University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Top Questions

If I were to talk to myself from only a year ago, I think I would be able to give myself some good advice for the first year of college to come. Lately I have been feeling a small amount of regret that I didn?t participate in more sports during high school. I played baseball throughout but that was it. I would tell my former self to go ahead and play basketball and possibly football as well. I feel as though it would have been a good experience to play these sports because I would have been used to becoming friends with brand new people, even though I would have known some of my high school teammates. A Second piece of advice I would give would be start reading more. During my first semester at college, I had a lot of large reading assignments that could have been made much easier from simply having spent more time reading before hand. I am not a terrible reader, however I feel like a little more practice would have made my first semester much more likeable, because I would have spent less time reading and rereading a handful of selections.

If I went back to my senior self, I would inform of my life academically, socially, and the transition. Academically, I would tell myself not to take for granted those words of my teachers warning me of college and the extreme work load. All the work is there only to better me. I would tell myself to remain calm and do not stress because there is always help readily available. For my social life, I would tell myself to stay who I was, am, and always will be, John Lim, and not to change my attitude or act any different. My life is definitely changed due to college, yet I will say stay faithful to my beliefs, do the best to my abilities, and be proud; just because it is college does not mean that I have to become someone else. For the transition, I would tell myself the truth ??warts and all? (Cromwell) that it is going to be tough but once adjusted, all shall be well. I will leave on a final note that college is definitely challenging but simultaneously, worth every single time and effort put into it, after all, it is the beginning of my future.

I probably would not have roomed with three other guys from my high school. The U of I is so big and full of new people and experiences, and I think that already having a strong group of friends, while supportive, also can limit one's exposure to things they didn't think they enjoyed. Variety is the spice of life, and the core of man's existence comes from new experience. So if you are planning to live with a good friend, I would suggest you think twice. You can always try and get your dorm room located in the same residence hall as your friends, and that way some of your new roommates might be added to your group!

If I could go back in time I would tell myself to be me, and stay true to who I am and my beliefs. You shouldn't have to change for anybody or a certain group of friends because if you do, maybe those aren't the friends for you. I would also share the importance of using every available resource around me, whether it be for financial purposes or just networking for the future. That is what these people are here for, to help put me in a better position so use them!. And the most important thing I would tell myself is to GET OUT OF YOUR SHELL! Get out of your comfort zone, be uncomfortable, life isn't always about being comfortable. You have to get yourself out there so that people can know who you are, learn to network. You may across an employee of your dream job, you have to know how to sell yourself.

I know a plethora of facts about college now than I did when I was a senior. I realize now that I was very unprepared for college. If I could go back in time and give myself some advice there are a few key college concepts I would try to make myself realize. First, I would tell myself that college classes cover material at a much faster rate than college. I need to be ready to learn every day I walk into a classroom and review the material after I walk out. Second, I would tell myself to keep a positive attitude and think proactively no matter what happens. Going from high school to college is a massive transition and I would meet many challenges along the way, but staying positive would help me make the change and adjust better. I will not be able to control every situation, but I can control how I handle those situations. Finally, I would tell myself to keep in mind the goal I have of having a good job in the future. No matter how much I love or hate college, I am utimately there for one reason: build a better future.

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior, there are two things I would advise myself knowing what I know now about college life and making the transition. The first thing is knowing that I'll receive a refund from the university for whatever scholarship/financial aid money is not used at the beginning of each semester. A few days before the first semester of my freshman year, I checked my bank account balance and saw more digits than I had ever seen in my account. I was surprised and thought someone was playing a trick on me. I thought there had to have been some kind of mistake. That wasn't the case as I would soon figure out. Also, go to as many events on campus and meet as many people as I possibly can. Step outside of my comfort zone. Yes, academics are important. That's the main reason why people go to college - to further their education. However, lets be real. People also attend college to make new friends and discover more things they had no knowledge of before. College comes once. Make the most of it!

Don?t bring so much stuff! This would be the first, and most important, piece of information I would give if I could talk to myself as a high school senior. The size of my dorm room was something I drastically overestimated. Even the closet, which I thought would be 3 feet wide at the least, turn out to be just the opposite: significantly less. I would tell my high school self that my room at home is not going to go anywhere and that it will not hurt to leave some things in it. When living in a 10 by 12 foot room with another person, the tiniest bit of open space makes such a difference. The second most important piece of advice I would not be able to stress enough is to get involved. Joining clubs and participating in events is so important when trying to make friends. People generally will not approach you. Make an effort to get involved and talk to peers. If I could stress these two pieces of advice to myself as a high school senior, I believe my first semester of college would have been a more clutter-free and enjoyable experience.

I went into the University of Illinois as a Biochemistry major but will graduate majoring in Integrative Biology (IB). My roommates followed the typical pre-professional path, but I was more interested in learning about our environment. While my roommates see these last four years as a blur, I vividly recollect IB labs where we dissected octopuses and caught Bluegills at local streams using just our bare hands at first before we moved on to using nets . Instead of having a mundane academic experience, I followed my interests to have four memorable college years. College is independence. It is during these short years that we focus on our interests to turn those interests into a career. Several new opportunities are presented to us and it is our responsibility to broaden our mindset through the opportunities; use college as a tool to explore these opportunities to not only characterize who you are, but also, define the type of vocation you covet to concentrate on for the reminder of your life. Pursue your passion and your dreams will be fulfilled. These memories obtained from this fulfillment are worth more than any career decision made solely on the basis of achieving materialistic values.

I would tell myself to better focus on time management skills my last year of high school. It was something that I did not have to deal much with because in high school I felt like I had all the time in the world. Then, my first year of college, time flew by. There were so many late nights and frantic moments. I feel like I could have better prepared for the transition if I had practiced time management more.

Going back in time would be extremely beneficial. If I could warn myself of the high cost of college in addition to the bills for books and other expenses I would have. I would have told myself that babysitting every day in the summer from morning till afternoon would not be enough. I wish I could have told myself to take on a night job as well, like waitressing at a restaurant every single day untill late. Planning out the summer a lot better to fill up my spare time in order to save more money would have been better. Also, working five times a week throughout my junior and senior year proved to only last me enough for books for my freshman year in college where each semester of books costs about $500. Explaining to myself that stressing out about money would become a great issue in the future would have made me laugh in high school, but atleast I would have warned myself ahead of time. I cannot wait for my intense schedule of working this summer to make as much mone as I can to put toward all of my loans.