Franciscan University of Steubenville Top Questions

Some things I would advise my past self about college life would be, to meet upper classmen, be more outgoing, and get to know your professors. It is a good idea to meet upper classmen because they know all about the campus and what there is to do for fun. It is also good to be outgoing, no one wants to just sit in their room and be bored. Go out and make friends! It is easy to find other freshmen who are in the same situation as yourself. Also, get to know your professors! the classes become a lot easier and more fun when you are comfortable asking the professors for help when you need it.

I have been able to grow in both my knowledge of the world at large and in my faith. I am also learning so much about my future career field of mental health. I have also met some great people from across the country that I wouldn't have the opportunity to meet any other way. Franciscan University claims to be "Academically Challenging, Passionately Catholic." These were two things that were most important to me when choosing a college and in the two-and-a-half years there, I have found it to be true. It has fulfilled its promise and has helped me to grow in so many amazing ways.

I transferred to Franciscan University last fall. If I were to sum up the experience in one word, "overwhelmed" would fit it quite nicely. In the midst of being swamped in a marshland of unfamiliar faces, which was tagged to a seemingly endless list of names, I trotted around campus, attemping to familiarize myself with the new surroundings and acadamia. My wild disorientation was eventually tamed by my fellow classmates. By the end of my first semester, I had gleaned an education that had been both challanging and rewarding. Being Catholic, I also found the campus permitted my spiritual life to flourish and thrive. The authentic joy I experienced is exclusive among the Franciscan students and shared with all who happen upon them. I was indeed overwhelmed... overwhelmed with change, challanges, and authentic fellowship that made my entire experience invaluable.

To be a man is to be endowed with an intellect. But to be fulfilled as a man is to have this most essential of human faculties realized. The pursuit of knowledge exercises the intellect, and sharpens and refines it. This is the wisdom a college education has thus far imparted to me. It is in the pursuit of knowledge that one acquires true intellectual fulfillment. In order to know a thing, a man must exert his intellect over it. He must ponder it and mull it over in his mind. He must discover it, and still rediscover it, until it is etched deep into the hollows of his being, like some ancient engravings on the wall of a cave, to be discovered and rediscovered eternally. This is the great paradox of knowledge. It is not something to be had, it is something to do. The artist does not become an artist by acquiring art. Rather, he is called "artist" in his act of setting his brush to the white canvas. And in its most basic and ideal form, this is the college experience. It is the chance to set an intellectual brush to a white canvas.

I have actually learned quite a bit from coming to college. I have learned the value of education and where it can take me in life. I have also come to realize that it really is not who you know but how well you can show yourself to others through your schooling. I have made many new friends that have the same goals and asperations that I do. I have learned to value myself with pride because of the things that I am striving for in school. I also really enjoy the fact that i have worked this hard to come to the place that I am. I like the fact that since the first day I have come back to college I have not wasted any of my time will classes that i did not need in order to get my associates while being able to tranfer out at the same time. By doing so i leaarned the valuable lesson of time and will be able to transfer to a University coming the following Fall.

I did not discover the value of college until I overcame my stubborness and attended an institution last year. Originally thinking that I knew enough, I desperately avoided college, futilely. Now, after a year of college education, I realize that pursuing higher studies holds benefits. College taught me, first of all, how to live far from my family, make choice on my own, and live independently. The transition, though difficult, was necessary, and by going to college, I experienced the harship surrounded by peers undergoing the same change. My freshman year provided more than maturation. I realized that my knowledge was not sufficient. In just one year, I learned not only about the fine habits of a professional actress and the miniature parts of a microscopic cell, but I also discovered useful information in my area of study, English. From reading more critically to writing mroe professionally, I grew ever closer to my goal of becoming an author. All of this, I would never have experienced without college. University studies contain great importance and unimaginable value in shaping me into the adult I need to be.

I have gotten many things out of college. The first and foremost is the education I have recieved at my school. Without this education I would not be able to do well in the career that I want to get into. The second thing is the lifetime friends that I know I have gotten, even after just one year. Most of the people I have met I foresee as friends who I will continue to talk to long after I leave the school. Also life on campus helps people see how life in the real world is: coed and work hard to achieve goals. I expect to get more out of college every year I continue to attend this school!

From living on campus I have been able to mature greatly as an adult. I have learned about finances and about living on my own. I live in the dorms so I have also learn what it is like to live with another person. I had the experience of getting a job on campus which was also a learning experience. I work on the grounds crew and had to learn about all of the different types of plants around campus. I also took a year to declare my major. That was a tough decision, I declared Early Childhood/ Intervention Education. I want to help the mainstreamed and inclusion students in my classroom. I learned how important an education is, and am learning how to fund one. I have also grown in my Catholic faith, partly due to the Catholic environment at my school. It is a very supportive environment and my friends are also supportive.

So far I have only been here for less than two months, but in that time my life has been changing so much for the better. Being here has been allowing God to work in my life, and He has given me so many blessings. Also, being on such a small campus I am getting to know so many people. They are all amazing, and instead of being judged and stared at, everyone here wants to be friends! And even though it has just begun, my classes are teaching me so many things I would have never thought twice about before, and I am so excited to get to know everything I can so I can pass it on to the next generation.

Dear Maria, I know you are scared right now about what the future will bring. However, I have been to the future and have come to bring you good news and to give you some advice! First of all, STOP WORRYING SO MUCH!!! It is highly unnecessary. You are more capable of living on your own and taking initiative than you think. There are no cliques at Franciscan and no one is going to judge you on what you do and don't do. You will make friends, and the friends you make will grow closer to you in a week than your friends in high school did in four years. Maria, if I could only transmit to you how happy I am all of your doubts would melt away! I never knew that it was possible to actually WANT to go to class and enjoy every minute of it. Once you get here you will see that the major you chose is what you're meant to do and will interest you for the rest of your life. Enjoy the rest of your high school career, and then get out there and LIVE!! Love, Your Future Self

Dear Maria,

Making the transition from high school to college life can certainly be filled with anxiety, but my experience turned out to be much less difficult than I had anticipated. Some of my pre-college worries included homesickness, falling behind in classes, being lonely, and not getting along with my roommate. My greatest fear was that of the unknown: a feeling of anxiety at the mystery of college life and all its new trials. My advice to a high school senior is twofold: take your time, and get involved! The first couple of weeks at my new school were difficult, and I did worry a lot and I missed home for the first weekend, but after that I got involved and I was too busy to be worried about useless things. I realized that my friends were becoming as close as family, and that I would never be lonely without them. I made friends in classes and formed fun study groups to keep up with studies when midterms and finals came around. My roommate became my best friend, and all was well. Of course the unknown can be intimidating, but the best thing to do is jump in with both feet!

This would be my advice. Be true to what you want to do with your life. Be open to the possibilities and focus on what you love. Don't worry so much about the money, you'll find a way of making ends meet. Work hard and stay on top of things and the money will come. Don't worry so much about what other people think or what they're going to do with their lives. You're going to make so many more friends who will be with you for the rest of your life. Be yourself and find something that you will love doing every day of your life. Don't forget what you believe in and never abandon your faith. It will steer you right when everything else seems to be going wrong. Remember how much you love working with people and know that the reward of doing that can never be measured in terms of salary. Look around and see what you truly love. Take it all in and then take a confident step forward. If you keep doing this, you'll end up where you're supposed to be.

Apply for more scholarships. Smile and introduce yourself to people, because they are just as nervous to be there as you are. Thank your parents for helping you get to where you are and letting you sleep at their house. Bring silverwear, slippers, and earplugs. Work hard at the beginning of the semester, because it only gets harder. I would tell my high-school-senior-self not to be afraid of change because it is going to happen, the only thing you can do is make sure it's a good change. Also, I would tell her to get involved in activities, because that is the best way to find yourself and some great friends.

I would have told myself to take my classes seriously, to be myself and to not try so hard to fit it. I would let the high school senior me know that once I got to college I would find my own niche and I would feel welcome.

I would tell myself to take my studies more seriously. Many people consider a lot of what they learn in school to be a waste of time. They wonder what practical use it will have once they graduate. I would try to persuade myself that the main purpose of an education is not simply to get a job but to become a better person, to be able to understand myself and my surroundings, the reality which I live in in a more clear way so that I can know how to act properly and live a good and virtuous life. A proper education is one that teaches us how to be human. Sadly most students are expected to know how to perform in the work place as soon as they graduate so universities have become the place where you learn a job instead of the place where you recieve a rounded education and learn what it means to be human and lead a good human life, both individually and within society. I would tell myself to not just go to school to get a job but to become educated, to learn how to think and act properly in society.

If I were to go back to highschool and give myself some advice I would start by telling myself to never underestimate highschool grades and standardized tests. Although I did not do terribly on them, higher scores would have made funding my education a great deal simpler. Next I would strongly encourage myself that if I was graduating from highschool early and did not know what major to pursue then go to a community college. There you can save time and money. Lastly I would tell myself to learn to manage my time efficiently. When I was in highschool I was very busy hence when I got to college and had "freetime" I went a little crazy. In addition boys should only be persude if and when time allows. I would most certainly warn myself that they take up a lot of time and when they don't work out it will make you feel like you have wasted your time, since that time could have been spent studying for a test. In the end I would say ultimatly have fun with college but be smart with the decisions you make.

I get into my Delorean (for what better way is there to travel back in time) and I punch in the numbers, 09/2005, and I'm off. Its the beginning of my junior year. I put a smile on my face and walk to my first class. As I peer through the doors glass pannels, it is like looking through the all seeing mirror. I see myself sitting in the second to last chair, my teacher loved the orderly manner of the alphabetical seating chart. I wait for my 16 year old self out in the hallway anticipating what I will say. The bells rings, such a familiar sound. I was the first one out of class, I chuckle to myself knowing that there is where the problem began. I begin talking to my 16 year old self. Stubborn as I was then I listened to the wiser me. Hearing that life isnt a walk in the park, it is difficult and bad things and hard times happen to good people. Never take anything for granted especially your education. Because when difficult times happen those grades you will be your saving grace and you will truly reap the benefits.

Dear Jessi, Senior year's been rough and exciting all at the same time, I know, but you have so much ahead of you. The stress of finals and senior papers is catching up, but believe me, you'll need those skills at Franciscan. Don't give up. You'll study more than you ever thought you could, but you'll also be having the time of your life. During this year, don't forget about applying for every scholarship you can, even if you don't want to write the essay for it, or feel like you don't have time to get it done, do it! I know the parents and the counselors are talking to you about taking out the loans and being in debt for the rest of your life, and it's easy to shrug off, but you're going to meet the love of your life, and debt is going to get in the way. You'll also meet wonderful friends, and some that aren't so wonderful...remember, you have a BEAUTIFUL heart. Be yourself, love yourself and let yourself be loved, and true friends will come. Love, Jessi

I would probably tell myself not to worry. Looking back, I realize that my high school experience prepared me pretty well for college. The only thing that I might regret about back then is a lack of planning. If I could talk to myself as a senior in high school, I would remind myself to think about what comes after college. I love my maor, but my plans for afer graduation have never been very concrete. I wish I had planned better for real life. If I had it to do all over again, I would plan better.