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I would tell myself to not make rash decisions, and to keep an open mind to different exposures and opportunities

Study more about the college you are intending to go

I would urge myself to trust my ability to make good decisions. Yes, there will be an adjustment period in the workload; however, I would reassure my high-school self that I am well equipped for this work. Everything you've done will help you in what you still have yet to do. Don't fear. You can do this.

Dear High School Brad, Any advice I try to tell you will go unheard and unfelt until you are ready. My words will be left floating in the frabric of the universe, waiting ever so patiently to be acted upon. So live, make your mistakes, feel the hard ships of lost and failure. Prepare yourself to be tested intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Build your life on a foundation of morals that can never been broken: honesty, integrity, and courage. Remember, in order to keep what you have you must be willing to give it away. So, love whole heartedly and live selflessly. Your rewards in life are in direct proportion to your contribution to others, your service work. When your ready to live within the universe, your God, your family, and your mentors will be by your side in times of quiet desperation. You can and will rely on them for direction and strength. Best, More Life Experience Brad

As much as people and teachers in high school tell you that they are preparing you for college, you will never be ready. That may scare some students but it is how life works. You never really know what college entails when entering it. The work ethic is very much different and it is all overwhelming. Don't try to take it all in one shot because you will lose yourself in it all. Don't know what you want to major in or be? Do not worry about it. College is your time to explore the many different options your school has to offer and you have your whole life to figure it out. Make decisions and make mistakes. That is what college is all for; to fiigure who you are and what you want to become. Just take it one step at a time.

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior, I would have told myself to take more elective classes to get a feel for what I would like to do later in life. Throughout high school, I took numerous AP and Honors classes -more than I now realize that I needed. While doing well in difficult classes in school was satisfying in its own right, it was also terribly mundane. As a collage student, I now realize that high school GPAs and SAT scores do not matter nor define a student in the long term. Likewise, while numerous AP credits look nice on paper, it does not carry the weight that I expected it to in my college carrier; it is definitely possible to graduate, even with multiple majors, on time without AP credit. While I would not say that I wasted my time in high school, I definitely wish I had spent more time to learn more about my personal likes and dislikes. Thus, I would tell my high school self to take it easy and get a feel for what I wanted to do in the future.

If I can go back and tell my high school self anything, I would tell her to be open minded and always give her best. You must keep an open mind, not only for the sake of being accepting towards others, but also to allow yourself to develop interests that you may not know you have. There will be new and exciting things that you will be exposed to. So you should always follow your intrests to see what new doors and opportunities will open. In addition to trying new things, you should give every semester your best try. Sometimes future plans change and you never want to regret slacking off in class that you may later need. Time is money and college is pretty pricey. Other than that, always remember to have fun because these will be the best four years of your life.

I would tell myself to choose a smaller school. I would choose a school with trimesters, so that i could plan out my major more accordingly and do harder classes with less difficult classes. The trimester system also allows students to not feel rushed and gives students time to do things that can have huge impacts on their lives, like study abroad. Another perk about trimesters is that when a student changes their major (like many do), trimesters offer the student plenty of time to take classes and not graduate late. I would suggest that i go down south to school where the education is just as good but the school's cost is cheaper. I would also stress that i really research and try to figure out what i want to do with my life. I would tell myself to go out and try new things, to stop worrying about how you appear to others, and just do your best because this is your life.

Plan for what is not planned. So many mistakes have happened, things not transferring in a timely manner, or as they were said to have been, causing more problems upon more problems. All are solvable, and manageable, only because initial planning has gone into the stages of getting yourself ready for, and into college, but, issues come up, this will always be the case. You always hear from others about their problems, and you think they could not possibly happen to you, thought has been put into your plans, organized steps have been followed, but things have a way of going awry. My past self should understand this, and even understand that, it is not a fault of character, there are always things out of your hands, but she should also know that, her actions and responses have been wonderful, and the journey has not been halted. Plan for what is not planned always, because it helps with conscious, and sanctity of mind, not because you fear you will fall up short. Plan for what is not planned, because, the journey to college and life beyond, is a journey for knowledge, and it is alright to not know everything, yet.

Maintaining unblemished academics was always my top priority in high school. I graduated with a 4.296 GPA - something that I'm extremely proud of. I followed the rules, studied, took Advanced Placement courses, and achieved honor roll every semester. As senior year and my high school career began to wind down, I fully admit that I did not give the last two months of high school my all. Yes, I maintained my academics. Yes, I attended every class. However, lurking in my closet are my dismal AP scores - all 3's. Rutgers does not accept 3's and therefore, all the hard work that I had put forward, some 12 credits, would not transfer. Throughout my first semester I learned the intensity of real college coursework. I often associated my poor AP scores with failure and constantly questioned if I was "good-enough" for college. It was not about the money and wasted time, it was about the looming sense of failure. Would 12 credits surely ease the transition into Rutgers? Probably. Although I wish I could change my performance on the tests, I concluded that failure is not to be feared - it's a driving force for success.

The very first advice I would begin with is to not go to Fairleigh Dickinson University. It is an absolute waste of your money and time. If you are going to start off somewhere, then begin at Rutgers. Not only will you learn about the type of person you are or you want to become but you will be challanged academically and will meet amazing friends. The type of friends you will meet will not be of the same ethnicity so you will learn about many different cultures there are and recreate your own beliefs and customs the way you see fit. These friends you will meet will help you expand and achieve your goals as they have goals that are similar to your own. I know how nervous you are about whether not you will get into the nursing program, be smart enough for college, or even be able to get around campus, but just know that Rutgers will prepare you for the nursing program. They teach you the lessons and how to complete assignments and if ever you are lost on campus, everyone over there is really nice so you can just ask soemone

I would tell myself to have prepared more for the specific college I was heading to. I would have maybe spent a few days navigating the campus and getting to know the various aspects of it. At home, I should have looked more into the classes I had hoped to take so that I could better plan for my first semester. Also, if I had transferred my college credits from high school, I could have registered for classes earlier.

Let go of now and find your "people." Every moment passes to make way for something greater than what came before. You've got to work at it, but what comes next is better than what you've got now. And a big part of that is finding the right people to push you, challenge you, and help you grow. In high school, you grew your friendships based on proximity, and in some special cases, on common ground. In college, you'll really get to find that common ground and find the people who truly care about the things you care about as well. So know when to let go, because in a year you won't even remember some of the things that feel so important right now. Forge ahead, find those moving forward with you, and build your future. Never let it fall in someone else's hands and never think it's hiding in your past. College is your time to find your people and follow your passion. It's scary and exciting, and leads to great things. Hey, and don't forget to have a ton of fun with it.

I would tell my high school self to make a list. On one side it should have all the things I like doing, and/or I excel at doing; on the other, the opposite. I would tell my former self to be brave, honest with myself, and be open-minded while conducting this experiment. I would take that list and give myself time to try the things on both sides of the list. I would write down the results of my experiment, add new addendums, and construct a new list for the next year. I would take the things that have favorable results and give myself an additional semester to further explore my likes from my list. I would repeate this process as many times as needed to create a refined list. Whatever academic decision I come down to, I would give myself the next few years to fullly exploit all the oppurtunites attached to it. College life is more than an academic journey. You grow more as a human being in those four years than any time in your life. Be willing to listen and examine differing opnions. Be free, have fun, and have the courage to discover you.

After being a freshman at university for only a few weeks, I would give myself a lot of advice to make the transition easier. First off, dorm life is an entirely different universe from living with your family. There is so much independence, you're able to stay up however late, eat whatever you want, and study (or not study), whenever you want. With all of this independence, you are directly effected by lack of sleep, getting sick from eating too many cheese fries, or falling behind in your studies. Adopt healthy habits; hit the gym every once in a while or just walk to class. Practice time management, this is the most crucial skill to college success. In high school, there are designated times for class and designated times for study hall. Get used to making the most of each of these times. Practice reading textbooks and taking notes, practice listening to your teachers and taking notes, practice taking notes in your sleep. Most of all, begin to take control and responsibility for the choices you make; and in turn, you will benefit from the right ones.

College is a time in your life where you will meet people that will make a permanent impact on you. You will learn about responsibility, about time management, and about everything you will need to know in life. It's not going to be like high school at all. Don't let yourself become unmotivated after you face the car accident your freshman year. You can succeed in life and God will help you along the way. Your family will be there every step of the way. You can do anything you put your mind to and you will get through it. You will pick yourself up from the emotional, physical, and mental wreck you become. You will move forward. College is going to start off wonderful and then spiral down quickly but you will make your way back up. Keep your head high and go into college with good spirits. You're going to make great things out of yourself. Your family, your friends, and God will be there every step of the way. You'll see.

I would tell my younger self "You are going to need a tutor. In high school, you almost never asked your teachers or friends for extra help. You always try to do things by yourself and it mostly worked in high school. It won't work in college. Also study more and do not waste time procrastinating. There will be more free time than you are used to handling. Good luck." I did not see the importance of studying in high school. I just reviewed some notes a few nights before tests and always remembered things. There is a lot more information to be retained in college and my younger self definitely wouldn't know what he's getting himself into. I know because I didn't know what to do at first in college.

If I could go back in time from this point of my life to where I was back in high school, I'd have so much advice to give. I would tell myself to find a way to get the money to apply to Rutgers first because I love it now and would've loved it then. I'd probably encourge myself to look much harder at scholarships, so I wouldn't endure years of stress semester after semester due to outstanding balances. I would tell myself to prepare for a world where you will learn and think and grow into the adult you create. Most importantly I'd tell myself to relax and not worry about every single detail because there 's always a bigger picture.

I would tell my high school senior self to take advantage of all the opportunities presented to her with no fear of making a mistake, failure, or rejection. Take everything head on with an open mind and determination, because the only mistake that you can possibly make is to sit idly and let your fears latch on to you. You have to get out of your comfort zone, and seriously think about what you want, and go after it. If it doesn't work out the first time, that's fine, people stumble sometimes, but you have your whole life ahead of you. So your pride has been hurt for a second, atleast now you are not left wondering what if. In the long run these little stumbles make you a stronger person. So put yourself out there. Let yourself fall sometimes, because in the long run the reward is so much greater.

"Its not as bad as you think it'll be." I relied on such assertions too much and got my head handed to me. On account of my poor results, I would intimidate my high school self with exaggerated anecdotes of painstaking tribulations I endured. I would tell her of the many long vexatious all-nighters; the studying so hot and intense that it feels the wrinkles of your brain are being ironed into an inept good-for-nothing pancake. Then once the burden of classes has already broken you down enough, facing the bone-breaking task of awaking before the sun has even risen from its slumber to go to a work study job. But hey, at least you'll get to eat the well-renowned Rutgers food as you withstand such experiences. So, no I wouldn't comfort that girl with assuring words. I'd make sure shes a good fighter; a girl that will always keep her hands up in the ring. I'd do this with the intent of the giving the most exceptional preparation possible because as the old adage insists, "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."