Academic Autobiography
Galindo 1
Juan Galindo
Professor
Student Success
September 9, 2013
My Academic Autobiography Thinking about college and your future career can be very overwhelming at the beginning. There’s so much to consider when it comes to getting ready for college: where to go and what to study. I’ve heard it said that sometimes a student will enter college fully aware of what they want to do in life, and doggedly reach their undergraduate goal after four years of diligent study.
My college career didn’t start off on the best footing. I was a dreadful student in high school, chronically absent, and not doing homework even when I could be bothered to attend class. My Arlington, Virginia high school was competitive, and my mother relentlessly referred to my performance as “not living up to my potential.” However, there was one class I never missed, and that was Madrigals, my high school’s elite choir group. There was nothing I enjoyed more than signing old songs in a tightly knit group.
When it came time to apply to colleges, I was in a quandary. My SAT scores were high enough to get in just about anywhere, but my grade point average was so low that I did not expect any school to be interested in having me as a student. Then I saw a poster for Shepherd College in the choir room. It was in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, which was near enough to be convenient, but far enough away that I would definitively be on my own. Shepherd also had a very early date for notifying approved applicants, and it turned out that my guidance counselor knew their director of admissions and was willing to put in a good word for me.
I applied to them early, and to my surprise and relief they sent me the Thick Envelope of Acceptance. Having gotten in somewhere, I didn’t bother to apply anywhere else, and after attending summer school one last time to make up yet another class for which I hadn’t shown up during the regular year, I was on my way to historic
Juan Galindo
Professor
Student Success
September 9, 2013
My Academic Autobiography Thinking about college and your future career can be very overwhelming at the beginning. There’s so much to consider when it comes to getting ready for college: where to go and what to study. I’ve heard it said that sometimes a student will enter college fully aware of what they want to do in life, and doggedly reach their undergraduate goal after four years of diligent study.
My college career didn’t start off on the best footing. I was a dreadful student in high school, chronically absent, and not doing homework even when I could be bothered to attend class. My Arlington, Virginia high school was competitive, and my mother relentlessly referred to my performance as “not living up to my potential.” However, there was one class I never missed, and that was Madrigals, my high school’s elite choir group. There was nothing I enjoyed more than signing old songs in a tightly knit group.
When it came time to apply to colleges, I was in a quandary. My SAT scores were high enough to get in just about anywhere, but my grade point average was so low that I did not expect any school to be interested in having me as a student. Then I saw a poster for Shepherd College in the choir room. It was in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, which was near enough to be convenient, but far enough away that I would definitively be on my own. Shepherd also had a very early date for notifying approved applicants, and it turned out that my guidance counselor knew their director of admissions and was willing to put in a good word for me.
I applied to them early, and to my surprise and relief they sent me the Thick Envelope of Acceptance. Having gotten in somewhere, I didn’t bother to apply anywhere else, and after attending summer school one last time to make up yet another class for which I hadn’t shown up during the regular year, I was on my way to historic