Autobiographical Presentations

According to the syllabus every student has to do an autobiographical presentation on their academic journey. Personally, I feel my academic journey took off near the end of 1st grade when I took a placement/IQ test thing. Back then I had no idea what that test was about. I guessed on most of the questions because most of them had no words (seriously what type of test has no words). Looking back I realize that I was took a complex aptitude test. When the results of this test came in it suggested that certain members of the class should be in the magnet school program. Thus, when it was time to start second grade I was at a new school and as part of the TAG program (talented and gifted). My next important moment in my academic life came after elementary school. Instead of sending me to the local middle school my mother thought it would be a good idea to send her 12 year old son to boarding school (I was entering the seventh grade). My academic life didn't take any big jumps until around the tenth grade. It was at that time in my life that i began to mature as a person. I lost my attitude problem and began to act as the person today who always "handles his business". This maturity period is what i credit for my boom in grades. I also believe it played a huge role in my high SAT scores which allowed me to receive the legacy scholarship.

Howard University begins my next step in academia. The overall college experience seems regular to me. I believe that is because I went to boarding school. However, this university is full of many new experiences for me. I've noticed that I have better study habits than most of my peers and a clear understanding of what I want to do with my life and the purpose of college. In addition I'm slightly disappointed in college in general. I thought it would be this large world of knowledge and next level thinking but that just isn't the case. I'm beginning to understand that undergrad has more to do with networking and learning job skills rather than increasing intellect. Sadly, I've yet to find any organizations that have sparked my interest and have lost an interest in my Track which I once loved. Still, their are some academic challenges that I have faced in college.

One of my biggest challenges is the perception of me as a student. I've always been somewhat of a jokester and a little bit of a class clown but people knew me in High school and understood that I took my academics seriously. Now I feel like some of my professors have a bad view of me or generally don't like me. I hope this doesn't reflect on my as I haven't missed any classes or assignments yet this fall. Another issue that I have is in math. It seems that every freshmen is failing or withdrawing from math. There is a theory that you must be a math genius to do well in college. What surprised me the most is not being allowed to use a calculator on test. I thought the purpose of graphing calculators was college. I understand the want for students to comprehend the material completely and to learn and display a knowledge of concepts. However, this is college; I feel like its my job to show you the answer. Losing points for not showing work and denying the use of calculators seems like high school stuff to me. My hope is that my work speaks for itself. Even if professors are arrogant or don't like me as a person my work should still stand on its own. Anything below a 3.5 this semester would be considered a failure.