STUDENT STORY

“There are so many reasons why I’m glad I chose Grand Valley State University. The opportunity to be a resident assistant (RA) has been a really big part of my college experience at Grand Valley. If I weren’t an RA, I wouldn’t feel as connected on campus. Now, whenever I walk into a room, there’s someone I know. This is my fourth year living on the Allendale Campus, and I really like that. My classes are downtown, so I take the bus every day, which is free to students. I enjoy the downtown campus too.

College wasn’t really an expectation that my family set for me. Before I came to college, I did two years of study abroad in Brazil and Turkey, and from that, I actually was more set on where I wanted to go and who I wanted to work with. I realized that I needed an education to accomplish that, so I came to Grand Valley. The RA job and different opportunities made GVSU affordable for me. The amount that I get from financial aid is just enough to be helpful, but not enough to cover everything. So, money really did influence where I went, but I feel like no matter where I went, I could learn.

For me, a 4-year degree is a stepping stone to the next thing because I am going to law school. You can study for the LSAT or any exam, but in the four years at Grand Valley, I had to write papers and read a lot, and I can feel myself improving academically. When I was a freshman, reading a textbook was hard. Now, I’ve grown. For example, I was able to join our new business pitch competition. I’ve never given a business pitch in my life, and now I get up on stage to do it for fun. So many things like this will help me in the future.

I’ve definitely noticed that my confidence has grown so much since I’ve been at Grand Valley, through interviews and networking. I used to be scared to talk to business professionals, and now I just walk up and say, ‘I don’t think we’ve met yet’. My family owns a farm, and I knew I could be happy there, but I was very interested in seeing the world. I knew if I didn’t go to college it wasn’t going to be a possibility for me. I wanted to open that door for myself.”

(Kelly, Political Science, Grand Valley State University)