{"id":11442,"date":"2023-12-05T20:47:15","date_gmt":"2023-12-05T20:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/?p=11442"},"modified":"2025-05-15T19:55:37","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T19:55:37","slug":"opportunities-at-furman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/opportunities-at-furman\/","title":{"rendered":"Opportunities At Furman: What I Never Thought I&#8217;d Do!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hey y&#8217;all! It&#8217;s Monica, a junior Business Administration major from Lexington, KY. Today, I&#8217;ll be telling y&#8217;all about all the opportunities I found at Furman, and how they&#8217;ve shaped me!<\/p>\n<h2>Looking for Opportunities<\/h2>\n<p>Coming into college, I didn&#8217;t know what sort of opportunities I&#8217;d find and what would add to my academics. I wanted to find ways to do things I was passionate about, meet people, and make my college experience fun&#8230; But I didn&#8217;t know what I would end up doing here. I had done the hard part of choosing my dream school..(check out my other blog for why I chose Furman!: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/why-i-chose-furman-an-out-of-state-perspective\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Why I Chose Furman<\/a>). And now it was time to make my new college feel like home!<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m a tour guide, and I always tell my tours that I wouldn&#8217;t have found and done these opportunities at another school. And I definitely wouldn&#8217;t have been able to build the community of people I have here at any other school either. Sitting here today, I know freshman year Monica would be shocked at everything I ended up doing during my time here at Furman, and how much I&#8217;ve grown as a person because of them!<\/p>\n<h2>Track &amp; Field<\/h2>\n<p>Let&#8217;s begin with freshman year. I ran track in high school and when I graduated I <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11451 alignright lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/212\/2023\/11\/IMG_9383-576x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"243\" height=\"324\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/212\/2023\/11\/IMG_9383-576x768.jpg 576w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/212\/2023\/11\/IMG_9383-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/212\/2023\/11\/IMG_9383-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/212\/2023\/11\/IMG_9383-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/212\/2023\/11\/IMG_9383-384x512.jpg 384w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/212\/2023\/11\/IMG_9383-960x1280.jpg 960w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/212\/2023\/11\/IMG_9383-scaled.jpg 1920w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 243px) 100vw, 243px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 243px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 243\/324;\" \/>told everyone I&#8217;d hung up the track spikes for good. Well, I got to Furman and had some track athletes in my orientation group. I started asking them about their time here so far, and the team. They gave me their head coach&#8217;s number in case I was interested in walking on. Remember when I said I&#8217;d hung the spikes up for good? Next thing I know I&#8217;m in the track office with two of the coaches discussing walking onto the track team.<\/p>\n<p>I ended up walking on to Furman&#8217;s D1 Track Team the September of my freshman year. And let me tell you, it was fun. I got to meet so many amazing athletes and be a part of a team! I spent the rest of that fall and following spring training, traveling, competing in meets, and being a student-athlete! It was a crazy experience. Being a D1 student-athlete is a commitment, but so rewarding. When my season ended, I realized that with the other opportunities I&#8217;d found, I needed more balance, and wanted to put my academics first. I ended up only running track my freshman year, but I loved every bit of it and was so grateful I had done it. I met some great people who are still my best friends today.<\/p>\n<h2>Greek Life!<\/h2>\n<h2><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11453 alignleft lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/212\/2023\/11\/IMG_0887-2-576x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"282\" height=\"376\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/212\/2023\/11\/IMG_0887-2-576x768.jpg 576w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/212\/2023\/11\/IMG_0887-2-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/212\/2023\/11\/IMG_0887-2-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/212\/2023\/11\/IMG_0887-2-384x512.jpg 384w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/212\/2023\/11\/IMG_0887-2-960x1280.jpg 960w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/212\/2023\/11\/IMG_0887-2.jpg 1512w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 282px) 100vw, 282px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 282px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 282\/376;\" \/><\/h2>\n<p>Now something I thought I would do less than run track again was join a sorority. My parents hadn&#8217;t encouraged it, and simply didn&#8217;t really think it was for me! I was going through my fall semester, getting used to college life and campus, doing school, running track, and meeting people. A lot of the girls I met were interested in Greek Life because Furman&#8217;s process was different- they did recruitment in the spring!<\/p>\n<p>So although I didn&#8217;t think I&#8217;d do a sorority, I went to a &#8220;Meet The Greeks&#8221; event with some of my friends, and met some really cool girls! I exchanged numbers with some upperclassmen in different sororities and started hanging out with them and seeing them around! After some time, I realized I looked up to a lot of these girls in sororities and signed up for recruitment on the very last day.<\/p>\n<p>I went into recruitment in January of my freshman year with no expectations. I knew I didn&#8217;t need to be in sorority, and told myself this was a great experience to make some connections and friends. If I felt a calling to a sorority, I would commit to it! And I had a blast. I met so many cool people, and surprise surprise, ended up joining a sorority. I have loved being a part of a sorority at Furman, where I could be a student-athlete freshman year and still be in one, and have it still add to my life today. Greek Life at Furman is so different than my previous expectations, and I&#8217;ve met my best friends because of it.<\/p>\n<h2>Becoming An Admissions Ambassador!<\/h2>\n<p>I knew that when I came to college, I would want to build skills through work experience outside of academics. During my fall semester, I was looking at different on-campus job opportunities, and some of my upperclassmen friends recommended I look into being an <a href=\"https:\/\/unibuddy.com\/blog\/what-is-a-student-ambassador\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">admissions ambassador<\/a>! Getting to be a tour guide and show Furman to prospective students seemed like a great opportunity to build skills. I applied for my Freshman year Spring semester and I got the job! And I have absolutely loved this opportunity ever since. Being an admissions ambassador taught me many skills I&#8217;ll use in my future career and has given me great pride in showcasing my school to students and families. It introduced me to a community of other ambassadors and was a great way to help me earn money in a rewarding way.<\/p>\n<h2>Final Notes<\/h2>\n<p>There are so many opportunities to find at Furman! I have been so lucky to have been able to participate in so many of them. Whether it was getting to run for a D1 Track Team, be a part of a sisterhood in a sorority, or showcase my school through my on-campus job, all of these opportunities have continued to shape me and make my college experience as great as it has been. Like I say, I would never have tried so many of these things or have had such a large community of people if I had not come to Furman. And for that, I am so grateful!<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Monica &#8217;25<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hey y&#8217;all! It&#8217;s Monica, a junior Business Administration major from Lexington, KY. Today, I&#8217;ll be telling y&#8217;all about all the opportunities I found at Furman, and how they&#8217;ve shaped me! Looking for Opportunities Coming into college, I didn&#8217;t know what sort of opportunities I&#8217;d find and what would add to my academics. I wanted to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":353,"featured_media":11455,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-furman-advantage"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/353"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11442"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11828,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11442\/revisions\/11828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/admissions-aid\/admission-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}