Calvin College Top Questions

I would have a lot to say about transitioning into college if I could go back and talk to myself when I was a high school senior. I would first talk about time management. Freedom and responsibility come with college. Many people abuse this freedom by not attending class, partying more than studies, and slacking off. One has to balance their time wisely. I would tell myself to make careful decisions because the decisions made in college will decide one?s future. What I would suggest is making a calendar and writing in what needs to be done every hour throughout the day. Also, once you start an assignment, FINISH it. It is easy to say you will come back to it later, but that rarely happens. Not only should you use your time wisely for studies, but you should also have fun! College should be fun, so allow yourself time to exercise, hang out with friends, and get involved in different activities. One final piece of advice I would give is to be yourself! College is a place were you can express who you are so do not be afraid to show the real you :)

Dear HS Senior Caroline, Don't worry about making friends. I know this is your biggest anxiety. Once you move in to the dorms, you will be constanty surrounded by fellow freshman. Remember you are all in the same boat. Relax, and be yourself. Be patient, and chose friends who accept you for who you are. Listen to Mom. Get the drying rack and the iron. You will use them Save money. You don't need to save up for DVDs or TV seasons anymore. You can borrow them from your friends or the girls on your floor. Save for brand name snow boots. You will definitely need them. Don't expect Spring before May. Talk to your professors. Go visit them during their office hours. Listen to their advice and marvel at their post-it filled anthologies. You may leave humbled, or you may leave encouraged, but both are important steps towards progress. Plan your time. You will be so busy that you won't have time to miss home. But remember where you came from, and call Mom and Dad on Sundays, before they nap. Work hard, and never take anything for granted. good luck! College Caroline

Everyone seemed to sugarcoat the "transition" to college when telling me what to expect. Needless to say, I was shocked when I became homesick within the first few hours of arriving on campus. If I could go back in time, I would tell myself that the first few days will be hard, but slap a smile on, and go out and meet people! Almost everyone is going through the same homesick feelings, and trying to figure out where they fit in. The first few days may also be when you meet some lifelong friends, so don't hide away in your room expecting people to come find you! Also, make sure to make personal contact with your professors early on in the semester. It will make it easier to go talk with them when you need help later on. Make at least 2-3 good friends in every class, so you have people to study/share notes with. Most of all, keep your priorities straight, but allow time for fun! Yes, you are here for an education, but some of the best memories you make will happen during this time in your life! Make the most of it.

Hey! This change you are about to make is a huge one. All those ideas and expectations you had about college? Forget them. Every illusion you have will be shattered once you come here. The whole roommate thing? Yeah, sometimes it can suck and sometimes its fantastic, but remember: you only get as much as you give. If you want it to work, you can make it work. Classes and homework? Welcome to all nighters, resistant professors, hour long study sessions, and realizing that the human body can phsyically function on zero hours of sleep and 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} caffeine in the bloodstream. And the weekends? Yeah , the parties are there complete with the sterotypical frat parties including copious amounts of alchohol and shady characters showing up randomly. But there are many other options besides that, including local venues, campus activities, and all sorts of other things not including alchohol. The positive experience that will find you is the friendships and relationships you form here. The people you meet will change your life and you will never be the same. You will learn, love, lose, and grow incredibly as a student and a person. Remember: this experience is what you make it.

I would tell myself that just about any college that I looked at would be able to give me a good education. So instead of worrying about the school's reputation, talk to the students about what they like most about living there. The majority of your time in college will be spent outside of the classroom, so what kind of a living environment do you want to find yourself in? In preparing for college classes, start figuring out how you can better manage your time. If you arrive on campus with good discipline and study habits, you will already have set yourself up for success academically. Finally, I would advise myself to take a hard look at my core beliefs and values. College is a chance for a fresh start. As soon as you arrive, you start to become the person that you will be for the rest of your life, so know who you want to become. If you start thinking about what you believe and what you value before you leave home, you are more likely to hold true to yourself when you are on your own.

I made the transition to college rather easily. I thank the Orientation Committee and the Residence Life staff at Calvin College for that. The reason why the transition was relatively painless was because I got involved with my dorm activities immediately. My floor had numerous floor activities and brother-sister "floor dates." These events helped me ease into my new community and get to know people on my floor and my brother floor. Furthermore, I got involved with extracurricular activities where I met more people. If I could go back and talk to my senior self, I would tell myself to first take my schoolwork seriously but also to be sure to make time for fun with friends. At the beginning of my first semester, my advisor said, "Kait, it is important to work hard. However, it is just as important to take the night off sometimes and have some fun with your friends." That was the best advice I ever heard. I would tell myself to get even more involved at school because that's where memories are made.

If i could go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior, I will tell myself, to make sure your ready to have good study habits. Although college is a place where you can have fun, its also a place in which you need to grow and develop your skils for your future. I would asl tell myelf, to form good friendships with people that are looking out for your best intrests. Friends that you can really have authentic relationships with. I would also tell myself to surrong myslef with Godly people, and to stay away from the things that are not going to bring me closer to God, and closer to helping me benefit my future

Even now as I think about how fast these past few years of college have come and gone, I still have a hard time believing that I am graduating in a year. Coming quickly to my senior year at Calvin College, I sometimes feel like I just made my college decision as a senior in high school, but now, instead of a college decision, I am making a career decision. When making a college decision, the choice of where to attend was easy. Moving from Tucson, Arizona to Grand Rapids, Michigan to attend college was a positive growing experience for me, but I wish I would have made a list of realistic goals I wanted to fulfill in college. When looking back at high school, there are things that I wish I would have tried out or been involved in and I do not want to have those same regrets when looking back at my college experience. Calvin College has so much to offer when it comes to groups, community, extra-curriculars, and volunteer opportunities, and having an idea of what I wanted to experience when I first came to college would have assured me of fewer regrets.

In order to succeed academically in college it takes hard work and in order to thrive socially it takes participation. That is how I would summarize my adivce to myself as a high school senior. College courses take much more time and effort than high school classes. It is important to keep up with the homework and show up to class in order to get a good grade. While the focus of college is learning and academics it is also important to have balance. One should also participate in extra-curricular activities. Joining a club or sports team forces balance as there is a responsibility to participate and redirect one's focus from academics. Having a social life is not only about balance and taking a break but it is also for fun. In order to enjoy the college experience one must participate in the college experience, not sit on the sidelines and watch. Hard work and participation, those are the two things that I would advise.

The best advice I could give about college life is to look at your problems from a different perspective. College is a whole new big world, and you will not always have everything go the way you planned. Your schedule may get mixed up, you may get a few bad grades, and the dorm room next to you may play music so loud that you wonder if you actually have hearing damage. Instead of agonizing and worrying over your problems, think of them as a medium to make yourself better. Fix your schedule so that it is better than it was originally. Use your bad grades as motivation to work harder and more efficiently. Listen to your neighbors? music, and learn to appreciate new and different aspects of the culture in which you live. Often times in life, your biggest problems will end up being your greatest tools towards learning.

When I was still in high school, I was often told that I should enjoy myself because those years were going to be the best ones in my life. Truth be told, that terrified me. I didn't have a miserable time in high school, but if everything was going to go down from there, it was not all it was cracked up to be. I never had that feeling that I was where I was supposed to be. It would not have been a big deal to me if my family had picked up and moved at any point in high school, not even half way through my senior year. At that point, I wish I would have known that as soon as I moved in to Calvin College I would know I was supposed to be there. If I would have had the knowledge that a strong sense of community was waiting for me as soon as college started, high school would have been easier to get through. It would also have been nice to have someone tell me that the best years of my life wouldn't be ending when I graduated; they were actually just beginning.

College has been a great experience which has forced me to stretch, grow, and think in so many ways. For the most part, high school got me prepared; however, if I could go back and and talk to myself as a senior in high school there are certainly a few things I would have warned myself about. First, I would have told myself to take different AP classes and not to stress near as much about them. Second, I would have told myself to take the opportunity to take the internship class offered and get some experience working at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago doing what I wanted to major in. Third, I would have told myself to have more confidence in who I was. College has definitely been a change of pace compared to high school, but the adjustment went pretty smoothly overall.

If I could go back and give myself any advice it would be to not be afraid, try new things, and forget about what others think of you. I would tell myself that you only get four years at college and it is up to you to make it one of the best expereinces of your life. I would remind myself to be my own person and be a leader, but never step on others or take the spotlight away from others. Relationships matter, and label jars not people. Take chances and work hard for what you want. Remember the only regrets are the risks you didn't take.

Stop stressing! I know you're really worried about missing family and old friends, how tough college will be, whether you'll make new friends and good grades, whether you'll be arch-enemies or best friends with your roomate, and whether you'll spend your freshman year so completely lost on campus somewhere that none of this will even matter. Well, stop. Even if any or all of these things happen or don't, it is not the end of the world. Life will go on, just like it does now. In fact, if you let yourself, you will learn so many new and fascinating things and meet so many strange and fascinating people that most of the time you'll be having so much fun laughing and marveling at the wonders of college that you probably will forget you ever even worried about those things. There's only one thing you need to be thinking about right now: applying for scholarships. I know all those forms are annoying but hopefully they'll be worth it. And even if they're not, (You guessed it!) life still goes on. So take one day at a time. Breathe. And enjoy.

I would tell myself to not overload with classes. To take one day at a time, and that college is not this big, scary unknown. You can do it, and there are plenty of people around here who have been through it before and are more than willing to help. Make new friends, get outside your bubble, participate in those dorm activities, go downtown with that friend from class. Life is an adventure-live it to the fullest!

Relax and do the work required and everything will be just fine.

Hey Claire! It is me from the future. I have some advice for you. Don't worry too much about school. It is better just to do the work and not worry. Stress is bad. You are human. It is ok to make mistakes. The friends you make in college are going to be the greatest friends you have had so far. Although they will be your greatest friends so far, don't let yourself think they are any better than you. They are amazing, and so are you. Don't take what they say as wisdom. They are wandering college students the same as yourself. They don't have anything figured out more than you do, even if they have been going to school a couple more years than you. They might have figured a few things out, but not everything. Education does not make you smarter, all it does is make you more knowledgeable. Don't look down on people, and don't look up to people. You are all equal in God's eyes. Lean on God, never give up that he has the best possible life planned out for you. Be at peace with yourself.

Don't worry.

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a senior, I would say not to worry. College isn't quite as crazy as the movies make it out to be, for the most part, and yet sometimes - at the right times - it's even crazier. I would let myself know that I'd meet my best friend within 24 hours of coming to campus, and that it's okay to let high school friends drift away; more friends are just waiting to be made. My younger self would be reminded not to get carried away with the social scene, because college is really for academics. Most importantly, I would tell myself to follow my heart, and find my own happiness. I picked the right school and the right major, and there's nothing to worry about. Have fun, younger me. You're in for one hell of an experience.

If I could give advice to myself as a high school senior, I would probably want to warn myself about the very high expectations that college professors have when they give assignments. They expect you to take their assignments seriously and they can tell when you don't. But beyond that, I would want to tell myself that college is not all about grades and doing well on every single assignment. I would tell myself to spend enough time studying and working on schoolwork, but also not to be afraid to spend more time building relationships with those around me. Twenty years after you graduate from college, it's not going to matter what your GPA was, but it is going to matter whether you built lifelong friendships during your time in college.