Basic Overview of Higher Ed (Veteran Voices)
Basic Overview of Higher Ed (Veteran Voices)
Transcript
I knew a lot of veterans guys that I worked with they didn't feel that they were college material. I didn't feel I was college material, especially with my high school performance. I was definitely, definitely not a good student. I was lucky to graduate high school.
Anyways, I joined the military. Spent my time-- after I finished the military, I did some overseas work. And then I decided to go back to school as sort of a paycheck, use the GI bill. And I didn't really expect to continue with it, and I didn't expect it to really help me out so much financially. But at the point where I was at in my life, I did need a little something.
And when I got into school, I started working with other veterans. And it inspired me because there's a lot of them that are really, really motivated people. And I saw that they're really smart people. And these guys weren't accepting failure.
You know, a lot of them had plans to go to like Yale, I mean, Princeton, and even on to like Stanford and other schools. And they got in. And so I had that feeling, why not me? And as I got into school, I found out, you know, I was pretty good at it.
And it was affordable. But I also was of the mindset, you know, that I'm going to do what it takes to get it paid for. And I just-- the way will reveal itself. I'll just go do it. And that's how it's been so far for me.
For me, the community college was a good first stepping stone. It was close to my house. I was able to afford it easily, even after the VRAP program ended. The credits there were not as costly as there are at other places. It's an accredited school, you know. So that was a easy-- relatively easy first path.
Now getting from community college to a larger university was a bit more difficult for me because I was part of the honor society. And I'd gotten a lot of contacts from-- I'm a part of Phi Theta Kappa. And they have a website where you sign up, and you can apply for scholarships and all the rest of that.
And of course, they want all of your demographic information. And being a veteran-- that's one of the demographics that I input in there. And this is going to sound cold and cynical, but I know that I got a lot of contacts from people because woman, veteran, minority, et cetera. So I tick off a lot of boxes for people, right?
But I got literally inundated in my email with colleges saying, you know, hey, we want you to come talk to us, think about transferring here, and all that-- everything from a little podunk college that I'd never heard of to Arizona State, Texas Tech, LSU, you know, all of these larger universities as well as some in the Ivy League. So I got contacted by three Ivy League universities.
And I chose the university that I went to based upon A, their reputation, B, the networking that I could do while I was here, and C, the interest that I would have in the programs that they had available for me. And so I think that's probably a good criteria for anybody to run through. You know, and plus on top of which, I eliminated one of the Ivies because I was like, that's like living in Canada. And I hate snow, so I'm not going there. So you know lifestyle also is probably a good criteria.
Anyways, I joined the military. Spent my time-- after I finished the military, I did some overseas work. And then I decided to go back to school as sort of a paycheck, use the GI bill. And I didn't really expect to continue with it, and I didn't expect it to really help me out so much financially. But at the point where I was at in my life, I did need a little something.
And when I got into school, I started working with other veterans. And it inspired me because there's a lot of them that are really, really motivated people. And I saw that they're really smart people. And these guys weren't accepting failure.
You know, a lot of them had plans to go to like Yale, I mean, Princeton, and even on to like Stanford and other schools. And they got in. And so I had that feeling, why not me? And as I got into school, I found out, you know, I was pretty good at it.
And it was affordable. But I also was of the mindset, you know, that I'm going to do what it takes to get it paid for. And I just-- the way will reveal itself. I'll just go do it. And that's how it's been so far for me.
For me, the community college was a good first stepping stone. It was close to my house. I was able to afford it easily, even after the VRAP program ended. The credits there were not as costly as there are at other places. It's an accredited school, you know. So that was a easy-- relatively easy first path.
Now getting from community college to a larger university was a bit more difficult for me because I was part of the honor society. And I'd gotten a lot of contacts from-- I'm a part of Phi Theta Kappa. And they have a website where you sign up, and you can apply for scholarships and all the rest of that.
And of course, they want all of your demographic information. And being a veteran-- that's one of the demographics that I input in there. And this is going to sound cold and cynical, but I know that I got a lot of contacts from people because woman, veteran, minority, et cetera. So I tick off a lot of boxes for people, right?
But I got literally inundated in my email with colleges saying, you know, hey, we want you to come talk to us, think about transferring here, and all that-- everything from a little podunk college that I'd never heard of to Arizona State, Texas Tech, LSU, you know, all of these larger universities as well as some in the Ivy League. So I got contacted by three Ivy League universities.
And I chose the university that I went to based upon A, their reputation, B, the networking that I could do while I was here, and C, the interest that I would have in the programs that they had available for me. And so I think that's probably a good criteria for anybody to run through. You know, and plus on top of which, I eliminated one of the Ivies because I was like, that's like living in Canada. And I hate snow, so I'm not going there. So you know lifestyle also is probably a good criteria.