Aspiring college students can learn bunches from prior experience. Believe it or not, our teachers faced similar challenges and successes to what we will face at college. I inquired Mrs. Kiley Brown, a teacher at iUniversityPrep, to lend us a tidbit of her college experience.

To many High Schoolers, the idea of leaving the home sounds like freedom galore. But, once this idea turns into a reality, the desire to plop right back into a zone of comfort, home, can rapidly overtake the desire for freedom. Mrs. Brown moved five hours away from her home, in the beginning of her college career, to the University of Texas. She felt homesick and didn’t realize how much she would miss her family. Mrs. Kiley Brown says, “I spent many hours on the phone, crying to my mom”. During the first semester of her freshman year, she visited two of her close friends, who went to Texas A&M, on several occasions. Together, they went to yell practice and a few football games. Mrs. Brown says, “I fell in love with the family atmosphere and friendly disposition of everyone that I encountered”. Even the simple “Howdy” greeting, an Aggie tradition, made her feel welcome. She decided to join the Aggie force and became the “proudest member of the fightin’ Texas Aggie class of 2007”, Mrs. Brown says. Her homesickness soon faded away.

Mrs. Brown had not visited the A&M campus in person, before visiting her friends. This goes to show how helpful visiting colleges in person can be, before making a decision. But, at the same time, decisions are not always set in stone. The same goes for majors, Mrs. Brown majored in kinesiology with a specialty in cardiac rehabilitation. Originally, she says, “I started off as a biomedical science major, but changed my major when I realized I didn’t have the stomach for blood, guts, or broken bones”. If you wish to change schools or majors, then follow your heart!

Mrs. Brown said, “Texas A&M is a huge campus, but it can easily feel much smaller when you choose to get involved… there were so many choices, it was hard NOT to find something I wanted to join”. At the Memorial Student Center, or MSC for short, students can meet, eat, study and join groups, clubs, and organizations that advertise or recruit. Mrs. Brown joined the Baptist Student Ministry, BSM, and was afterward recruited to work at a summer camp as a counselor. She worked at this camp for three summers, where she met life-long friends and formed lasting memories.

Here is a short and sweet list of advice from Mrs. Brown, to add to your memory bank:

1. Do not stay in your dorm room or apartment. Get out, make friends, get involved!
2. Take advantage of professors’ open office hours and the TAs (teacher assistants).
3. Meet the other students in your classes and form study groups.