Blog Post 5 - Lasers

As I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do with myself and how to get there, I consider myself to be a laser.  My plan is to transfer to Berkeley as a Rhetoric major, which only requires completion of the IGETC. If this doesn’t work out for whatever reason, I would like to transfer to either UC Davis or UCLA as a Political Science major. Although I’m not sure Rhetoric or Political Science are what I’m passionate about, it doesn’t matter so much because I know that I want to become a lawyer. Since my long term goal is to go to law school and work at the International Justice Mission – which is an organization that prosecutes human traffickers – my undergraduate degree is only a stop on the way. Overall, I feel pretty good about where I’m at and have no desire to change categories. I’ve had these plans for a long time and although I do sometimes worry that I might not be cut out to be a lawyer and to work such a gut-wrenching job, there is a lot of security and peace of mind in at least having a plan.

For students who aren’t sure about what they want to do in college – or life, in general – and don’t know how to get there, passion is everything. There are many reasons for academic failure; they stem from everything from job and family commitments to lack of passion or interest in subject matter and even all the way to lack of motivation. Although there are many external reasons for academic failure, students must have a sense of responsibility for their own lives rather than adopting the mindset that their success depends on other influences. Sure, they might encounter a few horrible teachers – but that isn’t an excuse not to work hard and do their very best. When students are at the point where they are feeling lost in the whole college process, it is always a good idea to return to the idea of passion. In high school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life – until I decided to try debate. Indeed, when students find their academic passions, they often find the motivation to completely apply themselves and no longer feel compelled to assign blame to external pressures. At this point, they find the motivation to succeed.