University of Maryland-University College Top Questions

Encourage myself to continue to endure the hardships that I have faced. Tell myself to avoid sex because it will lead to pregnancy which intern will alter my future life, and increase the hardships that I will have to deal with first providing for the child and myself. Also I will tell myself that school must be the first priority in life for any young person that including myself. Going back to school and/or college after giving birth to a child/children is not an option at all. You can not juggle being a mother let alone single parent; being a student; an employee; care-taker etc. without performing any of the tasks poorly. So I will caution myself to first wait and stay in school until I get the degree at least Bachelors before thinking about men.

If I could go back in time to my high school years, I would tell myself to prepare for the future. When I was in high school, I took it for granted and didn't think about my future. I lived in the now, and told myself that I will deal with college when the time comes. If I could go back in time, I would tell myself to take college level classes. I would take as many advanced placement and college level classes so I could get most of them out of the way. It would of made my transition to college much sooner and I would probably have received a lot more scholarships to ease the burden of the cost of college.

I would tell myself that there is nothing to be afraid of and that everything has its ways of working themselves out. Finances are not an excuse, there are so many programs out there and scholarship opportunities, all you have to do is take the time to research them and apply. There is also nothing wrong with starting out at a community college, it costs less and you meet so many people from so many different backgrounds. College may be a lot of work but the expierence you gain, the people you meet, and the education you recieve are well worth it in the end. You can balance having fun with making sure to get you work done and take care of your responsibilities, but know what you get out of your education is all about what you are willing to put into it. There is more to your education than just passing a class, it's all about what you learn from it and the information you take with you and use in the future.

There are so many things I would like to have known then that I know now. My senior year was pretty productive since I only went to high school half a day and took college courses in the morning. I wish I would have warned myself that being a high school student in Community College courses, the teachers took it a little easier on me. I would have liked to know that leanancy is definitely not in the vocabulary of a state college professor. Timelines are more strict and a due date is really a due date. I would have loved to just prepare myself for a more strict time schedule and maybe purchase a few extra organizers and schedulers before coming to school. I would also let myself know that effort really does matter and spending that extra study night hitting the books makes all the difference come test time. Studying the night before doesn't cut it in college, and funny thing is, the stuff I learned in high school classes is the stuff they refer to in college classes. I wish I would have known to actually pay a bit more attention.

I faced many self inflicted challenges as a college student, so the most important advice I would instill in myself would be to never give up. It sounds cliche, but these three words could have changed my life. It took 12 years to obtain my bachelor's because I gave up. After completing my associate's degree in two years, I transferred to UMUC to begin working toward my bachelor's degree. Upon transferring I became pregnant, and since UMUC is a college designed for working adults this should not have been a problem. Unfortunately, I never made enough time for my studies. As a result I withdrew from classes, failed classes, was put on academic probation and eventually was discharged. After years of feeling like a failure I decided to go back to school. I had to write numerous letters begging for reinstatement, and thankfully, was eventually allowed to return. That was almost four years ago. Since then I have completed my degree and am now in my third semester of graduate studies. Even though my educational career is now on track, I am still paying back student loans for classes I never completed; all because I gave up.

As a high school senior, I would look at my grades and be sure that I was doing my absolute best in high school and also would apply for grants, scholarships and financial aid every year in a timely fashion and talk to my high school counselor about fields of study and look at what majors offer the best choice of career opportunity for me!

Knowing what I know now about college, I would tell my high school self to really get yourself together. There is no such thing as being overly prepared for college. The most difficult part of college is being able to become a well rounded person, and it isn't something that teachers teach in high school, but is knowledge gained at home. Being able to manage a job, volunteering, completing clinicals for a class, and school work all together is frustrating and it will seem like the world is crashing on you. While the world is crashing on you, try to find things in school or outside of school that makes you feel better about yourself. I find challenges to be very difficult but can also make you feel accomplished. Overcoming a challenge gives you such a great feeling that you have never felt, but remember that it just means that there is an even greater challenge to face. Overall, get yourself together, and know what you want to do. Don't let the harshness of college make you forget why you went in the first place, but make something better out of it.

There is not much I would change about my life because I believe everything happens for a reason, but I would change the amount of attention I gave to my teachers in high school. I have wasted much time and money taking courses in college that I should have learnt in high school if I had paid attention. I am ashamed to say that at many times in my higher education I was taking courses that should have been refresher classes, but to me they were first time knowledge because I was too busy in high school goofing off to learn when the education was free. I would definitely smack my high school self to pay attention to the valuable knowledge. I must say I love learning now!

Looking back, I would advise my younger self to take more AP courses and focus more on my academics. I did not get poor grades, but I do regret not applying to more scholarship opportunities before graduating. Also, I would strongly encourage myself to participate in even more extra curricular activities, both for the boost on college applications and for the experience one attains by being a part of their community.

You can do it! There is a lot of help available at the schools and you do not need to start by looking for help at home. It is so worthwhile to do this and invest in yourself. It is much different from high school. You can choose your classes and direction. You can follow your interests. It's a lot of fun and can teach you so much more about yourself. There is a lot more out there than you realize and you are going to want every second you have to be able to explore it all. There is so much more than the small frame of reference you have experienced. You can do whatever you choose. Great or small, let it be your choice, not the decision of your circumstance. Go for it!