College Experience

Halima is from Yemen and is majoring in Nursing. She was Gateway student in 2005-06. Here is what she says about her personal experience:

"One of the hardest things in my life was figuring out what career choice to make. Before I figured out what I wanted to do, I had to first figure out who I was. What were my strengths and weaknesses?"

"I believe that everyone is given a gift, and it is up to each person to find it and use it to the best of her/his ability. For me, I found that part of who we are is determined by how we interact with others, and that affects the environment around us. What I mean is that I chose Otterbein College as a college and for its own environment."

"I have learned that you must learn as much as you can. Therefore, the more you learn, the more things you will be able to do and the more good you could bring to those that may cross your path."

"I said this before, but give as much as you can because you never know when your time will be up. What may not seem like a lot to you can mean a whole lot to someone else. As for me, the choice is being able to identify the right path and make the right decision, and Otterbein College was my choice."

Michelle comes from China and is an Accounting major at Otterbein. She was in the Gateway Program in 2004-05. Here is what she says about her Gateway experience and her afterwards:

"The Gateway program is a great program at Otterbein College. The ESOL class is a very helpful class. Before I attended Otterbein I thought that I was wasting my time and money in taking this program. However, while I was in this program I found that it was much more beneficial than I had thought. This program is entertaining and teaches with a great learning style. We had a small class. There were only five of us. We were all from different countries, but we communicated in American English. Therefore, we are friends and we learned to solve problems together and make it more of a family than a class."

"Accounting is my major. I liked math since I was a little girl. Therefore I picked accounting to be my major. Before I attended accounting class I was nervous, and I kept asking myself what is the class like? I asked myself, is it like regular math class or different? Is it a small class? And how does the teacher teach? Do we need to use computers all the time?"

"This is my first year taking accounting class. So far so good. It is not as hard as I thought. We have a big class, and we don't need to use computers all the time. All accounting majors are in an accounting club. This club is very helpful for the class. Sometimes there are some business members that come to school and have a meeting with the students. We can learn from their experience. The best thing about attending the club meeting is you can get free food and drinks. All accounting classes are like math class; you always have a lot of homework to do, but it helps you to learn when you do the homework. Anyway, accounting class will keep you busy while still having fun."