Brown University Top Questions

I would advise myself to keep working hard and keep dreaming big. Hard work in high school set me up academically for college. But the most important thing that I would tell myself would be to get ready for the best experiences of life: college is a place where you learn so much about yourself and others, and as a result you grow and learn so much about what life is like. Although college is about growing academically, it is very important to remember that it is also about growing personally.

Keep on keepin' on. Don't worry about anything, it'll be alright.

You really do change in college, but its largely for the better. Once you go, you'll never be the same person, and your entire perspective on the world will be different. Being scared is alright, but it also shouldn't inhibit you from doing what you truly want to. You should try new things, an lots of them. You don't have to be the best at everything. Date, party, make friends, get involved. Also, work hard, that is what you're in school for. At the same time, don't over stress about classes; the real world will be totally different from college, and down the line, you'll realize that the grade you make on that one test didn't actually matter that much. Do you're own thing and love it. Be bold. Explore.

Take intro chem and calculus your freshman year of college!!!

I think that after the immense amount of time and effort I put into college, I wish I had known that nowhere would be perfect, and any transition would be hard. There's a huge amount of internal pressure, I think, to love everything about a school when you finally go there, because people (myself included) build up the college selection process as not just finding the best fit for you, but the most perfect fit. After a hard week this year, my mom reminded me that even here, not every moment will be viewbook-style perfection. I wish I'd have reminded myself of that last year. I wish I'd have known that in high school -- I think it would have helped me be a bit more Zen about the craziness.

Don't worry! There's not too much of a transition involved from high school and home to college and dorm living. There are plenty of people around who want to become your friend, who want to hang out and will know where the closest CVS is. Just focus on going and having a great time. Everything will go amazingly. Trust me, I would know.

I would tell myself to slow down, relax, and enjoy the learning process. I would tell myself not to have a definite goal or plan in mind, but to allow myself to explore all the different options available to me.

I would tell myself to relax a little and to enjoy life a bit more. In high school, I was part of nearly every student group and had a leadership role in most of those groups. Now, while I am a member of several student groups, I find I am able to make more of a difference, being able to narrow my focus more. I have found it is sometimes a good idea to turn down leadership roles and am more honest with myself about how much responsibility I can take on. I think in high school I should have worried less about doing everything and more about how much I could do in each activity in which I was involved. With this experience and knowledge, I have been able to help create a clinic in Mali and am currently starting a non-profit organization to aid HIV-positive children in Mumbai. Knowing I have been playing a role in improving the quality of people's lives is an incredibly fulfilling feeling.

As a high school senior, I was very unsure of what sort of college I wanted to go to. Both of my older siblings had gone to Brown, and my parents (my father especially) wanted me to go to Brown as well. Since I didn't have a well defined idea of what school I wanted to be at, I was influenced by my family's desires. With my experience at Brown so far, which has certainly not been all bad, I know that I would be happier at a smaller school. This is what I would tell my high-school-senior-self. I would also encourage myself to go to a less academically rigorous school, because here at Brown I spend much of my time staying on top of my course work. With this knowledge I think I would have been able to make a better college decision, a decision with me in mind, rather than the other members of my family. But, regret yields nothing good and since I don't want to transfer (I think the transition would just be too hard), I'm determined to make my remaining time at Brown the best it can be.

Shop a lot of classes, try new things, do the reading and don't be afraid of hard classes, give people lots of chances.