Central Washington University Top Questions

I wish I had known what studying in college really means. Before college, studying meant brushing up on some terms or equations and doing the assigned homework. Now, studying means learning on your own initiative and finding your own motivation. It means practicing when the exercises aren?t due and the reading isn?t necessarily required. It means pushing yourself to learn throughout the quarter instead of cramming last minute or having a teacher push you. If I had known how to study the college way beforehand I know my freshman year would have been less stressful and more enjoyable.

When I first started my music education degree at Central Washington University, I realized there were some aspects of my high school education that felt incomplete. When I entered my first music theory course, my professor expected me to know basic piano skills and recognize basic chords. In my high school music classes, nothing of the sort was taught. The curriculum was focused on playing ensemble music on your primary instrument. If I had to take high school over again, I would ask to be taught basic music theory and piano, to better prepare myself for entering a university.

I wish I knew what the weather was going to be like. Growing up in Redmond I never experienced dramatic weather changes and it was a shock to wake up my Freahman year, the day after Halloween, to find 2 feet of snow in Ellensburg. Not knowing that Ellensburg has very cold and long winters I did not have enough warm clothes and became very sick for a month. Now I make sure to have more than enough warm clothes and snow gear and I can now say that I am blessed to experience all the seaons throughout the year.

I wish I had known what I want to major in.

what i wanted to do

how complicated the major would be

It's not really that important

I wish the university had alerted me sooner to the deadlines for financial aid paper. There was a little information online, but the deadline was so early that I had already missed it completely when I applied for school.

I wish i would have known about breadth and general education requirements. I would have either have chosen to go to a school with no such requirements or i would have chosen to attend a community college.