Academy of Art University Top Questions

You are sitting there wondering what you are going to do with the rest of your life right? You are considering college but will eventually back out from doing so because of the cost. Don't hesitate with the scholarships because they do help. Even if you think you won't qualify, there are a ton of opportunities out there to help with the cost. College is not as relaxed as high school but it is a necessary step before obtaining your ideal career. Try to not be overwhelmed with all the paperwork, just take it one page at a time. You will regret it if you don't take your education a step further. Though there are jobs out there that don't require a higher education, it will get you further than you could ever imagine in your dream career. You CAN make a name for yourself but you have to work for it. Your career will be more worth while if you work hard towards it. Don't be nervous, just go after what your heart desires. With dedication and hard work you will succeed.

As a high school senior, I was determined to take on the world head first, but I had always expected to have everything somewhat handed to me. It was not necessarily a matter of laziness, but more of a "victim of naivety" one. I was oblivious to the realities of the world beyond grade school - a place I had felt I blazed right through - so I believed that things would just happen without much of an effort on my part...a hard lesson I would soon learn. Classes were harder and work loads were heavier. Stress became a real factor, and so did disappointment and regret. Confidence is the key to success, yes, but you have to combine it with a headstrong work ethic or you will not achieve what you want to in life. Everyone says that high school is where you find out who you are, but to my graduate-to-be self I say this: your entire perspective on your life and career are about to change and for the better. Stay confident, but go forward with the drive to take charge of your dreams. Dream hard, live hard, but most importantly, work hard.

I would tell myself to start brushing up or getting started learning Chinese or Korean for that could be helpful because you will get a Chinese roommate who doesn't speak English very well and make friends with a lot of Koreans, some of which are girls you might get a crush on. Make sure you work hard and don't slack off and do much better. Also heads up your Game 3D Production will be your worst class and a total nightmare. For your scripting final try a Rock'Em Sockem Robot game or something simplier your actual final was a total mess because you/me tried to do something too big for a starter class and make sure you put time and effort into it. Start attending the Analysis of Form workshops as early as possible you get to meet Ms. Yuka and Satomi there and get to know them early. Also hang out with your new friends you meet down there more often and go out with them for you may not be seeing them in the upcoming. Also, ignore Wenyi and Vickney its not worth it. Also be careful Nora is really shy and pretty paranoid.

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a senior I would try to warn myself of the finacial hardships that were going to accompany trying to accomplish my dreams. I always knew there were going to be price tags on my education, but I never had any idea of how hard my father was going to be on me because of it. The amount of stress that has put me through in the last half a year has been almost unbearable, but even so, I don't want to warn my younger self about that. I feel like if I warned her about the money strain, my father and her can plan more accordingly and she won't ever have to feel the pain I've felt from my father's harsh words and disappointment. At that time, my dad had complete faith in me and full support in my dreams. It was only when he realized what it was going to cost him that his expectations of me changed, his faith in me waivered, and his words became harsh. I would leave her with a wish of good luck and hope things would improve.

I would tell myself to take things slower and do much more research on universities. I would also tell myself to do some serious soul searching before taking the jump into a major I shouldn't have started in the first place.

The choices we make in life always have an effect on our future and while I would never regret the choice that led me to my amazing husband and gave us two beautiful children, I have always wished I never dropped out of college. Now here I am at 43 years old attempting to juggle my schedule as a full time wife and mother with my 40+ hour a week job and attend school at least part time. As excitied as I am of this new turn my life has taken, I know that if I had only made the decision to stay in school 23 years ago obtaining my education would have been so much easier. In the end, no management postition was worth delaying my education especially since I never wanted a career in retail anyway.

If I could go back in time and speak with myself the main thing I would tell myself is make sure you keep your grades up and stick to what you want to go far in college not what everyone easy want but what you want and that you will love doing it for the rest of your life. Make sure you go off to college as far away as possible. Because most people try to live their life through others and all they have to do is go back to school for themselves. Just do you with no regrets!

One piece of advice that I would tell my high school senior self is to not get distracted from my studies. Having been enrolled in a larger amount of band classes than ever before, I was not as focused as I should have been on my academics, especially with the help of senioritis, which brings me to the next piece of advice. I would tell myself to not let senioritis get the best of me. I did not have many academic classes during my senior year and thus had trouble dedicating the time necessary to my studies, as I had chosen to direct my attention to other activities that were more entertaining. The final piece of advice that I would give to myself is to have more fun during this last year of high school. Not that I did not have a lot of fun already: I had a blast being involved in three different music ensembles, playing different instruments for each. However I did not attend the dances for homecoming, winter formal, or prom. Including these aforementioned activities, I wish I would have participated in more events in celebration of our final days of being a high school student.

I would tell myself to be more patient, wait for things to come not be in such a hurry to go places. Slowly but surely everything will come.

I was looking forward to graduating with a high school diploma and getting out on my own. I didn't want to live under my parents rules and thought it would be ideal to get married move away from home. Five years later, and I was back home with two kids and a pending divorce--back home again. This was not the life I had envisioned for myself. Now I was a single mom with no education, and two kids to raise on my own. And there I was with all those regrets knowing I was a smart kid, I could have done better for myself. Looking back, I started to have many regrets. I should have followed my initial dream of joining the US Navy, or going to college to become an RN. I should have taken dual credit classes and earned credit while in high school. I should have focused less on having a part-time job for spending change, and focused more on taking practice exams for my SAT/ACT. I feared college thinking it wasn't for me. It was for me, I've been on the Deans List since I've been enrolled in college.