The Common Link

Being a college freshman is one of the scariest experiences in the world. Sure, we were all excited to move out of Mom and Dad’s into our places with no curfews, no rules, and the ability to eat ice cream for dinner whenever we wanted. But out of the blue, you discover that you don’t know how to do your own laundry, your roommate is a lunatic, and on-campus dining fare is less than palatable. Then suddenly in a fit of panic, you realize that oh my goodness, I go to a school of 45,000 people and I maybe know 10 of them? Or 4? Or no one at all? Did I mention I only know people who are majoring in dairy science? What is the world is dairy science!? I’m a history major, I don’t know anything about dairy! Who are these people?

The College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M is the largest college on campus. That’s right, larger than engineering, business, and the sciences, all of the areas of specialty that A&M is known for. In addition to hosting its own group of majors, the college plays host to every single student on campus who is required by the University Core Curriculum to take English, Communication, History, Social Sciences, Humanities, and Visual and Performing Arts classes, which are all part of the college of Liberal Arts. So if we’re the biggest and the best, why was it almost impossible to meet anyone in the College of Liberal Arts? I didn’t know a single liberal arts major until the day that I sat down for my first class of Cornerstone. And once I met my Cornerstone classmates, I was so glad that I was a liberal arts major if I could have these individuals as my peers.

The best thing about Cornerstone is the people. Some of the best friends that I’ve made at A&M are in Cornerstone. We are a like-minded group of people with a like-minded focus. That isn’t to say that we agree on everything all the time. In fact, when it comes to discussions, we rarely agree on anything at all. It is a group of academically driven students who push to reach the highest level of excellence at Texas A&M. We take classes together, study together, stress out over the same tests, papers, and presentations. We draw from one another’s experience to become better students. We’re the classic group of over-achievers but we have a blast doing it. Our class especially is good friends outside of the program. We study together at the library, we go to movies, eat lunch together. Another Cornerstone classmate and I are even going on a study abroad trip together next summer. For me, it is the people that make the program. Yes, the opportunities afforded by Cornerstone are beyond anything that I could have imagined. The international trip is a huge perk as well but it truly is the individuals and the friends you make that make it worthwhile. It is that commonality of liberal arts that provides a structure for creating relationships with both your classmates and the faculty and staff members that you will encounter. I wouldn’t trade a single second of it for the world.