Fresh Start

My academic years at San Jose State have been a roller coaster ride. Let me begin with the Fall of 2005. It was my freshman year, coming straight from high school and ready to begin a new chapter of my life. I decided to choose Computer Science as my major, since I liked computers, playing video games, and technology in general. My career goal at the time was to get a job in the video game industry. I used to play video games a lot and wanted to work for a video game developing company like Electronic Arts (EA). After a successful first semester, reality set in the following year. Introduction to Programming, one of the first core courses for the major, was a complete pain in the neck and required a lot of time to learn the language of Java. Add to that Calculus 2 and Physics 50 and I was soon digging myself into a whole. It was just too much for me to handle and I began to look for resources on campus. The tutoring was still not enough and I began to fail class after class after class and so on.

Two years later, I knew I had to make a change in the direction I was going. Since I had taken plenty of math and science courses, I decided to change to a major that required the courses I had already taken. I changed my major to Materials Engineering, with the hopes of improving my academic standing. However, the same two courses continued to haunt me: Calculus 2 and Physics 50. To make things worse, I had to take Chem 1A, a course that requires every minute of your life. After talking to my major adviser, I came to the conclusion that math and physical science majors were not for me.

I began to research other majors to see which ones caught my interest. Then I came in contact with the Political Science Department. I looked back in my senior year in high school and remembered that I did well in my American Goverment class and was interested in learning more. It was the Fall of 2008 when I made the decision to change my major to Political Science. The following semester, I took POLS 1 and POLS 20, along with two other GE courses that I had not taken yet. I did really well in those courses and improved my GPA to get out of academic probation. Not only did I pass those Poli Sci courses, but I enjoyed both of them as well.

This semester, I am taking POLS 2, 3, 4, and 100W so I can begin taking advanced GE courses and classes required for the major. I feel like I have been given a fresh start and a new outlook in life. I plan to take advantage of this opportunity because they do not come often. I do not know what career I plan to pursuit, but it will involve the government.

Vocabulary Words
Repudiate (v.) - to divorce or seperate formally from

Enervation (n.) - to lessen the vitality or strength of