Ramen dinners: a lesson in adaptability by Shelby

Ramen dinners: a lesson in adaptability by Shelby - September 2014 Scholarship Essay

Success in college means comfortably living in a 500 square foot room with a complete stranger. It means learning how to make complete meals with a microwave and packets of ramen. Between schoolwork, friends, extracurricular actives, and work, success in college means not having any time for anything but finding a way to get everything done. For me, the success I have enjoyed in college is due to my adaptability. The ability to adapt to new living and social situations, academic responsibilities, and the endless variables that come with life in college is essential to a successful college experience.

The beginning of college is obviously a time of huge adjustment. Adjusting from the structure and security of life at home to the freedom of college can be a rocky time. For me, my biggest concern was my living situation; how was I going to adapt to living in a room with a complete stranger when I had experienced the privacy of my own room my whole life? It seemed like a small problem in addition to all the other worries of college such as schoolwork and finances, but successfully living in such close quarters with a mystery person seemed a daunting task. However, after meeting my roommate, and spending a few days in our new situation, I was able to adapt quickly to living with another person by being conscience of her needs and learning to express mine clearly. Dorm life was my first experience with the importance of adaptability in college. If neither of us had been able to adapt to living and being considerate of one another, life would have been a lot more stressful. The added stress of roommate drama would have no doubt affected my academic success.

Usually, success in college is measured in terms of GPA. A lot is behind academic success; in order to be successful, a student must be able to adapt to the new demands of college academics. My high school graduating class was 56 people that I had known from the 6th grade. To step into a lecture hall with over 200 students (all of whom were complete strangers), was quite a shock. Again, I had come across a situation where I asked myself, “How am I going to adapt to such a different style of learning?” Still standing by the door, asking myself rhetorical questions as students shoved past me, I decided to make the trek all the way to the front of the room and to adapt to the new situation by making it as close to a small classroom experience as I could. I found that it was easy this way to introduce myself to my professor, and adapt, in my own way, to the large classroom setting.

Adaptability is key, not only to success in college, but also to success in life. My first year of college presented many obstacles that forced me to adapt to new situations in order to be successful. From learning to live with (and becoming friends with) a complete stranger, to finding a way to stand out in a school of 72,254 students, I have first hand experienced the importance of adaptability. Now I feel like I can walk into any situation with my head high, knowing that whatever comes my way I can adapt in order to be successful.