Blog
Find advice and follow the college experiences of our current first-gen student bloggers.
I am 21 Years Old and I’m Still Afraid of the Dark
I still don't know how I convince myself that there will be an ominous figure waiting outside my bedroom door if I attempt to leave my room before the sun has come up. Sometimes I am able to quickly hop out of my bed, turn the knob to the door and dart to my...
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Returning to Normal?
The past month has been filled with a number of uncertainties for me personally. With class registration coming up there are a lot of unanswered questions about what returning to in-person class is going to look like in the coming fall. I know Illinois State's Covid...
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Doing Too Much
I am a victim to the too much gene when it comes to work! The immigrant mentality that many of us first generation children face is that we need to work extra hard to survive. To prove to everyone else that we are worthy of being there, we have to be the best. I was...
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March Madness-College Spring Break Edition
I was lucky enough to be going to one of the few schools that actually had a spring break this semester. Because of the pandemic and some schools having a late start to the semester, a lot of my friends from different colleges did not even have a spring break and were...
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Budgeting in College
For this month, I am going to share my tips for budgeting and saving money in college. As we all know, college is extremely expensive. The early years of your adult life are the best time to engrain savings and good money habits into your life. Budgeting can be...
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Minority groups are mainly affected by COVID
I am from the Southside of Chicago. To be more specific, I grew up in Mckinley Park, which is 5 minutes away from Back of the Yards, 10 minutes away from Pilsen, and 10 minutes away from Little Village. I grew up in a Mexican household, and my parents are immigrants....
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I’m Not Always Outside When I’m Outside
I love being outside. There's just something about the outdoors that sends me into a trance. As soon as I step outside the door, all I can do for the first few minutes is stand motionless and take everything in. However, due to the weather and my attempts at social...
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Burnout is real!
I initially wanted to write this post about love and all the wonderful things about my school. However, I also think it’s important to acknowledge the beauty in honesty when things aren’t going quite right. Winter can be a difficult time for many people. I for one...
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What I Like About You (Barnard College)
Barnard College was my dream school when applying to colleges. I had made the decision to apply ED to Barnard after a month of going to campus and understanding the environment and community that I would be a part of if I was lucky enough to get accepted. December 12...
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Conquering FAFSA
Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Otherwise known as FAFSA. When I look back to high school, filling out FAFSA felt like this daunting task and scarier than applying to colleges themselves. What made it even scarier was that a lot of students tend to feel...
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