University of Colorado Boulder Top Questions

College is a wonderful place, opportunities are endless and everywhere. You can study nearly any topic you can think of and research deeply into said topic. There are clubs that meet for reasons from politics to video games and everything in between. To go to college is not something you will be disappointed with. That is, if you apply yourself, with all these opportunities there are many more distractions. If you come to college to party, you will have a great time but your grades will suffer and so will your involvement with the community.

If I could talk to my high school self before entering college I would tell myself to not worry about finding life long relationships immediately and to focus on school and surrounding yourself with people that encourage you. When first entering college, it is easy to feel lost and lonely among a bunch of people that you don't know and the desire to find connect with people as soon as possible is strong. I have learned in my years at school that friends change, but your dreams and aspirations should't. It is easy to allow the wrong people into your life that will alone distract and discourage you from succeeding in school and the rest of your relationships. If you can be strong, patient, and focus on your education the rest will fall into place.

Take a gap year! There's really no rush to be in college and going to Israel for the year would be a much better experience. I know you just came back from New Zealand less than a year ago, but college in Boulder is not what you think it's going to be. Go on Nativ or another program and experience being an adult while not being in a school system. Next year will be the beginning of your life as an adult so don't waste time being somewhere you don't want to be and doing something you don't want to be doing. Be with the people you love and love you the most. Apply for college in the north east where you really want to be and live for most of your life. Make the best of your senior year and continue being who you are since you were always great at that and don't waste a single moment of your life. Be happy.

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior I would approach myself and say "Look, life isn't easy and neither is college. Learn to let go of your past and move on, more motivated and stronger than you were before genuinely happy that you had the experience. College is not a giant party and it will take hardwork to learn the material to pass your classes. Don't be eager to get anywhere, enjoy how easy high school is, and know when you get to college, life will throw obstacles in your way. The excess time you spend wasting on video games is time you could spend proving to yourself that you are smart and entirely capable of doing great things with your life. All you have to do is wake up and decide you're ready to make that change."

I would tell myself to manage my time better and plan my classes better to set myself up for success.

I would tell my high school self two large pieces of advice. The first would be to stop being a procrastinator. In college, assignments come at you left and right and the due dates sneak up on you so fast. No longer do you get three weeks to write a four page essay, you might get three days. No longer do you have one big assignment a month, you have four big assignments a week. The second piece of advice I would give myself would be to really hone in on time management skills. Even though, four or five classes seem like nothing to a highschooler, they are a lot of work in college. I would want to make sure my highschool self understood classes do not mean go to class and maybe have some homework; they mean going to lecture, taking notes, reading, taking more notes, studying, and taking even more notes. If I had that advice as a high schooler I do not think the transition to college would have been such a shock.

If I could travel back and have a chat with the high school version of myself I would have a few tidbits of advise to give. First off college is going to be an overwhelming but ultimately awesome experience so have a plan of attack going in. Make sure you join clubs and get involved with various organizations that seem important to you, this is a great way to meet people outside of your major who you still have similar interests with. Don't be afraid to go to office hours and get to know your professors and TA's. They are no where near as scary as they seem, they truly want to help and will be extremely appreciative that you care enough about the subject they are teaching to come in and get some extra assistance when you need it. Also make sure you try extremely hard to get good grades in the introductory courses you take in the beginning of your college career so you have a nice GPA buffer when you reach higher-level more challenging courses. Lastly make sure you still enjoy yourself these will be some of the best years of your life.

If I could go back to when I was a senior in high school then I would tell myself that first I was going to do a great job. Although school can get tough and there will be times when you feel like giving up, you must keep moving forward because there will be a glorious end. Also I would tell myself to focus on the little things like applying for scholarships and looking for ways on how to save money because I was too confident that I forgot to apply for other financial aid. This would come to hurt you in later time. Also take this year to learn how to manage your time because that will be important in college. All the learning and work is not enforced by the teachers and they could care less whether you pass or fail and that is why you must teach yourself to open the textbook out of freewill and study. You must prepare now for college because soon it will be too late and there will be nothing you can do to fix it.

If I could go back in time, I would tell myself I made the right choice to drop out of school in 10th grade becasue my mother refused to pay rent on our house and we became homeless for the third time during the two short years i attened highschool. if i had attempted to continue to go to highschool i know i would have never been able to graduate. Getting my GED allowed me to go straight to college and everyone says college is harder then highschool but they are wrong ive done better in college then i ever could have done in highschool. After getting my GED i started relying only on myself because at that time i realized i was the only one who could support myself and keep me from being homeless. I would tell myself to keep your head up one day you will be the first in the family to get a degree and prove i can do anything i set my mind to, and not to give up things are tough but they will get better and having an education will make things much easier as i grow and mature even more.

To my high-school self: I would tell myself that i should work a little bit harder. That high school really in't that bad, and no matter how dull it might seem, you're still going to miss it someday. High School only happens once, i should try to make it the best i can. Every opportunity is important, and even though no one tells you, each one has a purpose. Never stop learning.