University of Florida Top Questions

When I was a high school senior, I was so ready to make the move to college that I wasn't as focused on enjoying the remainder of my high school years. I was canstantly thinking about college. While this motivated me to obtain high grades and prepare myself for college, it also made my senior year more stressful than it could have been. If I could go back in time to talk to myself as a high school sneior, I would tell myself to not rush through my senior year and to focus on the present and enjoy it. Another thing I did a lot as a high school senior was stress about college and where I would go and what I would do. I would worry that college would be to difficult or too tough of a transition. If I could go back in time, I would tell my high school senior self to not worry as much, since college is a great experience and the transition is not nearly as bad as many worry that it will be. I would tell myself to relax and not worry so much and just enjoy wherever i end up.

What can you expect from college? Expect to be tested. These tests will come in various forms, some will tests your study skills and intelligence, others will test your beliefs and resolve. You may not ace every test, hell you may not even pass some of them but you will learn from all of them. You will learn how to study: after each lecture review the notes and read the text book. You will learn how to ask for help: professors are generally willing and able to help you understand concepts during office hours, this is also a good way to get to know your professors for recommendation letters. You will learn how to make new friends: joining clubs and being active is a great way to meet new people and experience other cultures. Find and join the organizations that can help you achieve your professional goals. Finally, you will learn about yourself and you will grow. Where you are headed, countless challenges await, face them ! Don’t be afraid to take chances and make mistakes. Open yourself up to the possibilities of life, it is the only way you can succeed.

High school is a rather precarious time in ones life. Everyone in high school has the exact same problem: lack of foresight. We do not realize how easy our lives are in high school until we enter college. Although life in college is an artificial environment, it is extremely close to independent living. If I could go back in time I would tell myself to enjoy my high school experience more. All throughout high school I constantly pushed myself. I took the hardest classes, joined numerous clubs and honor societies, and played three varisity sports. Looking back on those days I really wish I had appreciated how easy I had it. My high school experience was also a tragic one, because my father had two devastating brain surgeries that have severely handicaped him. If I could, I would go back in time and tell myself to force him to go to the doctors sooner. Maybe if I had, they would have caught his brain abscess earlier and he would still be the same person today.

Given the ability to go back in time and talk to myself, I would naturally want to give warning about the mistakes I’ve made in my college career to ensure that I could manage myself accordingly to keep my social and scholar life separated and equally attended to. Hopefully, with this knowledge in mind, I can avoid situations that have affected my studies negatively, and spend more time acting to boost my studies in a positive nature. Although being social and hanging out with friends is an important part of life, it should not supersede a full-time student’s primary occupation: studying and passing classes. I have always tried to remind myself that school comes first above all else while I am in college – why pay for school if you are going to flush your grades down the toilet? Knowing how difficult it can be to schedule with a social life, my biggest piece of advice would be to manage my time appropriately, studying when I must, and having fun when all else is taken care of, stressing the importance of getting school work done first, and not after I’ve finished having fun.

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior, I would most likely tell myself to pay no mind to the troubles I have now. I would tell myself that in the future you will be faced with difficult classes, bills, and not so happy professors. I would tell myself to always consider the future and the outcome that my actions have on it. Also to work even harder in the classes im in now because when you get to college, the answer almost never comes easily or without a price. And I would tell myself to be smart and to not quit my job, cause believe me, groceries are not cheap. I would tell myself to listen more carefully to the advice and "useless" information that my high school teachers give me, cause there will be a time when I am in the same situation they warned me about, and when that time comes, I will miss their guidance. And most importantly, I would tell myself not to worry too much; that everything will work out in the end, no matter how hard things seem at the time, they always get better.

Looking back on being a high school senior, the avice that I would give myself is to take a few Dual Enrollment courses in high school. I was a part of the AICE ( Cambridge ) program and I received college credit through that, but the amount of people that brought in credit through dual enrollment are further ahead in their college credits. I would also tell myself to stay on track and make sure I am actually learning the material rather than just trying to pass the class because that is one thing you have to learn early on in your college years. I would tell myself to take school even more seriously and make sure that nothing stands in my way of acheiving what I want to achieve.

Knowing what I now know about College, there are many times I wish that I could turn back time and give myself advice. Even though there are a lot things that I would like to say, I believe that there is one piece of advice that could topple them all. Don't be afraid of your failures, and more importantly, don't believe you have failed simply because it is what you are told. Failure is something that is only attainable through the negative thought that you are not accomplishing what is expected of you. You can not live life on the basis of meeting the expectations of others. Just becuase there may be a change in your dreams and asparations doesn't make you worse, it makes you different. You need to do what you know in your heart will make you happy, even if others look at that happiness as dissapointing and undesirable. College is a time of exploration and excitement, be open to new ideas and be yourself. In the words of Douglas Adams: "I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be."

To date college has definitely given me a different perspective on things. My senior year in high school was anything but great. I struggled academically with a GPA under 2.0 and needed at least a D on an English final exam that I thought I did poorly on. Turns out I got a C which was enough to raise my GPA to a 2.0 and walk across the stage with my peers. Thinking I wasn't able to get into a good school with such poor grades I enrolled in Broward College determined to get a degree but not necessarily with a major in mind. Upon taking classes I found a real interest in psychology from taking the course with an amazing professor. Throughout school I had a real interest in increasing my overall intellect in math, reading and writing; something that wasn't in my thought process in high school. With one, maybe two obstacles, I was able to obtain my Associate degree in psychology with honors. So after providing you with a 3 year synopsis I would tell a younger me to be patient, develop a thirst for knowledge and manage my time well.

If I could go back, I would tell myself that college is not about who is the smartest or the most well-rounded; those who excel in college are the ones who put forth the effort. A person's determination to succeed is how you can tell whether or not they will do well in school.

I know that right now you feel as if your not to smart enough for college and that your not ready. I know you feel as if working is your best option but trust me its not. You are smart enough and you are ready. It wont be easy but you will see that its worth it and that with a little hard work you can do it. I believe in you and I need you to believe in yourself. I promise you wont regret it. Your smarter than you think, I know your thinking of community college but you can do a 4 year college. Have faith in yourself and you will do just fine, trust me. Just go for it.

I would go to a school that was excited to have me as a student, and where I did not feel like just a number. I would have also choosen a school with more diversity, because in college your mindset and ambitions change and I would have rather been on a campus that offered that.

Knowing what I know now about college life, I would tell my past self to not worry so much about choosing a major or a career. College is a time for finding yourself and exploring who you are as a person and what it is you enjoy doing. The main goal is to find the thing that inspires you; you need to be able to wake up in the morning and say "I love what I do," regardless of how much the work pays, regardless of your level of success, or the prestige you aquire. In life, happiness is key, and college is the time to find out what it is that makes you happy. Plan FAR ahead in regards to financial aid, because the process can be tedious and long, but don't sweat the small stuff. A career isn't everything. If you do what makes you happy, (and make sure your financial aid is in order), the rest will follow. College isn't as hard as you think it is, especially when you enjoy what you're doing, and your proud of what you accomplish at the end of the day.

I would definitely advise myself to have done more laundry! As trivial and strange as that may sound compared to the magnitude of other more difficult transitions, I was really thrown off. Being so far from home? I was ready for that. Taking classes where three multiple choice tests made up my grade? I was prepared for that too. Spending a good majority of my time studying my life away cooped up in the library? I did that all of high school anyway. It was the simple task of doing my own laundry that baffled me. I was a wreck the first time I had to do it alone. Having done it with my mom for years, I never bothered to check the settings for different clothing types or anything like that. If I could go back and tell myself to be more observant for the little things in life that adults have to handle, such as the dreadful laundry, I would jump at the chance.

I would tell myself not to be so quick to become a realist. You have the rest of your adult life to tackle all your responsibilities and college life should be included in your youthful adventures and take more time to have fun throughout college and not take every single day so seriously. And most of all, never give up playing soccer because one day you'll be playing the "What If" game wondering how different your life would be if you were a professional soccer player instead of a future accountant. Both are rewarding careers but your true love will always be soccer and you should never have given that dream up. Also learn to say no to your older sister every time she asks for you to pay for rent because she has a job and just needs to learn that buying clothes and purses and going to Disneyworld are luxuries that should come after paying for rent and utilities.

If I could go back in time and talk to myself about my college life, life for me now would most likely be totally different. I would say to take my work more seriously than I did and to take more inititive in aquiring the things I wanted. I could have skipped the grey area of trying to figure out what type of major I wanted to do and how I would go about completing it. I would write down a well structered list of ideas and events that I neglected to act on and tell myself to work hard to finish them. Not only would I tell myself about the academic side of college, I would also tell myself of the social aspects too. I'd tell myself not to worry about whether making new friends is hard or easy because I've found out that most college kids are very cool with people who have different personalities from the norm. The last statement I would say is dedication and determination can go a long way during college because those two attributes will keep you focused and set you up to accomplish the goals you are trying to complete.

If I could go back and give myself advice as a high school senior, I would emphasize the importance of spending money wisely and managing time. Currently I am attending a two year college while working a part time job that demands nearly fourty hours a week. I need the money to pay bills and college expenses but struggle finding time to accomplish all my tasks in a timely fasshion; this is my main source of frustration about college life. If I had of saved more money during high school instead of spending on what I thought was important back then, I might not have to work as many hours to support myself now. This information would have been helpful, but I am succeeding now nontheless. You live and you learn: that's the magic of life.

I would give myself advice not to expect everything that I had heard about college before. RAs won't be around, not everyone is friendly, and the administration just may not care. You'll have to make it on your own, but you can do it, if you relax and try to make new friends.

Do not be afriad. College is an experience that many people only have the oportunity to experience once in their lifetime and it is up to you to make it the experience you want it to be. There should be very little dauting during this time period because it is where you place a value on yourself; it is where you become the person you always hope you would grow up to be as it is the beginning of a new chapter in your life. There is no better feeling that being rewarded for something you worked hard at, but the only time you will ever be rewarded is when you take risks and become focused on completing the task to your best ability. Risks should never be feared but always proceeded with caution as rushing things has never worked since we all tend to forget and skip a step, which could cause problems later on. Thus, don't rush things and never fear because the only thing to fear in this world is fear itself.

Assume the unexpected. Students come in believing that they will be doctors, lawyers, and the like and tend to be shocked when they stray from their paths. However, college is not just about the degrees and the prestige of becoming PhDs and MDs. Colleges are oftentimes the institutions that help students “find themselves”. Enrolling in a university opens the opportunities for students to explore numerous fields and the diversity of classes will assist students in picking up on the aspects of their potential that will signal new future ambitions. So expect the unexpected, but still expect to be exceptional.

I would tell myself not to be afraid to try new things and that in order to truly experience life you shouldn't always assume that something unfortunate is going to happen. Furthermore, I would tell myself to chalk any bad experience up to life and simply keep on living. Getting used to a new place and new people isn't always easy and that's why it is so important to just put yourself out there. What you must keep telling yourself is that everyone has been where you are at one point, and is capable of empathizing with any apprehension you may feel and that because of this you should not be deterred from living the life that you envision yourself leading. College is a chance for you to completely re-invent yourself if that is something you desire. Go ahead and make the best of it, because it goes by quickly. Ultimately you find yourself ready to graduate and wonder where all the time went. Make memories you will cherish forever and never be afraid to just go for it.