Gannon University Top Questions

My first advise to myself is to be open and be me. People in college find out who they really are during college. Take the hardest classes that you can to be the best at what your going to be coming out of college. The professors here at Gannon are willing to help you so do not be affraid to ask for some extra help. If your professor is not available then get extra help with a tutor. When you are able after football season get into other clubs that will be good to place on your resume for your future job or jobs.

Nikki, you need to live on campus. You are being very financially responsible and all, but for just one year, live on campus. You can meet so many friends there. You work so hard every week. It is hard doing 50 hours a week to afford college, but you will be so happy. As it gets closer and closer to graduation, and as you start looking at graduate schools and their cost, it gets easier living at home and saving up money. You also meet a lot of people through your program. When you have two years with the same 100 students, you get to know a lot of them. It does kind of stink that it took so long. Take the extra time to be in as many extra curricular activities as you can, even if you think you can't, it always works out. Study hard, keep up on research. You'll have so much fun training dogs, researching fish, interning atTamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, and doing everything else. I can never wait to see what you do next. We really do amaze me some times with the things we can fit in a week.

Growing up I always succeeded in school. Once in high school I started to become lazy and realized that, since school came so easy to me, I could maintain good grades without much effort. Going into college, just as I had been warned, I was not ready. The transition from high school to living on my own and college was not any easy one. I was easily stressed and made plenty of irresponsible decisions when it came to taking my education seriously. Knowing what I do now about that transition, I have so much advise that I would give to my high school self. I would advise myself on the financial struggle of living on your own, you are working to live, and that is stressful. I would advise myself to be careful in forming lazy habits as, in college, the work load is on you. You have to take responsibility for what is required of you and that requires commitment. What I had the hardest time with was this commitment to education. In college you have to be accountable for yourself, no one is reminding you to get things done. I learned these lessons the hard way.

If today I was a high school senior on the verge of college knowing what I know now would have helped me a great deal. I would have told myself that it is ok and necessary to ask for help the teacher is there to help you not judge you. I would have not let myself stress so much and told myself that it is necessary to be yourself not what you think others expect or would like you to be. College doesn't have to be stressful like you many people make it out to be, and if you do everything on time you can have a great social life. Get involved, get out of your comfort zone, make friends, this will help you not feel like a stranger. Don't isolate yourself all college students are in the same boat, being part of a community only helps you.

If I could go back and talk to myself as a high school senior, I would say one thing, based on what I know now. The first important piece of advice would be to never settle for less. No matter what sort of obstacles you face, you can achieve anything you put your mind to. I never had the best grades in high school, and my standardized tests were not that good either. When I got to college it was a major shocker to me how much my roomates studied, because I never studied that much. My first semester I did okay, and passed my classes. My second semester my freshman year was a different story. I had to take a math course. Math has never been my strong suit, but I knew I had to do good in the class. I knew the percaussions would not be good if I didn't do good. I set a goal to myself that I needed to improve. Everyday I would be at the library for hours on end, and most of the time untill it closed. I studied so hard that semester, I made the Dean's List!

I would tell my younger self to bust my butt in my academics!!! I skated by with my studies and never really understood the importance of my grades until my first semester at college. Even then, I did not really grasp the importance of grades. Be more active in social clubs and organizations which could have aided in my devotion to the college lifestyle, and not partying. Have a focus in every field of study rather than gym class because now that I am graduate with a BA in History it would have propelled my knowledge to spend more time reading and learning of historical events rather than playing video games. Look into and apply to more than one college/institute. Relying on the first and only college of my choice was not the wisest and to this day I regret attending. Not only did it have negative overall effects on my GPA but also exposed me to harsh conditions which left me in a poor mental state on my future in college and in long term living. Overall, the most important factor would be to not hate schooling. This is what is giving me and my past a future.

Freshman year in college was one of the scariest and the most overwhelming years of my life. Which can be quite shocking, considering just three months earlier I had been living out the best year of my life as a high school senior. Looking back at what I know now, if I had been given the chance to go back in time to give myself advice for college as a high school senior, I wouldnt. I would not change a single thing. That's the funny thing about growing up and becoming independent, I never knew where the next day, hour, or even the next minute would take me. The only thing I knew was what my parents had taught me all those years at home, and that at college, it was finally MY time to show everyone what I was made of. Nobody can give good advice about freshman year. Personally I learned that you have to roll with the punches, drink really strong coffee, and learn how to manage your time wisely. Everybody experiences freshman year differently, at different speeds, in bigger and better ways. Freshman year is simply all about embracing each and every opportunity you encounter.

The advice I would give myself would be simple-don't leave campus on the weekends for a solid month; I live about a half hour away from my univerisity. However, I frequentely left to work on the weekends in my home town and to spend time with my boyfriend. During those weekends, I missed inside jokes between friends, late-night trips to McDonald's, and quality bonding time with my new acquaintances. Because I went home to much, I was unable to form quick friendships. I was not until my second semester of my freshman year that I met a close friend. Those first few weekends allow freshman, new to campus, to explore their university together while they explore budding friendships.

I wouldcertainly tell myself to not take for granted the time that is give over all. I would definitaly apply to as many scholarships as I possibly could. I would also tell myself to get into the habit of studying, becuase that is the only way one will be able to be successful in college. There is really nothing I would really change or try to improve, because I was a big nerd in highschool. Athough there was times where i did procrastinate. One thing I would tell myself though is to READ a lot. To get into the habit of reading, because that is what college is all about. I would also tel myself to look for two jobs if possible, becasue college is expensive.

As a college student advising my high school self I would tell myself to study more, to get involved in more clubs, and to focus on my future. Now that I am in college I have already switched my major. I couldn't adjust from high school accounting to college accounting to make it into a career. If I would have focused more in school and studied, I would have been able to make the transition to college life of homework and studying. I also would have told myself to get more involved with things around the school. I was in band and golf, however that didn't put myself out there enough like I should be able to do in college to get to know more people and put more things on my resume for my future career.