Gettysburg College Top Questions

If I could go back and talk to my high school senior self, there are definitely some things I would mention. The first would definitely be to relax! There is no need to stress over applications and scholarships. Just get it done and out of the way, then stop worrying about it! Also, don't be concerned with how you will make friends. I know that I wanted to go to a school that would give me a fresh start -- Gettysburg definitely provided that as nobody from my High School has gone there in a few decades, if ever -- but I was always concerned with whether or not I would be able to start all over and make really great friends. There are so many ways to meet people with whom you share a common interest, so it is nothing to worry about. One more important piece of advice that would give myself is focus on time management. While college is not hard (or at least hasn't been thus far), there is a different sort of work load than I was used to in High scool. Manage your time well and get work out of the way early.

I would advise myself to be true to myself and what my likes, dislikes and comforts are and go with my gut feeling. If I felt like the campus I was visiting could be a place I could call home and I could see myself befriending the people I met, and interacting with the faculty and professors I encountered, then chances are, it WOULD be a place I could call home. Despite what moms and dads and friends tell you, the decision is yours and you have to find a school whose size, programs and involvements match what's important to you, because you only go to college once and it shouldn't be someone else's decision, but your own.

The best advice that I could give myself would be to organize my time management, commit to all of my classes 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c}, and simply just be yourself. Being able to appropriately manage time throughout the day will make everything much easier. Late night study sessions in the library will virtually never happen if you correctly apply yourself. Committing to all of your classes 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} is extremely important. Just beacuse you might find one class being easier than another, that does not entitle you to slack off! Doing this will greatly hamper your chances of success in college and in life in general. The most important advice in my opinion is just be yourself. No matter where you go or who you run into, being yourself is the most important. By being yourself and marching to the beat of your own drum you will not live a life of dishonesty towards yourself. At any college that you decide to attend there will always be people who are just like you or close enough that you will get a long with greatly. Being yourself will also help you become more social since people will get to know you easier.

My situation is somewhat different from most college freshmen. After graduating high school, I chose to defer my first year of college and do a full-time year of service with an AmeriCorps program called City Year. First and foremost, I would tell myself to serve as powerfully as possible, and to take advantage of all the opportunities I was presented with. One can learn from a myriad of different experiences. I would give this advice regardless of how my first semester went. The advice I would give reflecting my first semester would be to read as much as possible. The students at Gettysburg have very good academic backgrounds, possibly better than the one I had. The most efficient way to learn purely academic information is to read. Cover as many topics as possible, from education to philosophy. The final piece of advice I would have for myself is not to hold back the first semester. I was afraid I might spread myself too thin, and that I should focus on my academics, but I believe my over-all satisfaction would have been higher had I served more. One last comment?lift and train hard; you make the soccer team.

Every day since the first day of my freshman year at college, I wish that I could go back to senior year and give myself one piece of advice and that would be not to underestimate myself. When I was choosing a college during my senior year of high school, I only applied to colleges that enrolled less than three thousand students and that were in the same area as I lived. At the time, I thought I applied to these places because I wanted a small, close to home school. Now, having attended such a school, I?m frustrated everyday by the realization that I was probably too afraid to even apply to a larger school or even one farther away from home. I underestimated what I could handle and now feel a little suffocated by my very tiny and rural school. I can accomplish more than I think I can if I let myself. I limited myself to a specific type of school instead to giving myself options or at least exploring other possibilities.

Develop as many interests as possible. Fill your days with involvement and fun. Expand your horizons daily, because once you surround yourself with an entirely new group that comes from many different backgrounds you will constantly find new things you'll want to experience. Academics are extremely important, but they are not the singular goal of a college. As much as a school wishes to challenge its students mentally, it also views itself as a social laboratory where lifetime involvements, enjoyments, and enrichments begin. Never pass up an opportunity!

The two most important things when choosing a school is education and location. The student needs to pick somewhere that will give him or her a good education, but they shouldn't be hung up about whether it has a famous name. If the student finds someplace that makes him or her happy but is not widely known, they should go wherever will make them the most happy. If you're happy you will do well academically and socially. A student should not go to a city if they love the country just because it has a big name. They should go to a place that is a good fit for them.

Be honest with yourself when choosing a school to attend- make sure it has everything that you know you need, without taking the notoriety of the school into account. After all, no matter how well-known the school is, if you yourself can't succeed there, it won't matter. Also, be yourself from the very beginning and make sure to balance your social life with your study time. Make friends with students who share the same work ethic, and you'll find that this balance is quite easy to maintain. Also, try new things and don't be too afraid to do the things you've always thought about doing. Experience college life to the fullest!

Overnight visits are an extremely important part of the selection process. For me, they were what helped me most in deciding which scool to attend

There's an old adage that says "size matters" and for me finding the right college was all about size. I knew that the college experience I wanted would involve close relationships with my professors and advisors. I didn't want to be just a number in a lecture hall. So regardless of reputation, my first priority when searching for a college was to find the campus that would feel like a community, not a city. For me, Gettysburg was just the right combination of picturesque landscapes and old fashioned charm. Ultimately, cost of tuition is important, but my advice is don't make that your deciding factor. As a small private liberal arts college, four years at Gettysburg comes with a hefty price tag, but if I had allowed that thought to scare me away, I would have missed out on the intellectual and cultural opportunities that Gettysburg has to offer all of its students. Also, don't underestimate a school's alumni as a useful resource. My college may be small, but I believe that its vast network of alumni will help me to obtain the job of my dreams in today's uncertain economy.