but they could also change drastically as time goes on. I would like for my readers to take the time to reflect more on themselves, even if that means talking to themselves out loud or writing a small note to read back later. Hopefully, this Q&A helps you out in some way just as it did for me. I’m going to leave you with this quote by Nolan Ryan:

“Enjoying success requires the ability to adapt. Only by being open to change will you have a true opportunity to get the most from your talent.”  

~ Alexandria 

(Bio: I’m the middle child of seven kids in my immediate family. I’m currently a senior business major at Missouri State University.)