Iowa State University Top Questions

Dear High School Senior self, Success in college takes perseverance, focus, and good study skills. However, there is so much more to college than academics. If your grades are under control, don't continue to stress over them. Use that time and energy to develop the relationships that will last the rest of your life. Sincerely, Your older, wiser self

Going back to talk to myself as a senior in college I would have advised myself to focus on my classes more as well as taking finals in high school to better prepare myself for college, rather than opt out of all the tests I could. I believe my high school teachers now when they informed us that taking the finals then would help us prepare a little better for what college will bring. I also would have told myself to focus on my class work more and not procrastinate. I did my best in high school but I could have applied myself more if I had used all the time avaliable instead of waiting and doing average work.

If I could go back in time I would yell at myself to study study study! You can honestly never do enough of it. High school is a great place to make mistakes and learn from them. Take advantage of being able to let your study skills improve so you can be prepared for the college struggles. I would also tell myself to apply for as many scholorships as possible. Dont be lazy, get some financial help! A little bit can go a long ways, I promise. And finally, let others help you. I am a very stubborn person. I like to think that I can do everything on my own without the help from others. Well i am wrong. Your loved ones only want whats best for you. So take their advice. Take some time to sit down and listen to what they have to say. It wont hurt you any.

They make a live action Avatar: TLA, DO NOT WATCH IT! Since that is out of the way, down to college business. Live in an on-campus apartment with a kitchen, organic chemistry will kill you, and a car is a waste of space. College has so many options you just have to take the time to think about what you want and go for it. It's going to seem overwhelming at first, but it gets better. Being positive is the easiest way to make things easy for you, it’s impossible to study when you hate life. You’re going to change your mind about so many beliefs, experience so many things, you just have to be able to enjoy the ride and let yourself flow with it.

Most high schools don't teach you how to study, just that you should. So if I could go back and give my past self advice I would say learn how to study. A lot of the time in college you are learning the material more in depth on your own, so I would also let my past self know that I should get used to reading and trying to understand concepts more on my own in addition to class lectures.

Assuming I could time travel I would tell myself not to be a scared about the transition to college. Even though it has been a siginifcant life adjustment it's somewhat easier than you might think. If you focus on your classes and your long term goals the adjustment is easier. This is all part of the growing process. You learn from everything that happens to you. Part of what is important would also be to know life is not all about knowing the answer, but continuing to look for answers when you are uncertain. In order to have success you will have some failures. Being successful means being able to pick yourself up after a struggle and try again.

Do not slack on your freshmen year of college! Study your hardest to start with a high GPA, because it is SO hard to get that GPA up once it is down.

Knowing what I know now, if I were to go back in time I would tell myself to think thru my degree choice. I do not regret my first choice one bit, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Horse Production and Management was a great experience, and that experience has helped shape who I am today. The advice I would give myself is to have a fall back career choice, and guide myself towards Radiology Technology. Even then I was always fascinated by therapy, and I believe my eighteen year old self would take this advice to heart. I would tell myself that going to the community college my first year, and then transferring to a college where I had to live in a college apartment was a good choice. That I wasn't ready to be away from home yet. At the same time I would make sure I had a better understanding of student loans, and about the college debt I was going to cause myself to graduate with in hopes that I would make smarter choices in that area. I would further recommend that I be more open to the college experience, and get out there and start experiencing!

If i could go back to give advice to my past high school self, it would be to start filling out as many scholarship applications as I can before even thinking about spending a single cent on college. I would tell myself to go to all the scholarship sponsoring websites possible to subscribe and to be able to receive a lot of notifications for scholarships every time they should appear. Another thing that I would advice to my past self is to decide right from the start what do I want to study so I don't have to face complications when it comes to finding the right college. My final advice for my past self is to be prepared for the worst; that with each semester, school will become more difficult than last semester. Another thing that I would say is to try to get as much practice as possible for the classes that I would take, at least for the first semester. Because that way I wouldn't have trouble with the advenced material that they give in each class. My final advice is to know who you hang out with, so you can distinguish friends from punks.

I would tell myself to not stress out as much as I did about leaving for college. Yes, the transition was a little scary but I feel at home at ISU and I wish I could have had more fun my senior year instead of stressing about school. I also wished I could have applied for more scholarships to help pay for my education.