Something New

I am a pre-graphic design major up at the University of Minnesota Duluth, and during this semester I have 3 art classes; Drawing, 2D digital design and 3D design. They are the basic requirements for us pre-graphic design majors, and in these classes we build our portfolios for the final critique at the end of this semester which determines whether or not we become straight up Graphic Design majors. There are 5o(?) spots open for graphic design per year, and we have about 70 pre-graphic design majors right now. I, being a paranoid little git, am scared out of my mind that they wont like what I've got, despite the constant reassurances from family and friends. They, however, are NOT my PROFESSORS so even if they think I'll get into the program that doesn't really mean much. Not everyone will get in, and that scares me because as of now I don't really know what I'm up against. Which brings me to the point of this post. I will be posting my assignment pieces and sketches in the hope that they will be critiqued by, well, who ever reads this, and that way I can further improve my work beyond class room critiques. I would much appreciate polite, but truthful critiques and suggestions on how to improve.
I would like to start out with my drawing assignments. In drawing we started out with gesture drawing. Gesture is very loose, quick and messy. You are just trying to capture the object you are looking at as quickly as you can. There should be no real detail and NO SHADING. This skeleton was what I chose to do during warm up. (The still life is the skeleton with this rather odd plant behind it. I added graphite for some highlights.) So those are the kinds of strokes gesture is about. For our actual piece we were told to make our own still life and do a gesture drawing of it. I chose the mess I call a desk in my dorm.
The response I got from my teacher was that the lines were looking a bit too precise for gesture and that it was seriously bordering on being a value drawing because I was dumb and shaded parts in. She said that the composition was nice, the chaos making it interesting... and I think that's it. She's giving us all time to make adjustments to I would love some feed back. Thanks for the help!