Making a Choice (Veteran Voices)
Making a Choice (Veteran Voices)
Transcript
I'm firmly in the camp of never thought I would be here, and still kind of amazed that I am, and was. So for me, it started in 2008, when I graduated high school. I'm from Sedalia, Missouri. Pretty small town, about 20,000 people out in the middle of nowhere. I went to Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, where I earned a 0.5 GPA. And they kindly ask me to leave, and I said you're right, I should probably go. It was a tough time for me. I was kind of lost, kind of confused as to where I was, how I'd gotten there. But I knew one thing, is that I needed to make a change.
A buddy called me up who was home on recruiting. He had joined the Marines out of high school, actually. Calls me up and says, hey David, I know I know you're in school. I know you're studying, but I'm home on recruiter's assistance. If you want to come talk, if you ever thought about joining the Marine Corps, come in, we'll have a chat. Otherwise, let's go hang out and catch up, 'cause it's been a while. So I went in, and thought I don't have to lose, right? And I knew that I needed some discipline. I needed to learn how to take responsibility, and that was the way I was going to do it. So, I went in, talked to a recruiter, did a ton of research. I'm a rather skeptical guy, so it took a bit of time for that. But eventually ended up joining the Marine Corps, serving as a weather forecaster for five years. I got to go to Japan, I got to live in California, it was pretty great.
But the entire time I knew that I wanted to go back to school, that was my ultimate goal. So, knowing that it would be a little bit difficult to come back from a 0.5 GPA, I was taking night classes and online classes as soon as I could. I ended up doing that for about three years while I was in. Completed, when I finally transferred, about a year's worth of coursework. Had a ton of schools I was interested in, I really wanted to go to UC Berkeley, or stay in San Diego, because if you've ever been there, it's heaven.
And sort of going to go into these kind of workshops and discussions they held, where they would have schools come in and kind of talk about college admissions, what their school is about, I mean you have to consider the audience. It's a bunch of Marine vets and some Navy vets who don't know what Dartmouth is, right? I didn't know what Stanford did, I knew they existed. It's probably a school or something, but. Then we had people come in and kind of talk about it. The admissions process and why you would want to go there in the first place. What kind of crazy person would pay $70,000 a year to study books, you know?
And so I got an interview, went in the room, and met him, super nice guy, really personable. But I'm thinking the entire time, and when I tell you this story, you're gonna laugh me out of this room. I'm obviously not the person who goes to Columbia. This is not a thing that's going to happen. But I mean, I'm going to give a shot. So we start talking, he's just making small chat and all of that.
And he says, I've seen your I've seen transcripts, I've seen your record, tell me the story. And probably because he knew it had to be a good one, and it is. So I run through the whole thing, tell him about failing most of the classes of my last semester of high school, and getting kicked out of college, traveling with Marines and all of that, taking classes. And then I come up to present day, we're sitting there and I'm just waiting for it. And I'm looking at him, and just waiting for the moment he's like, that's great, you have a nice day, you know? And it never came. He said, good, what are you doing now? And I was kind of taken aback, I was like I assume I'm leaving, but what do you mean, what am I doing now?
He says, you're on a pretty good upward trajectory here. You're trending up, you're doing well in school, you're taking these classes, you're obviously trying to get somewhere. What's next? I said, well I mean, shit, man, I don't know. Hopefully I'm going to school somewhere. And he said, well, I think you're doing well. And I think it's definitely going to happen. He said, what do you want? And I thought about it for a second, and then I just asked him. I said, how do I get to Columbia? I figured I might as well take a shot.
He says, well, gave me a run down of my transcript, and said, here are some areas where you're weak, some areas where you're strong, something to consider. And I did that. I kind of went at it, kind of doubled down on some areas where I needed strengthening. And the next year applied, and did the whole application process, figuring out how to best spin my background. And how to talk about it, and how to discuss it, and everything. And yeah, then I ended up here, and it's worked out pretty well.
A buddy called me up who was home on recruiting. He had joined the Marines out of high school, actually. Calls me up and says, hey David, I know I know you're in school. I know you're studying, but I'm home on recruiter's assistance. If you want to come talk, if you ever thought about joining the Marine Corps, come in, we'll have a chat. Otherwise, let's go hang out and catch up, 'cause it's been a while. So I went in, and thought I don't have to lose, right? And I knew that I needed some discipline. I needed to learn how to take responsibility, and that was the way I was going to do it. So, I went in, talked to a recruiter, did a ton of research. I'm a rather skeptical guy, so it took a bit of time for that. But eventually ended up joining the Marine Corps, serving as a weather forecaster for five years. I got to go to Japan, I got to live in California, it was pretty great.
But the entire time I knew that I wanted to go back to school, that was my ultimate goal. So, knowing that it would be a little bit difficult to come back from a 0.5 GPA, I was taking night classes and online classes as soon as I could. I ended up doing that for about three years while I was in. Completed, when I finally transferred, about a year's worth of coursework. Had a ton of schools I was interested in, I really wanted to go to UC Berkeley, or stay in San Diego, because if you've ever been there, it's heaven.
And sort of going to go into these kind of workshops and discussions they held, where they would have schools come in and kind of talk about college admissions, what their school is about, I mean you have to consider the audience. It's a bunch of Marine vets and some Navy vets who don't know what Dartmouth is, right? I didn't know what Stanford did, I knew they existed. It's probably a school or something, but. Then we had people come in and kind of talk about it. The admissions process and why you would want to go there in the first place. What kind of crazy person would pay $70,000 a year to study books, you know?
And so I got an interview, went in the room, and met him, super nice guy, really personable. But I'm thinking the entire time, and when I tell you this story, you're gonna laugh me out of this room. I'm obviously not the person who goes to Columbia. This is not a thing that's going to happen. But I mean, I'm going to give a shot. So we start talking, he's just making small chat and all of that.
And he says, I've seen your I've seen transcripts, I've seen your record, tell me the story. And probably because he knew it had to be a good one, and it is. So I run through the whole thing, tell him about failing most of the classes of my last semester of high school, and getting kicked out of college, traveling with Marines and all of that, taking classes. And then I come up to present day, we're sitting there and I'm just waiting for it. And I'm looking at him, and just waiting for the moment he's like, that's great, you have a nice day, you know? And it never came. He said, good, what are you doing now? And I was kind of taken aback, I was like I assume I'm leaving, but what do you mean, what am I doing now?
He says, you're on a pretty good upward trajectory here. You're trending up, you're doing well in school, you're taking these classes, you're obviously trying to get somewhere. What's next? I said, well I mean, shit, man, I don't know. Hopefully I'm going to school somewhere. And he said, well, I think you're doing well. And I think it's definitely going to happen. He said, what do you want? And I thought about it for a second, and then I just asked him. I said, how do I get to Columbia? I figured I might as well take a shot.
He says, well, gave me a run down of my transcript, and said, here are some areas where you're weak, some areas where you're strong, something to consider. And I did that. I kind of went at it, kind of doubled down on some areas where I needed strengthening. And the next year applied, and did the whole application process, figuring out how to best spin my background. And how to talk about it, and how to discuss it, and everything. And yeah, then I ended up here, and it's worked out pretty well.