Dance Major | University of San Francisco
Q&A: Dance Major – Angel V (2:32)
I’m a sophomore studying dance at USF. I’ve been dancing for the majority of my life, so I only applied to dance programs. That was kind of something I predetermined for myself because I already knew what I wanted to do career wise coming out of high school.
College being besides a place to go if you’re studying medicine, or accounting, or law or any specialized field is also a place to go to expand your knowledge of who you are, and what you believe in, and what kind of person you want to be. As a person going into an artistic field, the connections that I’m making in the dance communities here at universities – there are so many really valuable and deep arts communities at universities all over the nation – those connections are really invaluable to me.
The freedom to design my own schedule and be wherever I want is very different from high school. You’re the only one responsible for yourself, and that can be terrifying, but it’s also very liberating.
It depends really on where you want to be, what kind of environment you want to be in, what kind of climate culture you want to experience, what kind of people you want to meet. So really it is the first step in your adult life, the first time you get to choose where you want to be.
Start with the activities you enjoy the most, with the subjects that stimulate you the most. If there’s something you really want to do, regardless of what other people are telling you, you should go for it. Choose something that you’re not going to regret. Just do what you love.
It gets better. Your first year is really hard, even if you’ve been out working independently and doing your own thing before you go to college. You’re adjusting to a whole new schedule, perhaps adjusting to a new city, a new place you’re living, new classes, new subjects. It’s like being transplanted between fishbowls. Your entire environment and world has just changed, and it’s completely natural to feel overwhelmed and even anxious. Just know that that’s merely a temporary feeling.