Alumni In Action: Young Alumn College Panel

Young alumni returned to TMI on Jan. 4 to give this advice to current seniors: Be outgoing, get involved, take responsibility, learn from your mistakes and don’t expect college to be easy.
Young Alumn College Panel Nine panelists recruited by the TMI Alumni Relations Office represented a range of college options – public and private, large and small, ROTC and civilian. All graduated from TMI within the last four years and returned to field questions about college life from the class of 2011.

Workload: “If you think you studied hard at TMI, think again,” said John Amini ’09, a sophomore business major at Texas A&M University. “In college, you will be studying harder than ever before. Friday night, Saturday night, you will be in the library.” As a freshman engineering student at Boston University, Nikita DiGiacomo ’10, takes science courses with hundreds of other students. “There is less help than you’re used to at TMI,” she said. “If you are having problems, it’s up to you to find help with them.” Rory Fellows ’10, a freshman at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont, finds its military program “like the TMI Corps only much harder.”

Time management: “There’s a lot of free time in college,” said Kyle Bowers ’10, a freshman at the University of Tulsa. “Coming from TMI, I have a lot more experience in managing it than some of my peers.” At Texas Tech, sophomore Amy Lillibridge ’10 learned that, “You have to study every day, even if you don’t have that class that day. If you don’t, you’ll miss something.”

Making friends: “When you go from being a senior at a small school where everybody knows your name to a campus with 45,000 students,” said John, “the only way you’re going to find your niche is to get involved.” Scott Stephens ’06 joined clubs and performed in a sketch comedy show at Syracuse University, where he graduated last spring with a double major in broadcast journalism and anthropology. “Schedule your classes so you can do other things, too,” he advised.

Young Alumn College PanelRoommates: When problems arise, “Take proactive steps,” said Jaclyn Nash ’09, a sophomore at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Jaclyn and other panelists agreed: If disputes can’t be worked out, find a new roommate and move.

Getting a clue: “As a freshman, you’re going to make a lot of mistakes,” said Hannah Cangany ’08, a junior at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. “That’s OK. You’ll learn from them.” When in doubt, “Ask questions,” said Paula Skandis ’10, a sophomore at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina. If all else fails, said Jaclyn, who previously attended Baylor University, “Don’t be afraid to transfer. Just because you thought you knew what you wanted doesn’t mean you can’t change your mind when you get there.”
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