My first attempt at college was a complete failure, academically speaking. As Bartholomae put it, "This [college student] has entered the discourse without successfully approximating it" (627). I was loving coerced into attending a university to become a pilot. Although, there were many personal factors involved in my demise, the most influential factor was my inability to acclimate to the university lifestyle. The only times I pursued any direction from officials were to get my key for my dorm room and to get my physical for my pilot's license. Other than that, I decided I was going to brave the the experience on my own. Needless to say, 18 year olds don't know ANYTHING and my venture was unsuccessful. The worst part was that I repeated the same offense for two years with identical outcomes. I only regularly attended my major classes (yes, as a freshman) and as a result, I didn't pass any of my gen ed classes and as a result of that, none of my credits transferred when I grew up and decided to attend Weber. So, fresh start, here I came.

When I said that my first attempt was a complete academic failure, I did not mean that it was a complete failure. As a result of my misadventures, I learned many valuable lessons that I carry with me today. Again, there are quite a few that are personal experiences but the grand majority were lessons that taught me not to be an idiot with regards to college life. I feel that there are two factors that influence Bartholomae's theory on inventing the university. The first factor is maturity. For some, this comes at 18, for the "normal" people, this mature comes later in life. Unfortunately, it cost me a great deal to learn this lesson, as I am sure many have done before me, and many will do after me. A student has to be able to accept the fact that they don't know everything and that it does require help to get through college. That doesn't always come from advisers and administrators but help is needed none the less. That is the second factor in successfully inventing the university, the "squeaky wheel" theory. The clouds did not part and reveal for me how to get through the maze of gen ed classes successfully. This was something that required research (via catalog and handouts) and on occasion, a trip to the advising center. Now that I have learned that I need to ask for help before I can receive it and I have reached the level of maturity needed to successfully navigate the university world, I feel that inventing the university is no longer a challenge for me. The road that got me to this point was RIDICULOUS! I am glad I did it; however, I don't ever want to go through that again.