Boston University Top Questions

Do not worry about getting into your top choice. College is what you make of it, and any place can be perfect for you if you are willing to give it a chance. Work hard to learn how to balance your work with your play or you'll be in big trouble wherever you end up going. Remember, life should always be in balance, or you won't ever be productive. Good luck!

If I could talk to myself as a high school student, I first would have told myself to study hard for tests! But I would also have said to not worry too much if I didn't do amazing my first semester, because it takes a some time to get used to the difference between college and high school. I also would have told myself to make sure I take advantage of what is available to me. There are so many new opportunities in college, and it would be a shame to waste them.

I would advise myself to relax and to keep my head in the present. Before going to college, I thought I had my whole life planned out. I knew who I wanted to marry, what I wanted to major in, what to do as a career, and where I would live. But then, you get to college, and everything changes. At first, this change freaked me out. I thought that questioning all of my plans was a sign of weakness and of impending failure. But finally, in December, I realized that this is what college is all about. College is about growing as a person and forcing you to really look at not what you want, but NEED. I want a boyfriend, but I need love. I want to go to the movies, but I need to get an A on this test. I want to cry in a pillow by myself, but I need my mom. College is the hardest, but most revealing time of your life and when you exit as a survivor, you will be drastically different than the scared, over-zealous freshman you once were. But this is the best kind of change- it's unplanned.

First off, I would prepare myself for the amount of change I would be facing better. I am from an extremely small town, so I expected a bit of change coming to a city as big as Boston. However, I definitely did not expect it to be as hard as it was. Leaving everything I have known for my entire life an coming to a city where I was just a number in a big sea of people took its toll on me. I went through severe homesickness and a lot of stress and tears for the first month. Looking back on this, I would encourage myself to go out and explore Boston and make new friends more than I did. Getting to know my new home early on would have made that first month a lot easier. I would also remind myself that it's okay to miss where I came from. I told myself I would be strong when I left home, and that made me feel worse when I had those weak points when I first came her. I ended up getting over everything and loving BU, but I would have wanted to shorten that long month.

I would tell myself that being social (going to parties, eating out, dating, etc.) is not as important as studying. I made the miskate first semester of putting my social life above studying, and I did not do as well in my classes as I could have. My goal is to go onto medical school, and I would now tell my "high school self" that it is important to stay focused on my goals. It is easy to get distracted and disillusioned by all of the people and new experiences in college, especially living in a new city, but with support, it is also easy to stay on the right track and get to where I want to be. Studying and getting good grades needs to be my priority, and with that in mind, I can succeed!

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior, I would tell myself to value my last months in high school and at home. I would tell myself not to wish my last year and summer away because college would be radically different. I would reassure myself, however, that college is not as radically different from high school as I had thought it was at the time. I would tell myself that as long as I did not procrastinate, I would not fall behind with my work, and that I would find that college classes are not radically different from high school ones. I would also tell myself to get out and get involved within the first few months of school, that failing to do so would result in less friends, and therefore more homesickness. One last thing I would tell myself would be to never change for anyone I met at school, to keep the same morals and values and that over time, I would fall into a nitch at school that suited the true me.

The transition from high school to college is a stressful and electrifying one, where every aspect of one?s life and personality is put into question. There are many tasks necessary to complete and characteristics of colleges to consider and this can be indubitably overwhelming. However, it is important to always consider what one truly wants out of a college, a city, and out of life. Although issues may arise about the expenses, reputation, and opportunities provided by certain colleges, it is imperative to recognize one?s personal abilities and goals. It may be useful to organize a chart containing personal goals, fears, capabilities and inabilities in accordance to different aspects of a specific college such as finance, profession and/or major, social life, and possibly even personal quirks like food or weather. Moreover, it is important to remember to pursue any possible scholarship opportunities. As a college student, there are more than tuition expenses but expenses in food, transportation, social activities etc. The transition to college encompasses more than a change of people and studies but in lifestyle, thus one?s personal desires and capabilities should be the foundation of every step taken in direction toward one?s degree.

The high school senior, in the last month of her grade school career, with hopes of moving on to bigger and better things, ready to leave, and can't wait to graduate. Sounds like a lot of people I knew. Sounds like me. Since middle school, I always dreamed of being independant and going on to college to live the cool life of a hip, young twenty-something. It sounded so seductive. But there I was, the high school senior suddenly realizing in the last month of grade school that this was it! After June ended, that part of my life would be over. It terrified me. I was going through all kinds of mixed emotions of being ready to move on, to feeling the need to remain nostalgic in the high school years. I had constantly thought of the future and never really indulged in the present. The only, and most vital information I could give anyone still in high school is to PLEASE live in the time and place you are in. Yes college is amazing, but the ease and comfort of living at home and being in grade school ends much quicker than you migh anticipate.

I would tell myself not to procrastiinate and not put off classwork to a later date. There is a lot of reading and the longer you put it off the worse it is to complete. I would also remind myselt to learn how to do laundry and have basic cooking skills. It does make things much easlier. Akso, buy lots of socks and underwear. Most importantly, never take yourself too seriously. It is important to learn and experience new things. This is the time to do it and enjoy.

Thinking back to senior year, when the excitement of the approaching departure to college was still fresh, I wonder what I would have done differently to make the transtition into college smoother. Had I been able to look into the future and know what I know now, I would tell myself that (as cliche as it is) to be myself. Talking to people the summer before I left, everyone conversed about what they were going to change about themselves or about how they were going to change their nicknames and other things of the sort. My first week of college and living in my dorm, I tried to deny my humble midwest upbringing. However, I realized that my personality, though too "sweet", is who I am, I trying to act unlike myself 24/7 is both hard and unsatisfying. Though I am far from home, my friends, and my family, I can pride myself in the fact that truly accepting myself and acting the way I like, without caring about judgement from my peers, is the best way to be, as the transition into college depends on knowing who you are and showing that to new friends.