Academic Problems into Academic Passion by Mary

Academic Problems into Academic Passion by Mary - June 2016 Scholarship Essay

University students are well aware of various obstacles that cause issues throughout the day. These problems may include spilling a cup of coffee over a well-written essay or getting woken up by the noise of lawnmowers mowing grass outside of the dorms in the morning! Whatever the situation, whether minor or major, college students all have types of difficulties.

The most major problem area of many college students is academics. No matter the time or day, academics play an integral role in a college student’s life and usually, this role does not come without obstacles or difficulties. However, whether the student overcomes the academic obstacle involves recognizing a potential problem and gaining real-life experience to change the problem into a passion.

One of my biggest academic obstacles was not over failing a test or not completing an essay on time. My biggest academic obstacle was failure to recognize I needed a different major choice! I started my college career in pre-nursing, thinking I knew exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. However, as time went on, my academic performance slowly went down. I dreaded going to classes, and my studying time turned into random shopping trips and dining out adventures. My passion and enthusiasm for my major weakened as I started failing hard classes, like microbiology and pathophysiology, due to the complexity of the subject. My major choice was my academic obstacle. The key turning point for overcoming this academic hurdle was in recognizing that I was not “cut-out” for that specific major! I thought about what I did not like about my major, and I realized that the negatives outweighed the positives. I came to the realization that I was not fond of blood, and I did not like coughs or mucus! After a couple of hard weeks, I finally concluded that this major was not the right major for me. I pondered switching to another major, and I made a list of what were my interests and hobbies. I love linguistics and foreign cultures, yet, I still had a desire to incorporate my interest in human anatomy. So I took a venture into the speech therapy department of my university, and I immediately knew this where I was supposed to be. I switched my major that same day to speech therapy! My mother made me shadow a speech therapist at our local hospital and that was the best decision to solidify my decision! I gained real-life experience of what the everyday work life was of a medical speech therapist. I was able to see barium studies to see how the swallowing mechanism works and I learned more knowledge through following a speech therapist around than I would ever gain in a classroom! I gained valuable insight into what a career as a speech therapist is, and this truly proved to be beneficial in my major-changing decision. By having a real-life experience shadowing a future professional, I was able to recognize that my major change was the best academic decision I have made. Overcoming my academic obstacle involved a realization that a problem was happening, and I needed a personal experience to change my problem into a passion for another subject. Academic obstacles are tough, but one can overcome these challenges by gaining a new appreciation for something different!