Richard Bach once said, "You are never given a dream without also being given the power to make it true." As a transfer student, I am about to embark on a new path and take another step in my academic journey. It is my goal to make every one of my dreams realities and I believe that the University of Rhode Island is a step in the right direction. My journey began as a completely oblivious high school student. Unaware of what college would bring, I decided to stay local and chose to attend the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. I found classes very challenging, yet rewarding and as I achieved a G.P.A. of 3.3 during the first semester, I strove to improve and longed to move up the ladder of success until I reached the top. Receiving a G.P.A. of 3.8 my second semester, I came to appreciate academic stimulation. I had overcome the obstacle of change and found my place in the community of UMass. I thought for sure that UMass was the place for me and I could not wait to embark on my second year and finally move up the ladder of rankings and no longer be a "little freshman."
             As I registered for classes for my second year I was excited and nervous about what the year ahead would bring. I had met so many wonderful people, I had an on-campus job that I loved and I found the classes very rewarding. I pre-registered for six classes and was thoroughly disappointed to find that I had only been placed in two of them since the other four courses were oversubscribed. As a student who had pushed myself and looked forward to more challenges, it was quite a disappointment to receive such news but I was not going to let that stop me. I called around to see what could be done and found very little support and no alternatives for my situation at UMass. Not only would I only have two academic classes, but I would no longer be considered a full-time student and I was going to lose my work study and insurance coverage as well.
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