Alex Gerber said that when she was looking at universities, she looked for a school where she could picture herself. At Saint Mary’s, she said, “I could see myself going here. It just felt like home. I knew that here I wasn’t just going to be ‘another student’.”
Gerber originally toured Saint Mary’s for softball, but soon learned it was a great place to study nursing so she could follow in her mother’s footsteps. Although her mother is an ER nurse, Gerber is considering pediatrics or the neonatal ICU, but as a first-year student, she has time to decide.
When she’s not in class, she works at the Student Success Center, where she has an opportunity to meet and work with other students.
Ultimately, that’s what Gerber says is the key to your success in your first year: meet other students.
“You’ve got to go to everything and meet as many people as you can, because you never know who you are going to click with and who is going to be one of your best friends in the future.”
Her other advice? Get organized. “In high school, everyone made sure you were doing what you were supposed to do, but everything here is my own responsibility. But it’s nice to know that I can do it on my own. It’s reassuring to know I can stay on top of everything,” she said. “You get into a groove. You make a new life. You make new friends, and everyone here is so awesome.”