The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

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Working towards becoming the first to graduate

Photo credit: Ashley Luke, Contributing Reporter

With the new semester approaching, transfer student Lizbeth Gutierrez, 23, is reflecting on why she to chose CSUN as her final step in accomplishing her educational goals.

As a full-time student working towards a business management degree, she said the switch from Ventura College to CSUN was a wise choice bringing her closer to her dream job of becoming a CEO in a major company.

“Business intrigues me because I’m a people person,” Gutierrez said.  “I necessarily don’t like sitting behind a desk, but in the action communicating with people.”

Even with the support of her family behind her, Gutierrez said she has a 100 percent support team behind her in school. A first-generation college student within her family, Gutierrez’s motivation to thrive at CSUN is, above all, her family.

“My parents’ highest level of education was elementary school in Mexico,” she said. “In order for them to eat each day, my parents had to stop going to school in order to work and provide for the family.”

She said she stresses that her classes will give her the opportunity to join business clubs that will eventually give her more motivation to make her dream a reality.

Gutierrez said she was attracted to CSUN because of its proximity to her home in Ventura, the clean environment of the campus overall and the hands-on experience the CSU school system has to offer.

The affordability of CSUN also attracted her to apply to the school when she compared the expenses of attending a UC school.

The rigorous research-based teaching style of a UC didn’t seem comfortable to Gutierrez as a transfer student. She said how the cultural diversity of CSUN caught her attention as well.

The display of professionalism among her professors during the first week at school definitely has made her transition a satisfying one, she said.

Even though she wasn’t shocked with the increased tuition at the beginning of the semester, she was mindful of how other students were affected by the drastic change in the school budget.
Fortunately, she was able to enroll in the majority of her classes this semester, she said.

Having upper-division standing was one benefit for her, but she kept in mind the tense feeling and stress of other students that weren’t as fortunate to add their recommended courses for the semester.

“One teacher switched classes to accommodate the class size for the students wanting to join the class because some students sat on the floor in hopes of joining the class,” she said.

Gutierrez said her goals are to shoot for high grades, get involved in extra-curricular activities, raise her GPA and graduating on time.

She wants to remain persistent in school to really make her presence in college more worthwhile.

Gutierrez lives on campus for now to accommodate her busy schedule and eliminate a long commute.

“Living on campus makes it much easier than the pressure of having to commute home and to school every day,” Gutierrez said. “Traffic at times can make the travel an hour longer than usual.”

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