Departing Transfer Student Leaves Behind Great Advice

Austin Community College is the primary source of transfer students accepted at the University of Texas at Austin, and Eric Munoz is joining the ranks of ACC students heading there this spring. Munoz has been at ACC since 2008 and is a peer tutor for the Supplemental Instruction Program. Before leaving ACC, Munoz recently submitted his “I am acc” story and later answered a few questions for us.

Q. Tell us a little about yourself.

A. My name’s Eric. I’m 20 years old and I am currently in my junior year here at ACC. I grew up in Pflugerville, and Riverside is the only ACC campus I’ve attended. I enjoy Sudoku and awful television.

Q. How did you end up as a Supplemental Instruction (SI) instructor?

A. Fortunately, I had chosen an excellent instructor who really brought out the best in me. I was taking Spanish I (SPAN 1511) in fall of ’09. Despite already having some knowledge of Spanish, I had learned so much from her. She motivated and challenged me to succeed. I had gathered some classmates for study sessions throughout the semester. According to my teacher, she had noticed improvement in one of my classmate’s performance and, when asked what said student was doing differently, she had mentioned my name. It was then that my professor had asked me if I was interested in the SI program.

Q. How many credits are you transferring to UT this coming spring?

A. Too many! I’ve been at ACC going on my third year. I knew I had a knack for languages, so I had a hard time choosing from the many languages that were offered. I dabbled in a couple of semesters of Japanese and four semesters of Spanish. I also transferred credit for French when I took it for four years in high school. That being said, language courses transfer to big credits! I’m not too sure the exact number, but after this semester I’ll be transferring somewhere around 85 credits. (The maximum number of lower-division transfer credits that UT will count toward a degree is 66.)

Q. What was college like in your first year?

A. I began ACC the fall semester after I graduated high school. I wasn’t necessarily at my maximum level of focus

(being young and a tad bit naive), so I wasn’t too sure on what classes to choose or where to go for that matter. Mid-semester, I was introduced to my best friends, the ACC counselors. They really helped guide me in the right direction.

Q. What was the hardest thing for you?

A. When it comes to the entire ACC process of registering and getting to know the campus, any student, faculty, or staff member was helpful. So, that didn’t prove too challenging. However, getting back into the groove of math and government (both subjects that I wasn’t too enthusiastic about) was definitely the hardest thing. I had to go back to intermediate algebra and then through college algebra.

Q. How did you overcome the challenges?

A. Luckily, ACC offers something that most universities do not: the free tutors at the learning lab! The learning lab at Riverside is huge and always bustling with students. One would think that the student-tutor ratio would be a problem, but there were more than enough tutors in any given subject. After I made the learning lab my new home, math and government became a breeze.

Q. How long does it take someone to “get” college?

A. I think it varies. As for me, I got accustomed to college after my first year. It’s easy to get used to something that can be intimidating when you have friends who know exactly what you’re going through. It might be harder if someone doesn’t expand their social boundaries and really get to know the school they’re attending.

Q. What made the difference for you?

A. I have a personal mentor/friend at the learning lab who not only tells me the latest health news, but also gives me insight on my college career path. I feel that her advice combined with awesome counselors that were there for me since day one really made the difference.

Q. How did you know UT was right for you?

A. After moving to Austin from Pflugerville, I grew to love Austin and the people in it. The friends I’ve made here have had such a profound impact on me academically and socially. I wanted to stay close to those people and to my family.

Q. What’s going to be your major at UT?

A. I’m looking into majoring in Asian Cultures and Languages with a specialization in Urdu. I will also be continuing with Spanish. My ultimate goal is to work with the government.

Q. What did you do to get accepted at UT?

A. I’ve actually applied twice! I applied for fall of 2010, but I had just missed the application deadline. I guess you could say I’ve been working on my application for six or seven months, so it definitely took preparation. I used the Apply Texas website, and during the summer I did quite a bit of volunteering to lengthen my résumé. I asked for letters of recommendation from two of my teachers. And to seal the deal, I wrote two amazing essays (with the help of the learning lab people, of course)! I wouldn’t have been accepted if it weren’t for everyone here at ACC and my mentor of eight years.

Q. Do you work outside school? If so, do you have advice for other students juggling work and school?

A. I have two jobs here at ACC. I am a tutor for Spanish at the learning lab and I am a supplemental instructor for a Spanish 1511 course. I’m both fortunate and grateful that my jobs are literally a minute away from my classes and 10 minutes away from my apartment. I know a few students who are working full time, taking four or five classes and have families! I’m always impressed with people who can balance the three. However, I’m also aware that not everyone (including myself) can do that. All I can suggest is, don’t bite off more than you can chew. It is very hard to maintain a good status with everything at once, and it can’t be beneficial to work so much and have your grades suffer because of so many classes. Find a balance that works for you.

• Do you have a question for Eric? Submit your own in the comments below.