Assignment One - Early Reflection

          It has only been two and a half weeks at the University of Washington and I am already absolutely in love with the beautiful campus, my wonderful professors, and my interesting classes.  My journey to this diverse university and its Honors program includes many hours of studying and reading, but, like many admitted students to the University, I am much more than a test score and GPA. I had many passions I pursued in high school, including: Mock Trial, Key Club, volunteering at my local library, working part-time at the nearby public pool, and starting a Cooking Club. When applying for colleges in the fall of my high school senior year, I was not sure where exactly I wanted to attend school. I applied to colleges all across the country - many primarily due to the influence of my parents. When the acceptances (and rejections) came in, I realized (in a panic) that I had done very little reflection as to what I really wanted or needed from college.  After taking some time to think, I realized that not knowing exactly what I wanted to study meant I needed a school that offered a lot of resources and majors for me to explore my options. Besides being close to home (I love my family/wanted to stay nearby), having a gorgeous and friendly campus, and over a dozen libraries, the University of Washington was one of the few large (public) universities that I applied to and had highly competitive and respected programs in nearly every field I could possibly think of specializing in. I had also been accepted to the Honors program, which tipped it over the edge (in competition with UCLA). Despite desiring the resources and opportunities only available from a large university, I was still quite concerned about the sheer size of everything (class sizes, buildings, etc.,) at the University of Washington. Admittance to the Honors program helped me accept large class sizes as they would be balanced with honors classes as well. The unknown was not so scary once I realized I would have mentors and advisors specifically through the Honors program I could turn to for help throughout my undergraduate years. I am now happily convinced that I made the right decision in choosing UW.
 
         Now that I am here, I hope to learn as much as possible from whichever classes I take.  More importantly, I hope to challenge myself academically. I want to try/experience new things, develop strong relationships with my professors, and perform research. Hopefully I will be able to decide what I want to major in within the next couple of years. My main goal is to develop as an individual. The reason I find the Honors program such an enriching addition to my experience as a UW student is because I feel that the Honors programs demands each student to grow emotionally as well as academically. The Honors program expects each student to think critically, spend time volunteering for others, and take on leadership responsibilities. Though I am not sure what I want to do as a career, I hope to continue to challenge myself for the next few years and develop myself as an individual, not just as a student.