Iowa State University Top Questions

Oh if I could only! I would start with telling myself to realize what is happening. I went through my senior year thinking college was never going to come and here I am almost done with my first semester already drowned in debt. I would tell myself it is time to start applying for scholorships and go out for a leadership oppurtunity. Leadership is crucial for everything, it stands out and people love to see it especially on applications. I honestly wish someone would have told me how important leadership is. There are going to be times when you feel down and lonely and just want to go home, but you have to fight through that and realize it has to be tough, hard, and frustrating now so that you're future can be easier. Stay strong and stay motivated and realize that the cliche 'the best things in life will never come easy' is absolutly true.

If I could go back to high scool and tell myself anything it would be to have confidence in myself, and to never give up. Keep working at what ever it is you think you want to do, you can always change your mind and try something else. If you dont understand something dont worry about what other people think, ask questions untill you do understand. After all it is your education and your life you are working toward. Just because other people dont encourage you to dream or seem willing to help you with your goals dont give up. It may be that you need to find more positive people to be around. I would tell myself to work hard and always do my very best at whatever I do, because my time is just as important as anybody eles's time is. What it all boils down to is what do you want out of life? do you just want a job? or do you want a carreer that you can be proud of and grow with? because you will change with age. What seems important in high school will not be important when you are thirty.

Get a much better G.P.A. and have the motto of, "work hard play hard".

Hello me, Don't wait to go to college, do not take time off; continue with your education and don't stop until you are complete. My advice to you is to actually study hard, apply yourself fully and don't just skate by on the average. You are capable of much more than what you are giving in regards to your education and you deserve more. You want to go to college and have a degree behind you, don't let life get in the way of that goal. Decide what you want to do and stick with it. Create a plan with realistic steps and work towards it without stopping. Take a fulltime coarse load and don't falter. Commit to yourself and no one can stop you or take your dream away from you. Most of all have confidence in yourself and know that you can do it.

After I finished admiring all of the hair that my younger self still had on his head, I would tell my 1988 pimple-faced self to invest in Microsoft and to learn computer programming. It’s almost 25 years later and I am in college learning ( yah…you guessed it ) computer programming. After 10 years at home raising my 2 children, I am returning to the workplace and looking for full-time employment. As a graphic designer, many of the opportunities that were available 10 years ago are no longer available due to the length of time I have been away from the Design community. So I have returned to college to pursue a life-long passion for computer science. I have always loved math and computers and want to build software based on solid design principals. As they say, “it’s better late than never.”

If I could go back to high school, I would tell myself to learn better study habits. At the small high school I attended, I did not have to study very much for tests. During my first semester at Iowa State University, I have learned that studying is a big part of what you have to do to get better grades. With better studying comes better scoring. I'm glad that I have learned better study habits while attending college, but if I could, I would go back and tell myself to start working on those habits earlier. Reaching out to others and putting myself out there with people I don't know is the second thing I would tell myself if I could go back to my high school senior year. Going into college, everyone at Iowa State University was new to me. At first I didn't know how to start talking to and meeting people. Throughout the semester I have learned better social skills and have gained many new friends and can talk to professors without being too shy. This is a skill I am glad to have learned and will help me in the future.

Pick a school that you will love. Pick a school where you are comfortable. Instead of following friends and allowing them to lead the way, create your own adventure. Do not choose a school based on how large it is, how expensive or exclusive it is, or even how it is ranked. Sure that looks great on paper, but choose somewhere you will be happy and able to blossom into the best version of yourself. Do not be afraid to venture out on your own. Do not be afraid to follow your own advice rather than someone elses. You can make your own way and start a new life, it might be scary at the beginning but it will lead you to great things and great people. Only you know what is right for you.

My best advice would be to learn everything you can in high school. If you have previous knowledge on a subject, it makes learning it in college immensely easier. High school is free of cost. College tuition prices are out of sight. Why not get the education in high school while it is still free? Universities love to take your money (especially out-of-state students), but fool them by coming in with some college credits already completed. Having prior credits helps in many ways. When registering for classes, the order is decided by who has the most credits. Getting gen ed classes out of the way reduces the likelihood of having a 300-400 person lecture. At that level, students do not develop a one-on-one relationship with the professor. With the basics out of the way, you are free to take the classes you actually care about and want to pursue further. Taking classes in your major instead of just the basic requirements helps solidify your choice of major. If you decide to change majors, having the prerequisites out of the way gets you to that decision quicker. Overall, college credits from high school help a lot.

If I could go back and talk to myself as a high school senior, I would tell myself that yes, college is fun, but to enjoy the time I have left. I feel like I spent my entire senior year looking forward to college and missed out on some opportunities. I would tell myself to live in the present and make the most out of it, because looking back, I miss high school.

Being a high school senior I was so concerned about leaving my nine siblings, and worrying that I was in some way letting them down by leaving to go to school. Being in school now for almost five months, I realize that the most important part of my being here is my education. In striving for academic excellence and remaining dedicated to my schooling I now realize that my family does not need me to live in the same house in order to be influenced by me. All I want is to make my siblings proud of me, and in leaving for school and pursuing my dreams I believe they are. So, looking back, I would stress to myself that leaving and getting out on my own is the most effective way of mentoring my siblings. I needed to relaxe in high school and realize that my siblings would not hold resentment towards me because I left. They would only be more proud of me.