Seattle Pacific University Top Questions

Enjoy every moment of high school, everything happening in your life now will change. You will lose friends closest to you, you will lose your boyfriend, you will have a hard time adjusting to a new state and new lifestyle away from your mom. You will have a hard time saying goodbye to people you love the most. Take advantage of everything you have now and embrace it, you will miss it but college has so much in store for you. You will make so many amazing friends and meet so many interesting people. You will miss home and your mom but she will become your closest friend. Embrace your siblings because when youre a 2 1/2 hour plane ride away, you will miss them when you see kids their age around school. Embrace everything and everyone. Enjoy your last year of high school but get excited for the next big adventuer of your life.

Don't be afraid to be who you know you are inside. Sometimes you will feel lonely, you will feel desperate and out of place, but it will always work out. Out in the country people are all the same, and you are diffferant, in the city they are all different and all the same. They will be familiar faces of strangers and that is a great comfort. Some things do not change. That is good. Don't be upset that they don't change because it most other things do change. You are rolling your eyes now, but I promise you, you know I am right. You are so excited to leave and then you will be excited to come back. You will find that who you have been hiding is the person that people love. So go be yourself, as cliche as it is. Your own skin is just fine. You will make friends. You will have fun, and your life will change. The funny thing is you won't even notice until you take a backwards glance.

Everything is going to be fine, you just need to relax andunderstand what needs to be done. Get two jobs over the summer and please do not spend it on fast food. That money will save your life when you have to pay your monthly fee. Also, that card that mom gave you that was full of money. Don't touch it. Just give it to her. That money will also help you in the end. Manage your deperession please, don't think you can do it alone. Make sure to get a job in Seattle as soon as you get there and be more reserved so you can focus more on work. You're going to meet a boy and become friends with a boy named Paul and he is going to die on June 5. We were okay friends then but please become his best friend. Watch Kill Bill with him, go out for long strange walks with him, and watch his incredible dance skills. It will hurt more than it does now when you have to lose him but then you'll get the full experience. Otherwise you'll do fine.

My words of wisdom would be: do not let anything hold you back! It will seem from time to time that your world is crumbling around you- but that's called life! The funny thing is that it won't always go as expected. But do not let those changes stop you for one minute. If anything, let those moments of sadness, fear, or just plain confusion turn into motivation. That determination can keep you focused on accomplishing your goals. Those alternate routes will end up being the times in life that you grow the most. As much as the happy times in life are needed, so are the discouraging. If they weren't there, how would you get stronger? Keep pushing forward. Know that things have a way of working out, even if it's not according to your plan. In the end, life goes on. Don't let one failure hold you back, let it go. In the end, take what life throws at you and use it to your advantage. Be appreciative of the little things, strive for success, and truly love the life you have been given.

I would tell myself to not worry what people think about me in highschool. Highschool is only a small season of our life, and therefore it does not matter whether or not you have friends, are popular, or have a date to prom. I would tell myself that someday you will be looking back at the faded pictures of highschool and realize that after highschool is your chance to restart your life proud and confident of what you will accomplish in college that will affect you reaching your dream career. I would also advise myself that complaining and being negative about highschool wont help myself reach college. It will only slow myself down and bring depression. Instead I would advise to be happy for what will happen in the future, and to be positive so you can inspire others while you finish highschool even though you may despise every hour of highschool.

If I was able to talk to myself as a senior, I would recommend working on my time management skills. It seemed easy, to only have three to four classes per quarter, rather than six, but I spent almost three or four hours per *night* on my calculus homework. I also would have told myself that socializing is a huge part of college, but you can get on without it. It is incredibly useful to have friends to do homework with, but going out to get coffee or watching a movie is rare. I needed to know how to spend my time more effectively, because I slacked off in my first quarter. After I started to fail calculus, I put my studies in front of absolutely everything else, and did not hang out on weekends or evenings. I needed to use my time more effectively, and cutting out a social life did that. After being lonely for a while, I began to find a better balance between being social, and working hard. Scheduling my week on Sundays made my life easier to manage, and therefore more fulfilling and fun.

If I could go back to when i was a high school senior, knowing what i know now in life, I would tell myself to move back to Missouri and not stay in Arizona. Along with this, i would tell myself what I will be doing with my life; so one, don't take things for granite, but also don't take a year off to decide. I would let the high school senior Jacob know to apply and Seattle Pacific University and go. Make sure to save up a good amount of money, and make sure you get grants and scholarships because they will help out a lot; especially with SPU. Lastly, I would tell myself that no matter what happens with life and family, make sure you actually do this; don't let things get in the way. It is always great to think of others and help them out, but you also have to think of yourself and make you happy.

Be prepared for anything. Each person's college experience will be so different. Know yourself well and what you want as you enter college. Be comfortable with yourself because this is a time that you get to choose to just be you. The first year of college will pass more quickly than you can imagine, so choose to live each day intentionally! Even more so than high school, college is truly what you make of it and requires more effort on your part. So don't be afraid to jump all in when you want to do something. At the same time, remember that you need balance. Life in college can easily get too chaotic too fast. Know what you need and what you want and do not be afraid to cut out everything else.

Be social! Make sure to make friends the first couple weeks, because that makes the transition so much easier. People here are happy to meet you, and are welcoming and kind.

I would tell my high school senior self to figure out how to study NOW. I regret not taking my study habits seriously. During my freshman year, I struggled with figuring out exactly how I study best - which took a toll on my grades. I also regret not being very involved in high school (clubs, socially, on-campus activities). I feel as though I missed out on some good opportunities on being socially active. I almost always stuck to my close group of friends and I feel that made me "forget" how to make new friends. I got so comfortable with a small group of people that I didn't know how to fit MYSELF in once I got to college - out of state, not knowing anyone in this state/school, etc.

I would tell myself to definitely apply apply apply for scholarships. Dont just brush them to the side and think you will have time for them later. Because eventually time flies, deadlines pass and you do not want to be taking out loans on top of loans just to have a good college education. I would also tell myself to change my study habits. High school is nothing like college. You cant get away with not studying and half attempting assignments. In high school teachers held your hands and helped you graduate, but in college you are on your own. You have to learn to be independent and not really rely on others because in turn YOU are the one responsible for your decisions. YOU are the one who can make or break your life road. I would also tell myself to make sure to still keep in contact with family and close friends. Just because you go off to college doesnt mean you have to cut ties. It is good to have old friends and family to talk to and catch up with sometimes. It brings the sense of home into the dorm life.

Get the prerequisites out of the way first, don't dive in to what you think your major will be. It will almost, most-definitely, change. Many times. Also do not go into college with a girlfriend. You'll be just fine, there is nothing to worry about. You have the skills and tools to do well.

While doing academically well is important in high school as well as college, I would give myself the advice to learn to enjoy school. In high school I was extremely focused on maintaining a near 4.0 GPA while taking academically rigorous courses. While I formed great study habits for college which have enabled me to be academically successful in college, I think that I did not allow myself to enjoy school as much as I should have. Joining extracurricular activities or hanging out with friends is important because balance is necessary to enjoy school best. I realize now that life is more about the journey than the destination. While it is important to do your best in school so that you can reach your goals in life, it is just as important to have fun while striving to reach them. Learning to enjoy where you are at in life or in school is important because you will not always enjoy your career, but life is more fun for yourself and those around you if you have a positive attitude.

Find activities that you love would be my first advice. Do not be afraid to jump into things because you like them and do not let your fears hold you back from anything. And I would say some of the most helpful advice would be do not worry too much about friends. Friends are what makes the college experience, but the truth is for the first quarter they change so much. The next piece of advice I would have would be considering your room. Know the space you have, visit. My room is rather small, however, there is a lot of storage. Know if your room is small, bring lots of small things, but if it is big go ahead and bring the big things such as the large storage units, but if there is no place for those, there is no place. One thing that I would suggest bringing lots of no matter the size of your room is, would be clothes. You never want to do laundry, so avoid it by having more clothes. Also concerning clothes, make sure to bring some of everything. Wacky, formal and normal. There are so many different types of events on campus.

Nursing is a very competitive major in colleges all over. After attending a 4-year university my first year of college, then returning home to a 2-year community college, there are many things I would do different. The main thing I wish I could go back and change is the fact that I transferred from a university to a community college. Taking all of my pre-requisites at the 4-year university that I intended to attend nursing school at is the smartest decision I could have made. Nursing programs want to see that you took pre-requisites at their university, not somewhere else. A student is more likely to get into a nursing school by taking all of your pre-requisites with them. I wish I could go back and not transfer to my local community college. I also would have studied more and harder to make better grades. Nursing school is one of the toughest schools to get into because it is such a demanding and popular field.

Open up more, girl! I know you hold alot of pain inside you, and I know that others probably had their perceptions of you in stone after attending the same school for 12 years, but if you can change so completely, why can't they? You had an amazing graduating class! So many of them so grounded, so genuine, so tallented, so brilliant! You needed to have used those years to smile more, to connect more with these people, to love more and to blossom more! Also, you SERIOUSLY needed to join band sooner! I know it's scary and alot of pressure, but Mr. Smith is awesome, being a band geek is an absolute blast, and you will grow so much there! Put down the knife Victoria, stop crying and cutting yourself in the bathroom. Stop putting YOURSELF in the position of the outcast. What have you got to lose? Love more, smile more, BE more. Your grades were awesome though, keep it up!

As a senior I was unsure of a lot of things. I even thought I was going to be working a standard job to keep a roof over my head. If I were to go back in time and give myself some advice, I would very simply, and very calmly, slap myself outside the head and tell her to get her butt in gear! I always felt there was no point, and that there was nothing I could do, yet everything was there if I just looked hard enough. I was too busy thinking I didn’t have the right or ability to do anything that I couldn’t see the opportunities that I had and the potential that I could be accomplishing. Life isn’t as bad and you don’t have to just settle for what you have. Everyone has the right to reach for the stars, and I have always had the skills and ability to do so. With that in mind I would be in store for a very stubborn and passionate agreement, but that’s what I needed back then. Sometimes it’s all people need to finally get moving. It’s what I needed.

As we move through life, we often find ourselves looking back on our past attempting to determine where we went wrong, or what we did right. The college years are a time when this, I believe, is at its height because it is a time of growth and change. If I were to help my younger self make the college transition I would say this: Lauren, be yourself. Choose the school that fits who you are so that you may thrive in your faith and in your person. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there and seek out friends that care about what you care about; you will be better for it. Keep in mind that this period in your life is a time meant for discovery--whether it be finding a career or starting a life on your own. Adventure! Try crazy new things! You are allowed to not have all the answers, so take life as it comes. You have your entire life ahead of you to settle down, so right now be free! Be poor, be uncertain, be yourself right where you are and thrive. You'll figure it all out, I promise.

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior, I would tell myself to push myself, no matter what. I would tell myself to think through every decision that I make and think about everyone that the decision would affect, rather than just myself. I would tell myself that the most important thing is to keep my relationship with God as a first priority. I would also tell myself not to change who I am for anyone. I would tell myself not to procrastinate getting a job, and to save money as much as I can. Mostly, I would tell myself to be friendly to everyone and to keep my focus off of myself and on what God's will is for me.

I would advise myself to really focus on school, and if possible work a little less. It made a huge difference when I stopped working and was able to completely focus on school. I would also tell myself to get out there, to join a club and try something new. I would also suggest living on campus, at least for a year. I feel I really missed out on the whole "college experience" since I would have to head home after classess. I advise speaking your mind, because others arent afraid to do it. Dont be afraid to make a splash! Continue to talk to others you see sitting quietly, for they may just be waiting for someone to say hello. This is an opportunity to learn about other cultures, and make friends from different countries! Enjoy!