As soon as I received the email at the end of my sophomore year saying I was accepted into the University of Minnesota for their Post Secondary Enrollment Options program, I was ecstatic about this new chapter in my life. I was inspired to do Post Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) through my sister who attended PSEO at Bethel. I started taking classes in the fall of 2019.

I took three courses and spent my entire first semester relaxing around campus and feeling free from the stresses of high school. My first semester was a huge adjustment from being stuck in school for seven hours a day to only having classes two hours a day. The types of classes are different from high school as well. There was much less class time but it’s all made up by homework.

The main resource that got me through last semester was my ability to time manage; teachers provide a syllabus and expect you to remember all the deadlines and get all your work in on time. Many classes in PSEO have the common treatment of their students as adults and expect everyone to act like one.

Students can choose between many different colleges for PSEO, including private schools, community schools and technology schools. My choice to go to the University of Minnesota was centered around the fact that it’s a well-known university with a variety of classes and majors I could explore.

Another factor that helped me decide is that they provide free college for PSEO students. They do not charge students for books or classes. One negative is it took a lot of effort to connect to friends from high school. This has allowed me to explore my interests with many resources as well as obtain many credits for college. PSEO gives opportunities to those who are motivated to get an extra challenge and obtain extra freedom.