AN IDEAL UNIVERSITY

"How is an ideal university like to me?" This is the one thing that I would want to answer. According to my criteria, an ideal university should provide a wealth of amenities for students including sports halls, recreational areas , proper campus transportation and so on. This is to give students the convenience of using them. Moreover, they should be free so that students can benefit from these facilities sufficiently. I think,preparing us for the exam or helping us to get a job should not be the only goal of an ideal university. Other than these aims, an ideal university should make us think powerfully. After our education at the university, we should gain the ability to analyze and to produce new and different ideas. An ideal university should not teach us how we should choose one option over the rest as in exams. Rather, it should teach us life lessons in helping us deal with choices in the future. In short, it should prepare us for the "real life". The next question is whether or not METU is an ideal university. I can say so many things about this topic. Yes ,METU is an ideal university. According to my own observations, teachers at METU want to teach us "how we can learn what we need" In other words,we can say that "learn how to learn". We are taught to find the information ourselves, think about issues ,analyze them, instead of just merely copy and paste what we find. In fact, these skills are what we need to change some things and develop our talents. I have been at METU just for a month, but I think METU's aim is not about teaching us to choose between options in an exam.Rather, its aim is in developing the character of its students so that they are ready to face the world next time. The aims of METU matches my criteria of an ideal university. As I embark on my journey as a METU student, I hope to in the end grow into a strong individual with qualities that METU would instill in me to face the challenges of the world.

BEING A STUDENT AT METU

When I was in high school,I didn't like METU and Ankara at all. There was just one option for me:BOSPHORUS UNIVERSITY. I strongly thought that METU was not appropriate for me. Furthermore, Ankara was not the most ideal of cities for me to live in and continue my education because to its harsh weather conditions. However, as I stepped into METU, my thoughts about METU and Ankara changed completely. I now no longer think that I would regret choosing METU for my education and future. Only after a few days coming to METU,I understood my prejudgments about it were very wrong and nonsensical. I would like toexplain this with some examples. Firstly, I am happy to be a student at METU because of the great respect students get here. In campus, regardless of what position someone is holding and how old they are, everybody is respectful to students. So far, I have never come across any disrespectful behavior from anyone. Whenever I ask a question to somebody, she/he gives me not only the answer to the question but also some other information about METU like location of building,dormitory and so on.Everybody at METU is friendly and very helpful. Apart from these beautiful nature of the people here, METU also has a splendid campus. It is almost full of trees. Everywhere is green and I can even see species of birds that I have never seen before. One small problem though is the problem of transportation.Going from one place to another is sometimes very difficult. More often than not,the buses in campus are full.That's why;from time to time, we have to walk to wherever we want to go. Walking can be time consuming and very exhausting given the large METU campus . My other problem at METU is to find places. At first,all of the places looked the same to me.I got lost many times and have to walk for hours. However now I'm getting used to this. To sum up,I think being a student at METU,so far,has been superb. And I'm sure that It will be the same for the next four years.I'm happy at METU.