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Meet Lauren

Background

• Hometown: Portage, Michigan
• High School: Portage Northern High School
• Year: Sophomore
• Major(s): Political Science/French
• Minor: Economics

Read Lauren's Blog!

Lauren's Advice for Freshman

My advice for incoming freshman is to get involved on campus and to start off their college career on the right foot by going to class, meeting with advisors, and visiting different registered student organizations to find your niche on campus. Also never be afraid to ask for advice or help from your advisors and teachers because they know campus extraordinarily well and are there to see you succeed and get the most out of your college experience.

About Lauren

Hi, my name is Lauren and I’m a sophomore here at Western Michigan University. I’m a double major in political science and French with a minor in Economics. I’m from Portage, Michigan and graduated in 2008 from Portage Northern High School with highest honors and my IB (International Baccalaureate) Diploma.

Both of my parents are professors so college was never a huge deal for me. As long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to be a professor, and I haven’t really changed my mind about that. As a result, I’ve been thinking and planning for college probably since middle school. My junior year of high school, I thought I had the whole process figured out. However, I started visiting schools and Western was by far my favorite. I loved the feel of campus and how when we’d walk by other students, they’d smile or nod their heads at us. I also loved how the campus was large (we have 25,000 students) but at the same time, I could walk across campus in ten minutes. I left Western feeling like I could be really happy going to school there and I was excited by all the different student organizations on campus, the Honors College, as well as the academic reputation that Western holds throughout the country. I originally started school as an undecided engineering major. I did enjoy my classes, but one day I realized that I did not think I could do math and science every day for the rest of my life and be happy about it. So I finished off my first semester successfully, and began to think about my other options. I knew that I wanted to study abroad for a semester so I immediately declared a French major. But at that point, I was stuck. I kept returning to how I wanted to be a professor, but I just didn’t know of what. So I began taking more classes to fulfill my general education requirements, and it was in my American Government class that I realized that I really enjoyed politics, the American Judicial System, and the unique history surrounding America’s founding. I declared a political science major, and I’ve been very pleased with my decision. As of right now, I am thinking about going to law school to get my J.D. and then getting my Ph.D. and becoming a professor of political science.

On campus, I am a Student Ambassador and am involved with the Honors Student Association and the Western Student Association, which is our student government here on campus. This summer, I studied abroad for a month in Europe and went to several cities around Europe, and I’m studying abroad in January for the entire semester. This past spring break I participated in Alternative Spring Break and volunteered for a week in Kansas City, Missouri with young children in at-risk situations and earlier this fall, I was a Fall Welcome Ambassador. This is also my second year of living on campus, and I absolutely love it! I lived with the Honors Interest Housing last year in Ackley-Shilling and loved living with other students who had similar interests as me. It was also a great way to meet lots of new people, and most of my friends are people who lived with me in Ackley-Shilling last year. In my free time, I tend to watch movies or go downtown, where there’s a lot of student deals and discounts, as well as a lot of artsy, interesting places to go, such as Farmer’s Alley (which is a theatre in Kalamazoo) or the Rave Movie Theatre where students get $5 movie tickets. Overall, college has been both an enjoyable experience as well as a learning opportunity, and I’m excited for all the new challenges that I will face this year.

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