Biola University Top Questions

Dear Katie, These won?t be the best years of your life. The friends you had in high school will soon fade away. Just because he?s right for you, doesn?t mean you?re right for him. Don?t waste time sulking over Chad dumping you. Be patient, there is someone way better coming along! If your Mom tells you no, listen. Momma knows what?s best. Momma doesn?t really think your fat, she just wants you to exercise. Girls are vicious, but you don?t have to be one of them. Don?t sweat the small stuff cause it?s all small stuff. You are strong! Dump the clique. Be friends with people who value you. Don?t be such a butthead to your mom. Your speech class is not a joke. You will interview the average Joe to David Beckham, Pete Carroll, and USC football players on camera. Be different. Quit worrying what people think about you- it won?t matter! Spend as much time with your family as you can. The best things in life are really free. Cherish it. Don?t forget to call your grandparents. You are strong and beautiful. XOXO, Yours truly

College is a big step in a person's life. There are a lot of responsibilities to take on. As a high school senior, I did all my research about schools on my own. It is important as a high school senior to know what you want in a college because this is the place where you are going to be spending the next four or more years of your life getting an education about your future career. Knowing what you want and where the school places academics is the most important thing. Get a feel of the college life and make visits to colleges that you are considering. Do not be afraid to ask questions. Adapting to college life may seem harder. You are entering into a new phase in your life. There will be times when you feel homesick so developing relationships while you are at school is extremely important. It is important to make friends because they are the ones that will make you feel at home. They will help you get through all your tough times. These relationships will last a life-time. College is where you will find who you really are.

I would tell myself to take a deep breathe and take it one day at a time. Take your SATs or ACTs more than once for financial purposes. Be organized and get involved in community service projects and in my High School organizations. as much as possible. Get a job and a credit card asap! Build your credit so that you may qualify for your OWN student loans. As for the big college transition: Your a big girl now, ACT like one! Keep being responsible and keep the trust of your parents. Stay loyal to the family and they'll be loyal to you. Love God with all your heart, mind, and soul. Be consistent in all that you do and remember, buy/get what you NEED and then, if possible, go for what you want. The sky is the limit!

If time travel-were possible, and I were given the unique opportunity to do so, I would have a few words of advice to give my eighteen-year-old self. First, I would remind myself that nothing in all of life will ever be as important as following Christ. Wherever that is and whatever that means, my life will find its ultimate purpose there. Second, I would want to impress upon myself the importance of people, and that nothing I ever study or do should be placed above or in compromise to the value and sanctity of human life. There is no room for negotiation on that issue. Third, I would want to tell my teenaged self to be diligent but also to relax and enjoy whatever situations played out. Living in America, and even in a so-called middle class, offers blessings to students unknown by most of the world's population. The best way to honor those blessings is to joyfully give my full effort, taking none of it for granted. Among the many principles I would have liked myself to know then, these three stand out most prominently.

I would run up to my younger self and emphasize, "prepare NOW!" Not only was I the only one in high school not worriyng about colleges, I was also not preparing for its complexity. Soon, everything concerned money. Because I did not apply early, I missed out on scholarship oportunities, making money a struggle every semester since I began college. I would also tell her to look at the people around her and to stop focusing on herself. I would tell her to focus on others who faced similar challenges and needed comfort and encouragement.

The cliche is true: college will be the most formative time of your life. That doesn't only apply to the obviously impactful things such as making career decisions, clarifying personal beliefs, and learning to live on your own. These things are important, but there is much more. This is the place where you will have to answer the question: how can I live well? Deeper than career decisions, you will have to develop the vision of life and happiness which will ground future career choices. Deeper than clarifying your beliefs, you will have to hone your personal character and set the patterns for your future habits. Deeper than learning to live on your own, you will have to learn to live with yourself, admitting to and coping with your shortcomings, owning your mistakes, and setting your own priorities. After all that high-minded talk, I'll tell you what you should do practically: find yourself at least two mentors to regularly share conversation and fellowship with. Choose people who share your values and who either know you or are willing to get to know you, but above all, choose people who live well and follow their advice and example.

Keep working hard in school, but take time to relax and enjoy your time too. Worrying will not do any good. When you get to college, you will realize that high school is so small in the grand scale of things. What you will remember most is the life experiences you had, and the friendships you made. Going to a college with a prestigious name is not important. Do not let what others think of you affect where you decide to go to school or what you want to do in life. It is fine to not know specifically what you want to do as a career. A large part of college is learning about yourself and finding out what you are good at and what you like. Be prepared to work a lot harder in college than you did in high school. Do not let the stereotype of college being easy and fun fool you. If you want to succeed in your classes and career field, you will have to work hard, and be willing to sacrifice other aspects of your life for what is important to you. Put God above everything else, and you will be fine.

I would tell myself to manage my time very wisely. School is not easy but it is for those who go beyond their limits to be competitive. Although, many say that once you apply for a job, the company does not look at your grade point average, even though that may be true I need to push forward and harder to obtain the best grades in order to get my Masters Degree. The first year does count a lot and if I begin to do bad then in the long run it will be hard to raise up my grade point average. Scholarships are very important to apply for, it will save me a lot of money in the long run and I wouldn?t have to take out so many loans. The last thing I would say is to get involved in the community, such as getting an internship to understand how a business works, because it is better to go into college having some background on what I want to do for the rest of my life, since there are many students who I am competing against that will be more experienced than me.

When I began my higher education, I clutched onto old friends, old relationships. I would let my former self know how to open up to new relationships with professors and friends. By waiting until this year to get in-depth and personal with the people around me, I missed incredible characters and time to invest in them because I soon found out they would leave the school due to financial issues. Never skip an opportunity when it not only builds your core but the friend you now care about as well. In college, having the edge on school processes is key. I would slip my high school self notes on how the class registration works and how to have a backup schedule of needed classes on hand. Once a class closes it is difficult to find out if transferring in is possible after other students drop out. The more I consider how my freshmen semesters stand as an example of my complacency and ignorance, the more I wish I went back and told my former self to, "get in the game", by going around to the closed classes and auditing until some students drop the course.

If I could talk to myself as a high school senior, I would tell myself not to be afraid of the changes and the challenges ahead of me. I think that my feelings of apprehension and intimidation prevented me from experiencing my first semester of college to the fullest, and that is something I regret. I would tell myself to jump right in wholeheartedly and not to hold back. It's true that the more you put into your experience, the more you get out of it. Very few rewards come without risk, and college is the time of your life to take risks; everything is a learning experience. I would also tell myself not to waste any time getting involved on my campus - whether working for the student government, joining or starting a club, or becoming an RA. While your education is important, college is about more than studying. I waited until my junior year to become involved at my school, and these past two years of involvement have been the best of my college experience. Leadership positions allow you to grow, attain new skills, meet new people, and expand your worldview. I wouldn't trade that for anything.