Student: Did you ever feel really out of place, and if so, do you think it was because you were a first generation student or just became it’s a common college student feeling? Allison: An excellent question, I think because I was different than other students and that was definitely ---  I think maybe when I was nineteen and twenty I couldn’t have said that, I wouldn't have said that. I would have said, “Well you know college students must sort of feel anxious sometimes or out of place.” But I kind of know now that it wasn't that. And I can look back and I think of specific examples and stories that I was clearly different because of my background and because of what I didn’t have, or the different experiences that my family had that no one else shared. That made it, that made me quiet and not really talkative with other people and kept some things to myself. Now that I am a professor I'm always looking for quiet students and always try to do things to help them, and I tell them about office hours, but I really didn't know and didn't use much and I kind of kept my head down. I had a college experience that was very much about doing the work and working outside of class, and not really a social life and I remember very few classes where I even spoke. I am the kind of teacher now where I encourage everyone to speak and I even do things where I put quotes on the power point and have everyone in class read them just so that everyone is comfortable with hearing their voice. Because I remember you know, you're in a class eight weeks and you haven't spoken, you can't start speaking then, you know, you're just kind of in the back not speaking. So yeah, I was very quiet and I did not ask for help. You know, sometimes I wonder if I, I don’t know, I mean I didn’t have the college experience in the sense that I didn't have the social life and I know that is important in terms of making connections so you have jobs on the other side. I also, you know, didn't - when I graduated I went to law school because that was the safe thing to do and I needed to make sure I made money, but it's not a safe thing to do. And law school is great but getting a law job, there are so many people with law degrees that it’s very difficult, so it wasn't that safe. I like my Soc (Sociology) degree, and I don't regret going to law school but it was probably stupid. It just took me a long time to figure out what I was doing, so I don't know if that was a regret though because that is what life is like, it takes a while to figure it out. Student: Just like any detours kind of? Allison: Yes, lots and lots of detours. And so, you know, everything like took longer to fall into place which makes me older than my peers in some ways. So, when I went to grad school there were people who went straight to grad school from undergrad, so their like twenty-three and I was you know early thirties, so that made it very different. I do wish I would have involved myself more, I don’t think, I didn't have the time but maybe I was too anxious. I always thought that, I always feared I would not be able to come back the next year because of money. So I pushed myself to take as many classes as I could and to get out as quickly as I could, instead of taking my time, but I don't know if I could have done that differently because. Student: Do you suggest taking your time? Allison: Do I what?  Student: Do you suggest taking your time, rather than like taking the full 18 credits? Allison: I think it is important to make those social connections and to take time. As long as you end up actually graduating, because there also a lot of people who - that fear of mine, that happens to a lot of first generation students where they're having to drop out because of money reasons or something like that and then they don't make it back. So you never know, like twenty-twenty hindsight, I just wanted to keep my head down to make sure I got the degree you know and I didn't want anything to stop that because if I had gone and spent money and didn’t have anything to show for it, that would have been bad. You know and not only that but once you start separating from what everyone else in your home and your community do, you kind of have to succeed, there is a lot of pressure to succeed on that because otherwise you made the dumb mistake that they didn't do. So I would say, I would recommend from my vantage point to take advantage of college in any way you can, and join clubs and do things, because they're not beside the point, they're really important for getting jobs later on.