Campus THEN and NOW Series - Part 17: University Health, Counseling, and Testing Center

Caitlin H.

November 27, 2009 - 1:12 PM

A name for a building like "University Health, Counseling, and Testing Center" seems to succinctly sum up the purpose of the building. Generally though, most shorten the title and just call it ‘the Health Center' despite lack of depth to the building's functions that a name like ‘the Health Center' fails to capture.

The first thing I notice about the building is a relatively recent addition of what appears to be tangled yarn all over the exterior and interior of the building. Upon closer inspection one would learn that the display is actually a work of art which displays messages of healing and wholeness in 26 different languages. I'm not sure I've found a message I could read yet though, but it actually inspires me to keep trying.

In my time at the UO I have actually used the Health Center relatively few times. I'll be grateful, it means I haven't had any medical problems to speak of while I've been at school, but I also have seldom made use of the counseling or testing center. That was true, until Wednesday.

Wednesday afternoon, in the hours before Thanksgiving when most students and professors have already journeyed home to their families, I was sitting outside the testing center waiting to take my GRE: Graduate Record Examination. Consider it the SAT of graduate school.

To be honest I walked into the test relatively blind. There has been so much going on this term I didn't exactly have time to study much for the exam. Taking it just before Thanksgiving seemed like a great idea at the time I signed up for it. I assumed I would have the rest of the holiday weekend to catch up with everything else. WRONG. I forgot to include in my line of thinking, everything professors would want to be done just before I went home for the holiday.

In short I'll be taking the GRE again. My scores weren't terrible but, I want better. Some of the graduate programs I'm applying to are pretty competitive. I remember sitting in the exam hearing the constant ticking of the clock and realizing the impact a test like this could have on my life. Usually I wave off tests realizing, it's just one test in the greater scheme of everything else. But, in this case, what graduate school I go to or not, could end up impacting ‘everything else.' That was a lot of pressure to feel. Though I have balanced my college education and gotten good marks along the way, I am hoping that will also make me a well-rounded applicant. Something I expect admissions committees may look for.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! And enjoy the leftovers as much as I will.