Alumni success stories: Sharanpreet Kaur

Sharanpreet Kaur was a student at Seattle Central College majoring in psychology, and she is now at her dream University—the University of Washington (UW). As a Seattle Central alumna, she is not only grateful for her journey at Central, but she also has a few words of wisdom to share with future students.

Sharanpreet is from Jalandhar, India, and she always dreamt of studying abroad. As an enthusiast for education, she often found herself torn between studying in Canada or in the United States. However, upon further research, she realized that the United States was a better option for her. She started her educational journey at Texas Wesleyan University and soon transferred to Seattle Central to pursue the nursing program. But that changed once she stumbled upon Central’s Psychology Program. She then focused solely on getting her associate degree in psychology, still dreaming of attending the University of Washington.

Sharanpreet always regards Seattle Central as the best decision she ever made, as it is not only affordable but also has the best faculty and staff. She is extremely introverted and always struggles to engage in conversations with people, but Seattle Central helped overcome her shyness by interacting with small groups of people, which paved the way for her to interact with many more people at her current university.

After completing her associate degree, she immediately got accepted into the University of Washington as she worked insanely hard to ensure a perfect GPA. “I learned all the basics needed to study further from this college, and I’m very grateful for that,” stated Sharanpreet.

Her experience at Central was nothing short of pleasant. She had everything she needed to pave the way for her future.

She shares that “being in a college is a perfect place to start your education as it gives you all the experience and toughens you up for University. It builds you up from scratch in order to achieve all your dreams and goals while still ensuring you have time to enjoy and explore the new city.”

“Being in any new environment comes with its own set of challenges, but starting at a college brings you the challenges slowly and is always there for you, like a guide to pave the way into a happy and comfortable life,” Sharanpreet concluded.

Currently attending the University of Washington, she stated, “I didn’t notice any huge difference between Seattle Central and UW. The classes and teaching methods are the same. The only difference that I noticed is that UW organizes more events for students to gain more knowledge about university and other things that students might need while studying.” But one thing is for sure: she terribly misses her friends from Seattle Central and her bond with staff and advisers. “As I spent two years at Central, I came to know almost everyone in the college, while at my new university, I’m still exploring.”

She claims that Seattle Central is the better option for students, especially those who come from abroad, as it is affordable and offers a variety of resources like funding for textbooks, counseling, academic advising, career planning, food pantry, gym, and so much more. Central also provides financial aid and other helpful services.

Sharanpreet has big plans of obtaining two more degrees and shares that Seattle Central set an extremely high benchmark for her that even her dream college hasn’t reached–yet.