Rutgers University - RU
speciality: Law

We are pressured from adolescence to fit into society, coerced in our teens to make the biggest choices for our adult years. As young adults, we find ourselves in between, fresh out of college or just beginning, facing the possibility of initiating our careers or feeling more lost than ever. We’re told it looks a certain way, but this life is full of many versions, and we don’t get the full edition at once. Rutgers University provided me with the ability to create my schedule in a way where I am steady and on track towards graduation while giving me the flexibility to embrace my creative nature and solitude needs on a daily basis. This has allowed me to believe in myself in a new way. For three semesters, I had the exact same schedule, and it changed something in my life regarding education. After years of confined schedules, forced early morning rises, and boring curriculums, I drove to my classes and commuted on the train—a freedom I felt in my own routine, a freedom I enjoyed. I found this freedom predominantly in my English classes; it started with Professor Dudek, a part-time professor and part-time revolutionist who advocated for the educational and human importance of respecting both teachers and students. When classes were cancelled briefly to enact Take Back Rutgers, a strike my professor was intimately a part of, it set a tone for the rest of my college experience going forward. Difficulties I faced in conversations with peers or administrators were seen with a “bigger picture” in mind, something Professor Dudek instilled in me.