California State University-Monterey Bay Top Questions

I would have told myself to take my Advanced Placement classes more seriously. At the time I just used the AP tests as a way to get out of my in class finals. It was not that I was failing, but I was just too lazy to take the finals. Since I was on low income, I was able to take each AP test for five dollars and I took that cost for granted. Now I realize the true difference between a five dollar class and a hundred dollar class. I also would have taught myself to not be lazy or procrastinate because I had to teach myself after I reached college. It is hard to learn a new way of working after going to college, rather than before.

As a high school senior, my advice to myself would be to just be yourself. Just becuase your going to a new school or environement doesnt mean you need to change yourself to emulate the people you are around. I learned that the hard way and had a lot of growing up to do in the process and it wasn't easy. If i accepted myself for who I was from the beginning, maybe others would have appreciated the real me. Also procrastination is a big thing, people told me this all the time but i figured im a good student I dont need to listen because it won't happen to me. Unfortunetly it did and i had another wake up call. Just time management and learning how to do it all on my own would have helped alot at the start of my college journey. As of now I can say I've grown a lot and I'm proud to say I've matured to be a well college student.

I wish I could tell myself to stress less! Between the SAT/ACT, college and scholarship applications, avoiding senior-itis, and being critically ill in my senior year, along with waiting to hear from colleges, it was a very stress-filled year. I had a lot of fun as well, but I worried about leaving my friends and family to go away to school. And because I became ill right when it was time to accept college offers, I had to decide between staying home to be close to my specialist, or accepting the offer from my dream school and moving away. Luckily I recovered, and am now at my first choice college. If I had known how much fun I would be having, and how well I would fit in at college, I could have relaxed more. I had one moment on the first day when I wanted to go home (my mom asked me to sleep on it and then decide), but from that day on, I have never looked back. Even though money is still a worry, everything else has turned out wonderfully. I would tell my senior self to relax - it will all be fine!

I have learned a whole lot from my college experience but for the most part I have learned about loving college. Before college I disliked school so much. School just wasn't on my mind because I thought it was boring. Now as I grow older I find college to be very interesting to me and I actually get excited to get to class in the morning.

So far from my college experience I have learned that stepping outside of your comfor zone is the best way for you to succeed in college. When attending college no one knows eachother and it's so important for freshman students to meet other people. Social networking and communicating with others is how you get yourself out there. Doing group projects and talking in front of your professor and class gives you confidence in yourself and helps you build trust with other people. Attending college has been valuable because of both of these things. Being a Business major I have learned that communication and networking is the only way that I will be able to succeed in my carreer in the future. I also think that expressing what you think and generating ideas to others are good skills to have in this fast paced world.

Attending helped me learn more about what fields of study I am interested in , and what I can not go into.

Attending school at California State University Monterey Bay has brought me so much excitement and college experiences. Though I am just finishing my first semester I have fallen in love with the college life! I am able to go to the library until midnight to do my essays and homework, and I can do it all on my own time. Im able to be who I want to be and express myself creatively as well as culturally. Im not held back from what I want to talk about in essays, I'm given the choice of what I want to do and what I want to become. College is one of the most valuable experiences life can offer. It's an opportunity to be on your own and learn for yourself what is right and wrong. It gives you the chance to learn about what you want instead of what is required. It molds you into the person you really are!

No one chooses the life they're born into. During this life, some allow themselves to be set adrift like leaves on a breeze. Floating about, and landing wherever the wind takes them. Others choose to harness the wind, grab hold of the ropes and set sail. Whatever chance you can get to learn to read the stars, draw out your own maps, I say take it! Learn from what nature has in store for you on these shifting seas and decide where you want to go. College helps, helped and will continue to help me make some semblance of sense of things. It has taught me to learn to read the currents, ride with the tides, find all truth and knowledge for our kind, and has shown me the way to recognize the patterns. An education of the world I live in will allow me to set my own sails and find my direction while I'm swimming around in this whirpooling little world we call home. It will set me free to sail the sea to find an island all my own.

I started out college thinking that I wasn't actually going to need a degree for any career opportunity that I wanted to pursue. I am an artist, and I figured that I would make my own way, and that no one would be requiring a bachelors degree from me. I thought that I was going to school mostly to "have the college experience." I'm now a junior transfer student in my fourth year of school, and my plans have changed. I still plan to spend my life living creatively and being an entrepreneur, but I also want to spend some time as an elementary school teacher. This means that getting a BA has become an extrememly important part of accomplishing my goals. I think that attending college allows you the incredible gift of "buffer time" between high school and life as a full-fledged adult member of society. Even if you know exactly what you want to do coming out of high school, and are sure that you won't need a degree to do it, having the extra time to finish your "growing up" and get a little bit more ready for the real world is huge.

I have not yet attended college, however, my #1 goal to attain by going to college and the reason I feel it would be valuable to attend is that I believe college will help me better myself. I graduated high school a year and a half ago and over that time frame I realized that I cannot work my entire life without ever having graduated college. Graduating college means better job opportunities, better earning potential, and an overall better life quality. I want to be a better person and I am striving hard every day to become one. Bettering myself is a challenging and never-ending process, but I believe college would help immensely with my goal. I understand that college will be difficult but I believe that aspect will also further my goal because I need to stretch myself and expand my horizons to become a more well-rounded person. Please consider me for your scholarship opportunity, as it would be a large factor in my college experience and my goal of becoming a better person.

I have gained so much out of my college experience, including leadership, and it means so much to me. I have decided to get involved in various clubs, I've completed community service hours, library hours, I applied to be an Orientation Leader for my school, and got the job year of 2010. I work on campus for one of our support porgrams called the Educational Opportunity Program which otherwise known as (EOP) for short. What this program does is serve as a Support Program for First time freshmen who are;low income and first generation. We offer peer mentor support, free trips, workshops, financial help, and unbreakable relationships. I have been working as an Admission Speacialist for this specific support program since my freshman year, as I was an EOP student as well. CSU-Monterey Bay is valuable to attend because when you're here staff, faculty, and peers treat you as if you are a part of the CSUMB family, freshman or transfer student. There are 50+ active clubs that you can be involved with and Monterey bay wants to ensure that you graduate with nothing less than a B.A/B.S degree of your field.

Attending college has been an invaluable experience. I cannot even begin to measure the amount I have grown nor the number of different ways in which I have grown. My college experience has not only helped me to learn more about myself and the world around me but it has also taught me how to learn. I find myself to be a more open, positive, and motivated person. College has brought me friends and experiences I wouldn't trade for the world. The exprience of attending CSU Monterey Bay stays with me even though it is now years later. It has created in me an ambition and a direction for my life. My experience has prepared me for my future educational goals, which are now to attain a teaching credential in special education at CSU Sacramento. Had I had not attended college and completed my bachelor's degree I would not be half the person I am today nor half the person I am still striving to be in the future.

Monica, there will be many things you will have to learn once you are in college, but one key factor you must learn as of now is time management. There will be many essays to write, many formulas to figure out, and countless literature pieces to dissect, but time management is the key to succeed. In order to keep sane, you will have to learn how to manage a full schedule consisting of school, work, homework, and family time. Keeping an agenda in hand and sticking by it will relieve you of procrastination and have you meet deadlines. This will decrease your stress level because it will prevent forgetting important due dates of assignments and give you more free time to spend with family. Family time will be very much needed to refuel your energy source and gain the extra family support to keep you pushing harder. Time management will help you keep the necessary hours of sleep instead of trying to stay up doing the 10-page paper that was assigned to you a month ago, but that you failed to start until the week before. It will benefit your sanity and your body will love you for it!

Well, first off, I would tell myself to be more focused on getting into a University rather than settling for a JC. Because even if I was not accepted at those colleges, atleast I made the effort. I would also tell myself to speak to councilors on a monthly basis, to make sure I am on track and not missing anything I am needed to do. I would also advise to apply for financial aid ASAP, because struggling with tuition is not the way to go. Its possible, by why put yourself through it. Another point I would suggest is to get into the school spirit and join in on club and student activites. Because being the student who goes to class and leave home, not seeing the school til your next class is no fun. Doing that in JC got me nowhere, but coming to CSUMB was a new start for me because it was a new place to start off fresh. And finally, enjoy it and take advantage, because there are others out there who cant or dont have this chance to better their future, and you were lucky enough to get that chance.

I would strongly reccomment applying to quite a few colleges so that you will have more choices. Either before or after being accepted to colleges, visit the campuses and make sure that it looks and feels like somewhere you would like to live. See if the college you are applying to have a good program for the major you would like to persue.

If I could go back in time and give my senior-self advice about the transition into college, there are a few things I would warn myself about. First of all, I would tell myself to get into the habit of doing scholarships, because the more I do, the more likely I would be to win one and recieve some help in the financial area. I would also tell myself that even though college life might get hard sometimes with work, classes, etc, that I shouldn't give up, and that I need to continue to work hard so I don't get behind. Lastly, I would tell myself that I need to think seriously about what I want to do in life and, as soon as possible, go talk to an advisor to make my graduation plan. The sooner the better so that I can make a plan to graduate on time. Other than that, I would tell myself not too worry, that college shouldn't be too bad as long as I stay focused.

Knowing what I know now, I would tell my high school self to not change a thing. As long as I could remember my teachers have told me horror stories of college. They told me stories about their all-nighters, high level of caffeine, fifty page papers, and of course the THESIS. My senior year I remember pulling all-nighters working on projects and on papers determined to make them perfect. I was taking honors and advanced placement classes to prepare myself for college. While I would get good grades on my assignments I would never get the grades that I wanted for myself. Determined to get high marks on my papers I continued to work hard and eventually it paid off. At the end of year my grades were close to perfect scores and my teachers were impressed. Yet, when I got to CSUMB my high school seemed harder then college. I would whip through papers and get high marks/ compliments from the professors. Looking back I do not think in reality high school was easier I think that I pushed myself to new heights that made my transition from high school to college much easier.

As a high school senior I was applying to what in my opinion were the best schools in California. While everyone around me seemed to know which college they would choose, I was not so sure which one was for me. In the summer of 2007, I had chosen to go to a community college instead of a four year school. I completely hated the idea, and loathed the school without even giving it a chance. My first day of school I woke up an thought, "wow all my friends went off to college and I'm stuck here". Unable to find the reason for my negative attitude , I had a feeling that I had made the wrong choice. I walked into that community college feeling like I was just a little freshman, high school all over again. "Am I smart enough to be here?" I thought to myself as walked to my first college class Monday morning. My last day of community college, two years of schooling coming to an end, and I loved every minute, every final, every 6 am bus ride, every not so boring class I took. "Esther trust yourself...you won't regret a thing."

If i could go back to highschool and give myself some words of advice, they would be to stop trying to impress others and start trying to impress yourself. Since i have moved away to Monterey Bay and started my college experience I have faced so many situations and obstacles which have taught me this exact lesson. I have faced poverty, homelessness, and deceit from all sides and yet I continued with my schooling and have excelled in my classes. I have learned that its not being the "popular" social butterfly which gains one their success (although it does help), but making myself happy and proving to myself how successful I can be, even in the most difficult of situations, is the most fulfilling feeling one can have. I would also tell myself "Dont sweat the small stuff, because it is all small stuff!" Through all my success in school in the face of adversity I have realized that accepting things for what they are and still trying to do ones best is the easiest and most fulfilling way to live, it develops wisdom, determination, and other skills which will be useful to my future.

I found it interesting to reflect on the question of what advice I would give myself about going to college if I were to go back in time. The funny thing is, I wouldn't do anything differently. I knew what I wanted in a school and I researched schools that fit the criteria I set. After recieving acceptance letters from 3 colleges I made my final decision to go to California State University at Monterey Bay. I made my decision all by myself based on my needs and wants. I would say to anyone, "just go for it and enjoy the experience". I would encourage someone to go away from home (as I did) and embrace the idea of new friends and experiences. By far, I have enjoyed the freedom of college more than anything. I love making my own decisions and this all started with me choosing the college I wanted... not someone else choosing it for me. One final thing I might say, if I could go "way back in time", would be to save money now. The earlier one starts saving for college the less stress you and your family will feel when fees are due.