The University of Texas at Austin Top Questions

I always dreamt of going back in time. Growing up my favorite movie was Back to the Future, so to have the chance to do it again would be an amazing opportunity. My high school senior year was 1980 in Lima-Peru. I was a good student in school and in college as well. Shortly after that I decided to enter college and become a lawyer. The first conversation I would have with myself would be to never ever let anybody tell you what to study in college. Remember, I wanted to be a lawyer. Peru was going through an economic slowdown at the time I was entering college, and my mother told me that a lawyer would starve to death and since she was paying for my college career I was to study to be an economist. I did, and I lived unhappily ever after. Time is a very precious commodity, the type that never comes back. I’m back in college at forty-eight and it’s a dream come true, but at the same time bitter sweet simply because I cannot afford to pay for my last term to become a chef of Peruvian and Spanish cuisine.

Considering that I went to college a year ahead of the class that I was suppossed to greaduate with, I would tell my high school self to look at all of the available oppourtunities that present themselves before I commit to just any school. I would visit schools before I decided to go to them and I would take the advice of those who came before me and tried to tell me good advice. I would also not transfer schools so many times and I would take my education and my classes more seriously by putting more focus and attention into the things that I did.

To go out and join a group from the beginning. Make sure to get involved in something I'm interested in. To not stress about not getting into a class or being waitlisted, because it always works out. To volunteer and shadow.

This opportunity would be like a dream come true. At this time a year ago, I had just graduated high school and I was experiencing a mixed allotment of feelings about college. I was excited to begin a new journey in life, but scared to leave the past behind. A new city, new people, being on my own, and not being around family were among my greatest concerns. I wish I could have been calm about everything, because The University of Texas at Austin has become my new home. Every time I step onto campus, my eyes directly go to the tower and it assures me that I am okay and that I came here with a goal and that was to succeed in everything I put my heart into. The transition that you experience from high school to college is something that you must face as it is for your own benefit: you learn to be stronger and independent. My best advice to myself would have been to make sure my goals are clear because everything else falls into place slowly as time goes by. After all, college is the best chapter of your life.

Focus on academics first and a social life second. Put in the time and be proud of the grades you earn. Don't settle for "comfortable" and always try your hardest. Enjoy school, there is plenty of time to be grown up and live in the "real" world! Money isn't everything and while it will buy you many things that may make you happy it will not give you a sense of accomplishment or the fuzzy feeling when you do something for someone else. Enjoy life, don't stress over small things, this is the time to find yourself and plan your life! You have time to figure things out!

As a peer mentor to many high school seniors, I often find myself telling them the underemphasized cliche that "in the end, everything will be okay." Needless to say, I wish I could have take my own advice as I found myself in situations in which I would spend hours awake worrying about my future during my senior year. Senior year was an emotional rollercoaster with college applications, standardized tests, teacher recommendations, AP courses, scholarship applications and college visits. As I look back on the so-called "emotional rollercoaster" now, I would tell myself the same cliche that I tell my mentees, "in the end, everything will be okay." Though I had my fair share of college rejections and pulled many all nighters in attempt to finish my college applications, everything is now "okay."

You're about to enter a wild, amazing world you can't envision. You can't even start to imagine what you'll find there, but trust me: you've already got a passion for something, and that's worth more than all the gimmicks and the glitz that new world can offer. Stay focused on your desires, don't compromise your dreams for anything. Be willing to sacrifice everything but your integrity and your honor to get what you need. Fairweather friends come and go. Material possessions are empty. Time is fleeting, and life is a harsh mistress. But if you're willing to force the world to give you what you want on no uncertain terms, I am absolutely certain you will succeed. Don't get distracted. Stay hungry. Hang on like a bulldog and live like a rocket-propelled Tyrannosaurus rex, taking down everything that stands in your way at a hundred miles an hour. Oh, and make sure you stay in touch with that one guy. He's turned out to be a pretty awesome spouse.

Knowing what I know now about college life, "Everything in high school is a "lite" version of college". We may nag about having to wake up early in the morning and having to race against time and the school bell to get to class on time in high school, but without those reminders, the staying on task and on schedule just turned up a notch. The term "irresponsible" does not exist in the college world, nor will it be anytime soon, if ever. Once college starts, reality kicks in, everything you hear in the college world, or the world outside of high school is really realistic, either its about productive or money. Classes in high school are free for us from freshmen year to senior year, but starting the freshmen year of college, nothing is free or for granted. We must prepare ourself to be responsible and productive while we can in high school before it will be too far to catch up with once we have to face college. Good luck Seniors!

I would tell myself to follow your heart and do what you love. Don't waste time doing what everyone else wants you to do. It's not their life to life and you deserve to be happy.

As a high school senior, I would tell myself to enjoy high school and cherish every aspect of it: the personal classroom enviornment, the farmiliarity of faces in the hallway, and more than anything, the convenience of living with my family. Once you pick a school, be proud of it. Love where you're going and be proud of yourself for getting there. Once at school, stay strong and stick to your guns. Don't let people talk you out of or into anything you don't agree with and demand respect. As women in college, it is important to respect yourself inorder to gain the respect of others.