Kent State University at Ashtabula Top Questions

I would tell myself to make sure that there is a decent job market for whatever field I plan to study. I need to make sure that there will always be a job market in my career choice and that no matter where I move there will be a need for whatever I chose to do. I need to make sure to always apply myself and get the most I can out of every class so that I have all the skills and knowledge to be highly marketable.

As a high school senior I was more focused on playing basketball in college, talking to girls, and going to parties than I was about attending classes and studying hard. As a freshman in college at the age of 18, I didn't take my classes seriously and I was forced to drop out and become a union steel worker in order to financially support myself and my family. As a high school senior, if I knew how important college was, I would have taken my education more seriously. Life would have been a lot easier if I would have graduated college in my early twenties instead of having to start back at college at the age of 28. I never understood what a privilege college was until I was forced to go into hard labor. I now understand that college is a gift and that my education is one of the most important things that I can work towards in my life. If I took my education seriously coming out of high school, I could have been working as a nurse for at least 10 years instead of just starting nursing classes 10 years later.

Do not quit. Stick with it. It is so much harder to complete when you are in your 30s and have to work for a living. Do not get frustrated. It is going to be hard, but worth it. Studying is boring, but necessary. Get involved. And most importantly NEVER GIVE UP.

The advice I would give myself if I could go back in time would be to listen to my elders. When I was in high school I thought that all the speakers that came in and spoke with my fellow classmates and I, I thought they were just telling us what they wanted our teacher's to hear. I thought they were lying about the transition from high school to college. But now that I know they were right, I wish I would have listened and asked questions. They all were very knowledgable and compassionate to education. I did not take them seriously, but I wish I would have. I would love to go back to different high schools as a speaker and tell them my story. Also, I would love to mention how these speakers are being honest and to appreciate what knowledge they are sharing. Speakers like them do not have to take time out of their day to speak with high school student. They do because they care for the students' future.

Knowing what I know now about college life, I would definitely encourage my high school self to seriously consider attending college. I would point out that only just over 30{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of Americans have a bachelor’s degree. Even though it seems like everybody’s going off to college, not everybody is. Earning a degree will be a good example of that “not quite fitting in with everybody” feeling that you are starting to feel. Also, after having lived for 5 years on wages that I earned with only a vocational education, I will explain how much easier it is to live on the higher wages that you are pretty much guaranteed to be paid after earning a college degree. I am not a person that requires much money to get by, but with a college degree the money that I do earn will be of a higher amount and that will make bills easier to pay and I will be able to take better vacations. I will remind myself how much I enjoy reading and learning, and so I will enjoy the college experience.

Knowing what I know now, back then would be a great advantage. I would tell myself focus more on school work and less on socializing, I would let myself know the guy I was dating was a loser and a waste of time. I would have continued the conversation with myself by summing up everything that has happened in my life since that point in time, proceed to insult myself and inform myself I need to study more because my grades weren't what they could've been. After saying all that to myself, I would hope that I listened.

If I could I would go back in time and slap some sense into my high school self. As a high school senior I was still undecided about my college plans, I was not keen to the idea of picking something that I was going to have to do forever. My biggest fear was I would wake up in ten years and complete the same mundane task day after day. Here I am three years later with goals and dreams I never would have imagined as a senior in high school. If I could get my hands on a delorian, magic genie, or even a time traveling phone booth I would give my highly nieve senior self some life changing advice. I would start by telling younger me to calm down, take a breath and relax; every other senior is just as worried as you are. A main push I would give to my senior self would be applying for financial aid early; you are not the only struggling kid in America, and the longer you wait the more the fund become depleated. Finally I would tell myself to have fun, explore and enjoy the best years of your life.

I would tell myself to wake up and focus. I would tell myself to think ahead. I was young and did not think of my future. I am a 31 year old college senior and a married mother of two. I think if I have been focused in my classwork as a high schooler I would have my college degree by now. I think if I would have know the imporatnce of an education, I could already be in my career. My family would have more now if I was working in my career chioce and not in the unskilled laborforce. I would also tell myself that the hardwork will pay off. I would tell myself that I enjoy learning and attending college. Attending high school is not a chioce but, attending college is. The chioce of higher education has been a rewarding and postive choice that has changed my life for the better. I would tell myself that I feel great and have an open mind now. College has changed me into a better person.

I would advise myself to not worry too much about life at college. Its not like high school; the people there are far more mature, and drama is all but non-existant. Therefore, you won't have to worry about the normal stresses of high school life, and have far more energy focused on your studies.

If I could back and talk to myself I would definately have a discussion about taking math classes to help with my career choice later in life for college. I would also have a discussion about waiting until after college to start a family and to not marry someone who is not my best friend. I would also tell myself to figure out sooner what I want to do as a career and head down the path the first time the right way instead of taking four years to decide what to do then I would not have to worry about trying to figure out ways to pay for my PHD now. There are many things I would go back and tell myself but the main would be to figure out early in college what I want to do and take that path.