Hunter
Control your time; when you get to college you will realize how hard it is to manage everything. High school is easy compared to college, so spend your time wisely and do all of your homework. Getting a 4.0 GPA is easy if you just try. Don't make excuses and put homework off until the last minute. Talk to your teachers and get to really know them; it is them who will write reference letters for the colleges you want to go to. For academics, work hard now and reap the benefits later.
As for the social aspect of high school, the best advice I can give you is don't burn any bridges. High school drama is to menial to make enemies over. Make up with the people that hurt you and do your best not to hurt anyone else. For all you know, they might be the next CEO of Apple and will remember your name when you apply for a job there.
Lastly, have fun. You will look back and remember the fun times you spent with friends and family. Make it worth remembering.
Benjamin
Whatever you do, do it for yourself, and yourself alone. Do not make a decision based on what others may think or want you to do. Where you go to school is a big decision that will impact the rest of your life. It's where you will likely spend the next four plus years of your life, so do all of the research you can. Have a wide view. Do not focus solely on one school, because there's no way to fully understand a college until you've been there and been in the environment. Try to look past all of the glamour each school tries to put off and see into the every day lives of people there. If you can, get an honest opinion from someone going through it. Key word honest. Too often people give the casual " this is a great place" but it is important to dig deeper and find what actually makes it great, or perhaps doesn't. Be open to new ideas. College is something you have never experienced before, and it's going to be very different, so approach it with an open mind.
Kurt
I would tell myself to work hard at school, but to spend more time enjoying life as a high schooler. I stressed too much about all the AP and honors classes I took back in high school, that if I could go back I wouldn't have taken as many of those courses. The Air Force Academy did not let me validate those courses in which I received AP scores of 4 and 5. Going back in time, I would still choose to go to the Air Force Academy. For this reason and the reason of the Academy not using AP scores, I would not take so many AP classes. I would also go back and tell myself that I wasn't ever going to get faster at track and that I should have continued playing both high school and club soccer! I would have then tried to play for the NCAA team at the Air Force Academy. Sitting behind a desk in the Air Force, I would tell myself that my future interests will change and I will become more passionate about business rather than engineering and math, and that the CampusDiscovery $5000 scholarship changed my life in 2014!
John
Be true to yourself. Don't let the people around you define the person that you will become. Set goals and make plans to become the person you want to be. You aren't defined by your peers, academic achievements, or your athletic accomplishments. You are defined by the perosn that you are and the good things that you do for others. Some people get so lost in the competition of college that they forget that other people need their help. Don't be so busy that you don't have time to help a friend. Be happy! There is always a reason to smile. Find your niche. When you are doing something you love with people who understand you, you will be successful. In hard times, perservere. Work as hard as you can to hit the goals that you have set. Be kind.
Lauren
Remember three things: a*holes will be a*holes, nothing lasts forever and go to your happy place!
Lisa
Trying to be a wife and mother, attending college and working full time is extremely difficult. Look at your future and make a decision as to the area of profession you would like to direct yourself in. Have a passion for what you do and do it well. Learn from mistakes now, mistakes later can have a larger effect on your life. A degree is attainable at any age, but achieving one before there are so many responsibilities on your shoulders makes it easier and in a realistic grasp. Fifteen years to get an AAS in business is not ideal, however it gave me great respect for myself.
Stephen
I would have given the advice of party more at the end of high school. This is not to adapt to the more social events at college, but rather, to be able to hadle those events while practicing time management in an environment where the consequences are not nearly as significant as they are in college. It is difficult to maintain a social life while taking more difficult classes than high school. In high school, i could write a large paper the night before it was due and still get a very good grade. Now, if I have to write a paper, i must write it a week in advance or so. This extended timeline forces better planning that I was not ready for. In the end, it comes down to time management and being able to set priorities.
Stephen
make sure you tie up all your loose ends before you go to basic training, and don't think about quitting as much as you did freshman year because it's eventually worth it. and free school is better than paying for school. and colorado isn't so bad if you go skiing alot.
michael
parents: let your son'daughter do what they want.
Jacqueline
I would say the most important part in choosing a college is the research. Start as early as sophomore year of high school to make a list of possible choices. The first step I would suggest is making a list of your must-haves for a college; you major, tuition, scholarships, location, SAT or ACT requirements, sports and clubs available, dorm and living areas, and more. Then rank what is most important to you and matching it to different colleges. Now I?m the first to go to college on both sides of my family so I know how this can be overwhelming, I got a lot of help from the career center and my teachers and guidance counselor in high school and the most helpful website I can suggest is collegeboard.com. Next go visit the colleges that make the cut and check out the campus and sit in a class or two, then narrow your list to which colleges you can see yourself attending the next 4 to 5 years. Apply to all the remaining colleges and choose. Once you?re accepted get a taste of being on your own and take advantage of any opportunities available.
Julian
The nostalgia we will experience years from now on the totality of our experiences in college will not be encompassed by the moments we spend in the classroom; rather than academia, it is what we apply ourselves to outside of the classroom that will be remembered. Nearly every college in our nation supplies the education necessary to check the boxes on a job application. However, to harness that spark, one has to immerse his/herself in the culture and atmosphere of the institution. Observe the graudates and alumni to see if they have achieved levels of success that you are interested in and delve into their past. Personally, I chose the US Air Force Academy, because I was interested in a career serving our country in the military; the experiences I have had at my school have catered to this interest and made life-long memories. These memories will not be of a pen and paper but instead a yoke or rifle: flying a glider in soaring or working with my classmates to ascend beyond our circumstances in basic training and freshman year. Choose your school not because you love what it has but what you can do with it.
Alan
Challenge yourself, don't take the easy route. Pick a school that will help you accomplish your dreams and test your limits. If you succeed you will graduate with more than a degree you will have the experience that will make you better.
Jace
Start early. Look at schools that specialize in the occupation you want to end up in. Talk to students at that school in the college you'd like to attend, and graduates of the program to hear what they might have done diffrent or what they did right. School costs alot, so pick the best school for which you can get good financial aid or that is the cheapest. If you go to an expesive school expect people to have money. Work hard your freshman year. it will get you good financial aid and get you into special programs.
Jessica
Look for a college that best fits your expectations. Don't go to a college based on what other people say or for something as miniscule as the distance it is from your house. College is something that shouldn't be chosen because of comfort or location, it should be chosen because of a future and a dream. It shouldn't feel comfortable at first, but it should be chosen based on a dream of a future.
Matt
Do a lot of reasearch and visit the campuses you are interested in. Get a tour and talk to the freshman.
Alan
Parents need to motivate their children to find their passions and what they want in life, and students should think hard about what they want and what will make them happy before choosing their college.
Christopher
Take trips to visit the campus and set up tours. This way, you get a feel for what the college is all about. Make the decision that is perfect for the student and not the parents or anybody else.
To get the most out of college, study hard and play hard! Do not play so much that you fall behind in school, but don't put of being social for schoolwork. A good balance will help you out the most in the end! Good luck!
Daniel
The college application process is an exciting, yet also a frightening time. There are many unanswered questions, but foremost in a student's mind should be, what do I want to get out of college and what do I want to do when I graduate? Each college is unique in its own way. Some are large schools and offer an incredible amounts of social opportunites, while small campuses allow a tighter unity within the student body. Some schools are geared towards engineering and others towards the liberal arts, so knowing what your interests are in terms of academics is important. Though the academic major you choose may not necessarily dictate what your life will be after college, it is more than likely a giant step in the direction you will go. So though college may be nothing more than a four- year party for some, the serious student should see these years as a time to lay the foundation for a lifetime of opportunity.
Thiago
Visit the school at least twice!! Once is not enough! Talk to a few, not only one, student attending that university
Graydon
Figure out what you want to do and stick with it. changing once or twice is fine... but don't constantly skip around. And take it seriously and don't goof off all the time.