University of Central Florida Top Questions

Don't wait and take years off between high school and college. Go to college while information is fresh in your head. Get it done and play later

Stephany: Although, you have heard several times before that college is a completely different ball game than high school, I must stress it once again. Teachers will only have a handful ammount of grades for you, and each assignment and test will count that much more. College is a test of morale and stamina. You have to put all your effort into it. It is the time to show the world than you can overcome all obstacles and follow your dreams. No one will be there to make sure you go to class or do your work. All the power is in your hands, and there will be no one to blame for your faults. It may become stressful at times, so make sure to give yourself time to breath and have fun too. The key is to have good time management skills. You have to have a balance in your life that will ensure you all around success. Remember, knowledge is the only thing that can never be taken away from you, so take advantage of your opportunity so you can become the best doctor you can be.

My advice to myself would be to stay at home with your parents and attend a 2 year community college before jumping into a 4 year university. If I had gone to the 2 year college and stayed at home I propbaly would have been finished by now. Instead, the cost and stress of trying sustain a roof over my head, food and basic needs has prolonged my journey to obtain my 4 year degree.

First and foremost I would tell myself that college is nothing like highschool. It is ten times harder. Studying is the only way to make it through. Sometimes you get invited to a party and it seemslike it would be a lot of fun, but that party could make the difference between an A or a B. Also, I would tell myself to get sleep. College students tend to spend many nights staying up until 3 a.m. This is a bad habit to get started on because staying up late can cause you to not want to go to class the next day and not going to class is horrible. Still, when all is said and done you still need to have fun and enjoy yourself. Go out to dinner with friends every once in a while and get involved in clubs. It is a good way to meet people and spend time. Staying healthy is also important. Working out and eating right is essential in staying fit in college. All in all, just live it up and study hard.

Learning your future beforehand might give you an advantage in life. However, as appealing as it sounds, I wouldn?t like for someone to spoil an excitement that comes from learning, even if that someone is me. I am an independent individual. I like challenges and figuring out things on my own. I can easily admit that the transition to college life has been tough but it only made me wiser and stronger. I have learned so much, from simple time management to complicated chemistry formulas. Knowing all that about myself, the only thing I would say to an excited senior is ?Good luck!? Besides, overcoming obstacles and learning from your own mistakes is a beauty of life. ?Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That?s why we call it the present.? ? Babatunde Olatunji

Work hard because college is not as easy as it was before in high school. Learn to focus and ignore all distractions of the college life., but be involved also. Join intramural sports, FSA, LEAD, and the premed club. Also, get involved in research early and become close friends with the teachers because they'll be the one that will provide recommendation letters in the future. Good Luck!

If I could go back and talk to myself as a high school senior, I would tell myself to stop slacking off and get over my ego of being a "Senior." I would explain to myself how vital it is that I remain motivated, because once in college, no one will make exceptions for me if I do not do my own work, and every single grade makes or breaks your GPA. I would also advise my highschool-self not to get caught up in trying to have 'fun' every minute of my college life. If you focus on school, and take care of the important things first, fun will come on its own, in its own time.

College provides you a unique experience that you cant find anywhere else. You can never really be prepared for the challenges that come up during your college career. If I was a high school senior again I would tell my self to be more open minded towards college. I would tell my self to try and absorb as much knowledge as I can during the 4 years. And lastly I would tell my self to try my hardest and not regret any choices I make and have fun while doing it.

An important lesson I learned my first year of college was that it is extremely important to get involved on campus. During my senior year of high school, I felt just obtaining the degree was the most important part. As I began to research more into my particular major (Marketing) and potential job opportunities my second semester of college, I realized that gaining experience and working in a professional environment would be more beneficial than only reading a textbook. I set out to join clubs and organizations at UCF that would allow me the opportunity to use my knowledge and skills in an environment where I could learn the most. I believe my efforts to become more active on campus have allowed me to have been offered multiple internships. If I were able to go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior, I would tell myself that your college experience is what you make of it. And for me, getting involved on campus was one of the best decisions I have ever made for myself and for my career.

I would encourage myself to join more student clubs and participate in more extracurricular activities. College life is extremely time consuming and most people don't have the time to join in activities with other students. If I had known that I would start a family at a young age, I would have encouraged my younger self to take advantage of being able to have a social life. I also would have told myself to take more college credit classes in high school. I would have liked to have been dual enrolled in college so I could graduate sooner with less costs.

Work as hard as you can, and never let down. Laziness kills in college. And the method of studying is very different from highschool.

Be very open minded to other individuals. Never give up on your goals. Be responsive to your college of choice . Pursue your dreams and goals no matter what they are. Select a college that will challenge you both academically and emotionally and give you an opportunity to grow. Understand your needs and become part of the college experience, whether it be through sports and activities or community involvement or simply pursuing your career objectives.

Looking back at myself as a high school senior, the advice I would give myself would be to set goals and to never give up on them. Everyone that attends college all share a common goal, which is to graduate. Some students may decide to move on campus in order to have their college campus as their own backyard, where they have the opportunity to become immersed in involvement activities and can simply walk to class, the library, cafeteria, etc, the possibilites are endless. Others may choose to live at home as transient students, which is a great option for saving money and still being able to enjoy home cooked meals! I choose to attend UCF, which is four hours away from home. The transition was difficult at first, but I constantly reminded myself of my goals to achieve: maintain a high GPA, become very involved, and make more friends than I could imagine. I learned a lot my first semester just from the experience, lessons I could have never been taught in a classroom. There were many times when college seemed very stressful, but I knew that I had to perservere in order to have the ultimate college experience!

If I were given the opportunity to go back and do things over as a high school senior, I would tell myself to work twice as hard as I did, and that too much effort is never enough; afterall, suffering through sleepless nights and dreary days only makes you stronger in the end! I would tell myself to continue to place my best foot forward and perservere, and that I could do anything that I put my mind to. Additionally, I would tell myself that as cliche' as it may sound, the early bird does indeed get the worm, and thus I should not procrastinate in terms of taking standardized tests like the SAT's and applying for important things like scholarships; afterall, getting started early on assignments and papers is very impotant in college, especially if you trully want to do well and succeed and not just "get by". I would also tell myself not to get distracted by the "enticing" things around me, because there is plenty of time to celebrate once I graduate! More importantly, I would tell myself to always reach for the stars, and that no dream is ever too big or too small.

The key to success is ambition. College is strictly about the motivation you put forth to make yourself a better person and without internal inspiration, it truly is not possible. No one is going to give you the incentive to go to class, study, or gain the knowledge necessary to get a higher education. Honestly, in my life's experience, I have figured out that nothing comes without hard work, and only you can make yourself determined enough to take action. As a student, waking up and assimilating everyday to the fullest is more intrinsically rewarding than anything I have ever done. Ambition is the fuel, time management is the action, and pride is the compensation. Time management is the approach I employ everyday to organize myself and get tasks completed. Without either ambition or time management, the journey of college will seem infinitely more difficult and arduous than it needs to be.

Although the majority of college students change their major during the course of their college careers, many times more than once, this is not something I would let myself believe as a senior in high school. I felt that indecision in choosing a college major stemmed from a lack of focus. Since my college career began, I have learned that this is not true. I changed my major, not just within my department but to a separate college, after my first year. This ended up being one of the best decisions I could have made. The most important advice I could give myself as a high school senior would be not to worry about figuring out a definite life path for myself at that time. I would tell myself that college, rather than high school, is the time when I will be discovering a wealth of new things about myself - new interests, strengths, and weaknesses - which will shape the path I will follow later in life. The best thing I could do coming into college for the first time is to allow myself to experience all that I am able to and want to.

Dear past-self, I know you want to go to college more than anything else in the world and the fact that you are a French citizen prohibits you from even applying right now but be patient. Don?t stop studying in your free time, volunteer at the hospital, the library and continue doing theater. Don?t start out at a four year university, there is too much contrast in the transition and a community college will allow you to obtain an AA degree cheaper and will allow you time to discover your passion for education. Thank your single mother every day for her support and love; you could never make it without her. Have fun but don't indulge in the party scene, your 4.0 will pay off more than a six pack ever will. Get close to a couple of professors; letters of recommendation are worth gold and mentors are the anchors that steady your wild sea in college. Keep up your three languages and keep reading as many books in French, Spanish and English as you can. Wear sunscreen, because your future campus is large and it is very sunny here in Florida! Love yourself!

Dual enrollment would have been a great idea. I could have gotten ahead and gotten a feel for what college classes were like. I think I made the right decision to start out at a community college to ease into the transition and allow myself to have smaller class sizes.

Returning to school after 13 years. Im going to improve my life for my son. Im ready!!!

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior I would give some advice to myself to make the transition easier. First and foremost, I would tell myself to forget about majoring in engineering and to major in psychology instead of realizing it two years into college. This would allow myself to get a head start into my current degree and would prevent me from wasting time with introductory engineering courses. I would also tell myself to take courses over the summer as much as possible, regardless of whether I had the money or not. I would suggest paying for class on a credit card or a loan. Taking courses over the summer would have made my course load much easier now. My final suggestion for myself would be to always work hard and to keep my GPA up as much as possible. This is something that I have done since the beginning, but it is something I would stress because it is so important.