Tales from Previous Longhorns

I really enjoyed reading these accounts from previous students at UT. It is always nice to be able to gain some insight from those who have gone before you. Especially as a nervous freshman, upperclassman or alumni are a very useful tool. One of the things that stuck with me from the reading was the excerpt by Margaret Cousins. She put an emphasis on the importance of her professors at UT. She says, "I never saw any of my mentors again. But in the heat and struggle and exhiliration of forging a life, I found the heat that their names and faces, their words and precepts, their values and standards recurred to me consistently"(895). I have been very focused on meeting and acquiring relationships with other students here at UT. I had not even thought about creating relationships with my professors. After reading her story I realized the wealth of knowledge and wisdom many professors at Texas have. They can be a wonderful resource to any student here and we have much to learn from them. She also says that, "against formidable odds, they taught me how to think, and in ways they would not have deemed possible, they have illuminated my fortunate life" (895). She viewed her professors as one of the most important encounters she had at UT and she was able to learn a lot from them.

Another observation of a previous UT student caught my eye. Alan Bean said, "When I did begin to put out effort I did really well. That was a big eye-opener. Then I began to put out more effort and do more, and maybe that's the story of my life, because now I realize that you can do what you want" (925). He observed that by putting out effort in college, especially UT, you have the possibility to achieve great success. He noted that at the University of Texas "if you put out effort you could change your results very quickly" (925). He realized that you can change your situation and decide how well and where you want to go in life. That is a great lesson to learn. Nothing about where we came from needs to affect our future. The university of texas provides so many opportunities to its students, they want us to succeed. By putting in effort in college we have the opportunity to achieve great success.