Travis Cook

Mission College '11
A.A. Business (Transfer), December 2010
A.A. Liberal Arts (Natural Sciences and Mathematics), May 2011

Cal Poly Pomona
Business Administration 

Santa Clara University
Law School Student
MBA Program

I graduated from Mission College with two associate degrees in May 2011.  I was actively involved in student government and clubs while at Mission. My schedule was busy but fun, and got me used to being busy and juggling different areas of my life.  This made transferring easier and I did a bit to stay involved when I transferred too. 

After Mission I transferred to Cal Poly Pomona.  I think succeeding at a university is all about mindset and what you choose to study. Don't choose a major that you don't enjoy or find interesting. Sure, the professionalism and difficulty increases a bit at a university, but if you're transferring somewhere to do well and succeed, your mindset is very important. Remind yourself why you're in school, make decisions that make you proud, and be proud of yourself for getting this far and committing to go further.  Then, keep doing what you need in order to make yourself proud. 

I have been lucky enough to study abroad for two different summers in law school, which have been the best memories and experiences of my life. Being gone for three months each time, I've been able to visit over 25 different countries thus far and encourage everyone to look into this. Even if your university doesn't have a study abroad program, find a program you like at another school and there's most likely a way to apply for it, receive financial aid for it, and get units at the same time. 

My advice to current students is study abroad in undergrad.  Go into a field where you can make a difference, and if that field happens to pay well, don't be so worried about needing to get student loans. Get a good education, put in the work, study abroad for a bit, then pay off the loans over time when you are done and start working.  A separate word of advice: don't always take no for an answer when you think it's unreasonable. Be polite, but don't be spineless. I've had many different administrators at different schools tell me I couldn’t do something I wanted to do.  For example, drop one of honors class because you're over the unit cap this quarter; you can only get eight units studying abroad during summer because we think students can’t handle more; you have to retake your accounting classes in our own MBA program. All of these sounded to me to be final, but respectfully inquiring, doing some research, and being reasonable can get you well beyond these types of hurdles.