Carol Vinsky

What school do/did you attend, what do/did you major in, and what year did you graduate NA?

Pitt, Bioengineering (maybe Pre-Med), and 2018

Do you think NA gave you an accurate idea of what college/real life was going to be like? In what ways?

Yes, in that it would be a lot harder and more time consuming than high school, but we also still have a ton of resources available to us and college is a lot like high school in that I still get PowerPoint slides/notes sheets for some classes and professors go by their first name

Do you think there was anything that you wish NA had done a better job of preparing you for?

I wish NA had prepared me more for resumes bc they have workshops and stuff at NA but the stuff they tell us at NA everyone at pitt said wasn’t a good way to set up; also resumes are different for different jobs/opportunities so I think giving a one-time “template” isn’t necessarily accurate

What was your biggest surprise when you got to college?

I was most surprised by the amount of material we were expected to know in such short amounts of time and how little we were expected to retain from high school in classes like math and science; like everyone comes from a different high school experience so they have to start out somewhere, but I was sort of surprised by how much we were retaught

How well prepared do you think you were compared to your peers?

Same as above, I felt more prepared for writing and some science, and especially calc bc of BC calc with volpe but I stayed in a stem field so I can’t really comment on history or anything

Do you have any advice for the current students?

My advice is use the resources they have for you and ask questions!! People are there to help you and I didn’t realize how much they want to see you succeed which sounds cliché but it’s true—in college they’re there for you but you have to seek out the help more like ive had to walk across campus before just to get the answer to a question about my major because they don’t check their email frequently

What do you miss most about NA?

I honestly miss musical the most because of the people, and teachers like Allen, Beatty, Volpe, and Long because they really lived teaching and helped me realize I want to continue with STEM (so cheesy, I know)