The Next Chapter: College Advice Part 3
Podcast Transcription
Money Talk is a podcast brought to you by PFCU where we will share tips and tricks and talk to the experts on all things finance related. Join us as we cover everything from credit and loans to cyber security and careers. No matter where you are in life, PFCU is here for you.
Maddy: Hi everyone, welcome to another episode of PFCU’s Money Talk Podcast, I’m your host Maddy. This is the final piece of our mini-series talking about advice for those that are still in high school, that first year of college and applying for scholarships. As a reminder, the PFCU McCrumb Scholarship is currently open on our website until March 31st. We award 10 $1,000 scholarships every year to students not only attending a traditional 4-year university but also those going into a skilled trade. So, if you are a high school senior or you know one, go ahead and check it out or pass it along.
My guest today is Amelia Beswick. Amelia has worked hard to get to where she is now and is continuing to do so to get to where she wants to be. Take a listen as she shares her best advice on building your resume, applying for scholarships and being successful in the future, looking beyond your first year of college. Please join me in welcoming Amelia as she shares a little about herself.
Amelia: I am attending Central Michigan University.
Maddy: Could you share what you’re studying, what you’re going into?
Amelia: Yeah, so, I am a major in bio-med, with an emphasis in pre-veterinary medicine as well a double minor in chemistry and business financing.
Maddy: Very nice! You are a busy lady.
Amelia: Yes, I am.
Maddy: That is awesome. So, what’s your goal after you graduate?
Amelia: Yeah so, after I graduate from Central, I want to attend I don’t know where yet for vet school so I can earn my doctorate in veterinary medicine.
Maddy: Do you have a dream of opening up your own practice then?
Amelia: I don’t know, I think, I think yeah, yeah, I would like to have my own practice one day. I imagine I’ll start with other vets in a clinic somewhere or something but yeah, eventually I would like to be in my clinic.
Maddy: Yeah. So, you were obviously a recipient on the McCrumb scholarship last year. Could you share the impact that not only that scholarship had on you, but also any other scholarships that you received and how those helped you?
Amelia: Yeah, so, scholarships have been so helpful to me. All of them are so helpful. They have created so many opportunities because college is obviously very expensive and these scholarships that I have received have helped create opportunities for me that I otherwise would not be able to have because they helped make college more affordable for me. So, things like getting involved in research or taking on internships because I don’t have to worry so much about like working to pay for college because the scholarships have helped me so much with that.
Maddy: Right, that’s a really good perspective to have, that it’s taken some of that financial burden off and you have time for other things to further yourself and your goals that you have. So, why do you think applying for scholarships is so important? Obviously, you mentioned that it does help financially, could you expand on why you think that’s important? Especially for those kids now that are juniors, seniors in high school.
Amelia: Right, so, it just goes with the opportunities too and applying to all the scholarships we can because student loans you obviously have to pay back and the benefit of scholarships is that you don’t have to pay them back and so, applying to as many as possible, I highly recommend. Especially the local ones because they’re more, I mean the pool of students is going to be smaller than some of the bigger scholarships or like college-level scholarships so, very much and even, because the local ones are mostly just like when you’re still a senior in high school and going into college and then those aren’t an option, really anymore so, I very much recommend doing those while you still can which is when you’re a senior before you’re freshman year in college.
Maddy: Good! Yeah, that’s a great point to apply to as many as possible. I mean, the worst that they’re going to say is no so you might as well just throw your hat in the ring and go for it. That’s good advice.
Amelia: Yes, and a lot of applications end up being not that dissimilar. I mean, once your start applying and writing essays or responses, you’ll find that the questions are fairly similar and it’s easy to kind of reuse or reuse a lot of the same ideas and concepts in a lot of different applications and so then it gets easier but I know it can be a very daunting task.
Maddy: Yes, so what advice do you have for current high school seniors? Obviously, you were chosen for our scholarship, you were very involved in school. Could you share advice that you have for current high school seniors and also a little bit about what you did when you were in high school that helped you get the scholarships that you got.
Amelia: Yeah, so I understand that applying for scholarships can be a very, like I said, daunting task, but like I said I really recommend applying for as many as possible. And a lot, I did, I was very committed to a lot of different things in high school and I… so I began volunteering, like, in middle school actually. Both of my parents were very active in the community, still are active in the community and encouraged me and my siblings to be as well. And so, I was always involved in volunteering which I think is one of the biggest things that, like, one of the strongest points on my resume, is my commitment to volunteering and I have volunteered in a lot of different ways. I’ve been in, or I was in 4H for a lot of years and we volunteered at 4H events and at fairgrounds. I volunteered at a lot of different fairgrounds and just all kinds of different things and different opportunities. So, volunteering is a really big thing for scholarships, I think and not just being involved in one thing. Like, not being, like some kids are super, super committed to their sport which is really, really great but you want to be more diverse too. You want to be volunteering or involved at something else at school like a student government or something like that, just to balance everything out. I think that when applying to scholarships it’s really important to have a diverse resume for them and a diverse application for them. So, I was pretty much all of those things. I volunteered a lot, like I said, but I was involved in student government and student council in high school. And out of school, I was involved in 4H, like I said and dance and I played the piano for years and years and I worked in the summers and I think the whole combination and the whole experience of all those things is what really, really helped and made my application stronger. And I guess my biggest advice for seniors especially is to stick with those commitments. Hopefully you’ve been working on building your resume and doing a lot of those things for a while now but sticking with those. I feel like a lot of seniors, once they apply or know where they’re going to apply or even get accepted to college, they want to kind of take a break, take it easy before college gets hard and I really recommend sticking with those commitments because even beyond scholarship applications and applying to college, there are so many things you’re going to need your resume for, I have already used it. I currently work at a vet clinic to get experience and I’ve used it for veterinary clinic interviews, my resume and for research interviews to get involved in research here at Central and I’m still applying for scholarships for my next years and my resume shows that I have continued my commitment through all of my years and that it’s not like a, like it doesn’t ebb and flow, it’s kind of just consistently involved and balanced.
Maddy: Very good, yeah. So, not only being that well-rounded student in high school but keeping it up because the continuing education scholarships, they do exist so even if you’re not a freshman anymore or you’re moving on further into college, people are still trying to give out money in those scholarships so take advantage of those. Yes, that’s very important. And you’re right, it goes so much beyond scholarships, it’s everything you can put on your resume so even if you don’t have an actual part-time job in high school, employers like to see that volunteer experience, they like to see that you’re involved in sports and student government. That shows all of those qualities that they’re looking for. So, yes, looking beyond, scholarships are important but looking past that, that’s very good advice.
What if you sat down and wrote a survival guide for college freshmen, incoming college freshmen, what have you learned so far this year that you would like to share? Your top tips!
Amelia: Well, I would say my biggest thing is I’ve learned that it’s a learning experience. And that it’s really hard to prepare what college is going to be like because it’s just so different from anything I’ve done before and anything I’ve been in before but definitely do have a few recommendations to make it easier. So, one of my things would be to be proactive as much as you can and staying, college is a lot about being self-disciplined and responsible. I mean, professors are different than high school teachers were. They give you everything you need to succeed but they don’t hold your hand near as much as teachers in high school do so it’s your job to stay on top of homework and studying but also things like meeting with your academic advisors or your financial advisors and your professors and getting involved on campus in events and clubs. That’s all part of being proactive, I really recommend that, especially as a freshman because when you get to college, everybody, I mean all the freshmen, we’re in like, the friend making mode, right? We’re out here to meet new people and the best way to do that is to start getting involved and to go to events. We’re always have events here at Central, I go to things all the time with friends now. At the beginning, I didn’t necessarily have friends but I met people along the way and that’s what it’s about too, that’s another one of my top tips is just to be open to new things and new people and new ideas. It’s, like I said, everybody’s here at the beginning of the year to meet new friends and try to be open to that and talk with new people and yeah, just be really open to that. And then, another tip that I would have is to begin building good habits in high school, like good study habits especially. I know a lot of kids get to college and don’t really know how to study and it’s hard to learn that, especially when the material that you’re learning might be harder too but in high school it’s easier to learn in a situation that we already know, like we’re pretty comfortable in high school and the environment is familiar, so practicing studying and understand what to study and like, how to study and what works best for you. And I mostly felt like I knew that but I’ve definitely learned a lot along the way in college and yeah, I would just recommend kind of knowing what works for you and yeah, being ready for, just to stick with those habits and that will help keep you more proactive in your classes.
Maddy: Great, yes! That’s been a common theme of, you’re all in the same boat so you’re a freshman in college, everyone’s in that friend making mode, no one really knows anyone and keeping that in mind can help ease that pressure and it’s, I mean, it’s scary too! You’re walking in and now all of sudden everything is your responsibility, like you said no one is going to hold your hand.
Amelia: Right.
Maddy: So that’s very good advice and learning those study habits too and what you need to do to be successful and starting that in high school.
Amelia: Yes.
Maddy: Great advice. Alright, is there anything else that you wanted to share?
Amelia: I thought I would talk about dorm life for a really quick minute.
Maddy: Oh yes, okay.
Amelia: Because I know, going into college I felt like I didn’t really know what to expect and a part of that is because you really can only find out what’s that like based on experience but also talking to other kids who have experienced it and like, previously to college you know, I would meet with advisors at different colleges and stuff and they don’t, they cant tell you the same thing as somebody that’s lived in a dorm has. So, when I came into dorm living, I came in completely blind, I did not really know anybody coming to central and so I didn’t have like a friend I was planning to room with or anything. And they do like a, you can set up a profile online and then it will like match with you people and I know a lot of colleges do some sort of variation of that but I was nervous about doing that and so I was like, I’ll just go in blind and see what happens and it’s turned out really well for me. I have three roommates, there’s four of us in a room and we all get a long great, we really do. I mean, not that there’s not the occasional things but we really do get along great and I would just recommend to not be afraid of going in blind. If you don’t know anybody, it’s okay and the worst that’s going to happen really is it’s just somebody that you don’t get along with that great and you only have to do it for a year and then move in with somebody else, so, yeah.
Maddy: Good, yeah! Yeah, dorm life is like a whole, that’s just like a new beast that you take on when you go to college. And it’s yeah, it’s something and I think it’s a good experience. I did the same thing as you, I went in completely blind, didn’t know anyone and I am still great friends with two people that we started in the dorm together and many years later, I don’t know how many, I don’t even want to know how many years later, we are still really good friends so that’s great to hear from someone like you who’s in it and I hope that really gives high schoolers some hope and some comfort…
Amelia: Yes.
Maddy: …when they’re faced with that situation because it’ll all work out, it always does.
Amelia: It does, it has a way.
Maddy: It has a way, yes. Alright, well that’s all I had for you, I really do appreciate your time. That was some really good insight.
Amelia: Thank you.
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