The beginning of the fall semester is fast approaching, and I am returning to this school for the second time as a freshman.
Technically, I’m going to be a grad student, but I tend to think of it like freshman year round two. I know a lot more, and there are a lot of things that I wish I could’ve told myself.
There are the obvious things like: High school did not prepare you for this, being an adult is difficult, and there will be times when you are lonelier than you ever have been before. But one thing that I wish I could’ve told myself is a much more practical bit of advice that was never explained to me at orientation: You will not be completely rewarded for your skills at a foreign language.
I came to this school because of its reputation for International Business — which, by the way, does live up to the hype. One of the requirements was to minor in a language. No problem, I thought; I had studied Spanish since grade school and wanted to learn as much as I could in order to speak the language well.
At the start of college, everyone has to take a placement test to decide what level of your language you are put in. IB and AP exams, which should have been sufficient, didn’t count. But I still didn’t mind, it seemed like the best way to gauge your student body’s aptitude for the language.
Luckily, I did well enough on my test to be placed in the 300 level courses, which are junior level courses. I was thrilled. This meant, I thought originally, that I only had to take four 300 level courses and I would have my minor. I was told this at orientation and throughout the advising process.
What was not told to me, however, was that I was not receiving all the back credits for the earlier classes. Fast forward to the end of sophomore year and my fourth semester in high level Spanish classes. I was excited to be finished and move on to more IB-focused classes when my advisor told me that I still needed to take two more semesters of Spanish. Apparently, being placed into the 300 level courses does not give you credit for the 200 level courses.
I asked if I could take those two 200 level courses now, still not sure why I had to take them at all, but I couldn’t take those either. You can’t move backwards in language progression, so I had to take two more 300+ level courses.
I had to take two additional challenging courses because for some reason they did not give me all the credit I deserved for placing into a higher level. In a way, I was punished for my excellence. As a recent graduate, I wish I could go back and tell myself that you may not be getting the whole story.
To all incoming freshman: Make sure you know exactly what is required for your major or minor before you begin so that you aren’t surprised by classes that you "have to take" down the road.