Hastings College Top Questions

Dear High School Senior Kayla, I know that you are preparing to make a transition into the college-life, and I know that you are ready and eager to take that step towards independence. However, believe me when I say that you should cherish every last minute of your high school life, because from here on out, your life changes. There is no way that I can give you every piece of advice that you need to make this transition; however, the one piece of advice that I can give you is that it is important to know who you are. The decisions that you are about to make will shape the rest of your life, and in order to make the right decisions, you need to keep in mind who you are and not who other people want you to be. After all, as clich? as it sounds, you are the one who will be living your life. Yours always, Future Kayla

Going back in time, I would tell myself to prioritize the goals I want to accomplish in college and to use better time management. I believe that the proper use of these two fundamentals will lead to a fun, memorable and prosperous collegiate career. I understand college is supposed to be used for higher learning and to develop the skills necessary to have a succesfull career/future and we are told that having a social life should be sacrificed during this time., but I disagree. I believe that in order to have a rewarding experience you should have a healthy balance of both. Sure studying and tests play a huge role, but college is also a time to get away from home and parents and conformity and a time to explore. The problem I had, along with many other colleges students of past and present, was doing to much of the partying and football stuff, and not enough studying. I would cram last minute and my grades would suffer and I'm still playing catch up. That's why if I could go back I'd tell myself to still make memories, but to do so in a wiser fashion.

If I could go back to my senior year I would change many things. I would start first with my acedemic performances. I have found out that slacking is not a good idea. I would go back to high school and spend more time on my homework and studying or quizzes and tests. College is a much harder task and procrastination is not going to get any college student anywhere. Also if I could get to go back to my senior year I would preach to the underclassmen to get their school work done before anything else because high school is much simpler than college and giving it your all will help you to succeed in a higher level of education. If I could go back to high school I would make sure I gave it my all and told every teacher that I had thank you for giving me an education.

As a high school senior my main focus was to make it through my last year. When it came to searching for colleges I only knew a little about the process. Looking back I would tell myself to pursue more scholarships. There are a lot of opprotunities to get scholarships locally as we as nationally, and I didn't take all of them. I would also tell myself to not worry about roommates, even if you get paired up with someone that drives you crazy there is always the option of switching rooms. There are also a lot of opprotunites to get involved on campus and although it can be stressful to decide which groups to participate in, these groups are what make the college experience. Don't overload yourself but try and find something that you can particpate in that will help you to loosen up when you aren't going insane trying to study. Overall, the advice I would give is to do research, look through and find out what you want to be a part of and strive to do what makes you happy.

Being in college and looking back to what I didn't know about college life I would tell myself, never be afraid of what is out there and always be yourself not someone you want people to think you are. I also would tell myself that don't doubt any advice that people give you as the people I have meet have never turned me in the wrong direction. Not knowing what was out there i would have told myself to be more optomistic of what is out there and never be afriad to speak my mind on anything I had an oppinion on.

I would tell myself to pick a college in a town that I would want to live in regardless of the school itself. Then, I would try to spend some time sitting in on classes at various schools to get a feel for the classroom atmosphere. I would try to get a feel for the academic rigor based on the average standardized test scores of studetns and the homework load of students. I would ask my older friends what they liked and disliked about their colleges, and try to get a feel for what college setting I wanted. When getting to school I would encourage new students to be outgoing, and engage in every activity that they are intersted in.

i would give myself this advice to find out how hard it is the first year and try to find smoother traistions in adjusting to the first year. In all around help,support and having a place for new students to interact and also making sure students have ample help in all areas. Also that the students have a way to get back home for the holidays.

I am 20 years old and a sophomore in college. I moved very far away from where I grew up to go to college. The transition was a lot harder than I ever thought it would be. There are several things I would say to myself at 18 about what it would be like to leave what I knew to go to college. One of the hardest transitions was leaving my family. I would tell myself to appreciate my family and the time that I had with them. Moving away for college is very important to me and finding who I was. Appreciating the time that I had with my family is important to help me strive in college. I would tell myself to work hard my senior year and stay focused. Senior year of high school is a transition to being a freshman in college. Staying focused on school work will make this transition much easier. Most importantly I would tell the 18 year old me that my life was ahead of me. The 18 year old me should be excited about all that I will accomplish and learn.

College life is absolutely amazing therefore when you get there, do not be afraid to be yourself and open up a little and make friends. The friends you make there will last a life time. Remember that when classes start you get on top of things right away and are organized from the beginning. Also when a class suggests doing some homework problems that wont be graded, DO THEM, it will help so much as you go through class. Don't start the first semester with a lot of courses either, a little less is alright to get going then add as you fill comfortable after that. Another word of advice is to remember to enjoy yourself but at the same time get your homework done and keep grades up. For housing, update your computer in order to have the upgraded versions of microsoft so that you don't have as many troubles writing papers and emailing them, the wrong year of microsoft can really screw you up, they offer a lower priced 2007 version, TAKE IT, it will pay itself off. And get an on campus job, they are not hard and will give you extra spending money.

The advice i would give, is to choose the right school not by your friends/family, but what you want out of college. also i would tell myself that to be great at what i want to be i must be able to get an education that seems fit to my goals, and that would be to choose the right school so that it offers everything that i need to succeed in the big world after college. Also i would tell myself to get involved with everything that i can, because the biggest thing about college is making these connections at this stage of life because it will transition into the real world after college. the last thing i would tell myself is to not be afraid to stand out from the norm, because life is too short and unforetelling to not try this or take this class or talk to this person, because you will never know until the time has past.