College: Its Not Always Where You Planned

All I knew about college was that I wanted to go out of state. I wanted to be on my own away from home, away from all things high school and start with new friends in a new city. I'd been to France, England, and Germany all on my own; and moved regularly while growing up. So, I expect it was no surprise to my parents when I told them I wanted to go to college out of state. At that time, I honestly didn't know much more about what I wanted out of my college experience or even what I wanted to become. The next four years would bring me the most unexpected and valuable learning experiences of my life.

My Dad and I had decided on Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee by the end of my junior year in High School. I liked the college very much. It had all the qualities I was looking for. Classroom sizes were small (the college itself wasn't more than 4,000 students), it seemed friendly, and I loved the look and feel of the Old English Architecture. It felt like it had been uprooted from 16th century England and plopped in the middle of Memphis. So, I applied for early admission and had gotten accepted. My grades were only slightly above average, but I had drive, many extracurricular activities that I had excelled in, and a killer essay. So I was packing my bags, leaving high school gladly behind, and heading to Memphis.

It's weird how most things in life don't turn out quite like you expect them to. This was no exception. At the beginning, I was glad to be at Rhodes College. When my parents dropped me off and left back home I was giddy and celebrating my new found freedom. I liked my roommate Anne, from New York and I quickly made other friends. I also plunged myself into extracurricular activities such as Student Round Table. No problem, right? Well, after a few months I really started to get more of a feel for the college and I wasn't sure it really was right for me after all. Rhodes College was great academically and I did make good friends, but the social scene revolved mainly around Greek life and Greek parties. And, without a car, there wasn't much I could do about that except not have much of a social life. So, I went to a few parties and on a couple of dates, but I didn't drink and I was never planning on joining a sorority. I found myself oddly enough unhappy and debating transferring to a different college with a better fit. I decided that I needed a college where the social scene was not centered around Greek life and where there were more people with my same beliefs and values that I could connect better with. So I applied to Rick's College in Rexburg, Idaho.

It's now called BYU-Idaho, but back then it was Rick's College. Nevertheless, I arrived as a sophomore transfer and loved it right away. I loved the beautiful campus, the good classes, and I definitely like the social scene a lot more. This was a religious-based college and I knew most everyone had the same values as I did. That made me feel a lot more comfortable while I searched for who I really was and what I really wanted to do in life. I soon discovered I love to write. I mean, I already knew I loved to write as I was the editor-in-chief of my high school literary magazine. But I discovered I really, really thought this was the right career path. I was enjoying being a part of the school paper and I really liked my advisors. However, at the time, Rick's College was only a two year school and that meant I needed to transfer, again.

So, in looking for a new college in which to continue my journalism major and graduate from, I started to look at what I had liked and not liked about my previous colleges. I loved the diversity of Rhodes college student body, but not the Greek life. I loved the strong values of Rick's College, but they seemed a little too strict for me. So I started to look for a new school that had a strong diversity of students, had the values I was looking for, but didn't have a million rules and had a good journalism department.

I decided on Utah State University. Although my Father was convinced I should go to BYU, I knew better. So, when I didn't get into BYU I was actually relieved. And what do you know, I got into USU. I had never even been to the campus before the day I arrived for my junior year, but my gut told me this was definitely the place for me.

Over the next couple of years I went on to get a scholarship from the journalism department, got on the honor roll, met life-long friends, and fell in love with the beautiful area. That same junior year I also met the man of my dreams, and got married the following summer. I graduated on time and continued to support my husband as he pursued his doctorate.

Now, six years after graduating from USU, I look back at all the colleges I went through and the long journey it took to get here. Choosing a college isn't always cut and dry, but neither are our desires in life. What we may think in high school rarely carries through our entire life, and the experiences of college only remotely center on the classroom. My experience was varied and unexpected, but all I can say is - I wouldn't change a thing.

The Cost Of A Two Year Education

When it comes to college, you are considering an expensive proposition any way you look at it. There are however, ways in which you can greatly reduce your overall expenses when it comes to getting your college degree. The first method, which in many cases is the most preferred, is by attending a community college for the first two years of your college educational experience. Believe it or not you can literally save thousands of dollars over the course of spending two years on the community college level.

You will hear all kinds of arguments on why it is better to attend all four years at a university. The universities almost always make these arguments. Unfortunately, their opinions are a little bit biased in these matters. Most universities offer equivalent courses with community colleges meaning that the first two years of study should transfer with no problems or snags along the rocky road to your degree.

The universities make money each semester you begin class as a student. It is in their best interest financially to have you from the beginning rather than as a transfer. In fact, many universities offer lower level classes as auditorium classes. They pack more students into classes and have fewer professors or graduate students teaching the courses and maximize their money off the first and second year students rather than those in upper level courses. Yet another reason to consider a community college for the first two years of you education.

Getting back to the expenses of a community college, most community colleges are largely commuter campuses. This means you won't face the high housing costs that are associated with universities, particularly if you are attending college close to home. Community colleges also offer far less distractions that cost additional money than most major universities. This doesn't mean that there aren't ample social opportunities; it simply means that there are fewer of them. This also leaves fewer distractions than universities present when it comes to studying.

Community colleges simply cost less all around. While it would be nice if you could receive a full four year education at this level, they are able, for the most part, to keep expenses down by not requiring the level of qualification that universities require of their professors for upper level courses. You will have excellent, if not superior quality of education at lower levels than you would have on the university level, but you will also eventually need to move on to the university level in order to complete your education.

For this reason, you would do well to save half of your savings over university costs for each of the two years you are attending community college and apply it to your university education. This will ease the burden of the additional costs of the university and feel as though you are paying the same amount for tuition throughout your education regardless of the fact that you are literally saving thousands of dollars on your educational expenses.

Some states have educational savings plans that allow parents to save for tuition at current costs by enrolling. These plans cover two years of community college education and two years of university education. By locking in today's prices you are eliminating the inflation. When you consider the fact that college tuition is increasing at an alarming rate this is by far an excellent way to go. You should check with your state and see if they offer a similar plan to parents of younger children and what the requirements are in order to enroll your child today.

If you are looking for a real value in education whether or not you only go for your two year degree of move on to a university in order to finish your four-year degree you should find that a community college education offers a significant value for the money. Most people find that every penny they spent in a community college was a penny well spent.

Necessity To Attend Classes To Learn Chinese Language

According to the statistics one in five persons speak Chinese through out the world. No field is there in which Chinese people or people of Chinese origin have not made a name for themselves.

This genuine respect has come to them from their sincerity and hardworking nature.

China is becoming a popular destination for tourists and business men alike. Tourists visit China to see among other things, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, The Great Wall of China.

Majority of them attend Chinese language and writing classes with the intention to speak and understand the Chinese language. It is now possible to leaning Chinese for free through the Chinese language lessons being offered on the web.

The Global Services Delivery centers of many international corporations are being moved to China because of the necessity of Chinese language translation. There is necessity for help by them to communicate with local businessmen and also the Government of China . Interaction with China and the Chinese people is necessitated by China's growing stature in the global economy . Chinese people feel respected when you speak in Chinese to the people of China when you visit China. Seeing the growing popularity of China, there are many organizations offering free Chinese Language translation for people who deal with China for doing business .

Chinese is being learnt by some people out of sheer love for the language. In order to have an idea about China's marvelous history and its attempts to get over the ills of the gone times, the literature of China which is rich should be read .

In America, Chinese language translator jobs are available for people who have studied the language. For its citizens, America has identified Chinese as one of the four major languages that is important. This is also one of the reasons for the growing popularity of the Chinese language. There has been an increase in the number of people learning Chinese because of the number of opportunities available online. With the help of Chinese language free workbook Chinese can be learnt which will aid you to understand what you have learnt.

It is with the intention of finding attractive tourist spots that many people from China are visiting different countries across the world. The people who know the Standard Chinese language are needed by the countries that are visited to speak to their guests from China. A demand has sprung up for Chinese lessons. There are organizations offering people how to speak Chinese lessons for free.

There is an interest renewed in parts of the world for history and civilization of Chinese. Leaning to speak Chinese is needed for the people who want desire to learn about China's past. There are chances available to learn Chinese for free and one should take it to the fullest.

There are Chinese Language Conferences also being held frequently as it is spoken all over the world. This proves the importance of the language.

Thanks to the chances available in career for Chinese translators and also in China, learning Chinese has become so famous too. If you need to learn a foreign language, try Chinese.