University of Nevada-Reno Top Questions

If I were able to go back in time and talk to myself during my senior year of high school about the transition to college, I would tell myself that time management, good study habits, and communicating with your professors are the keys to success. Stay persistent during the entire semester so that you ensure you get the grade that you want in the end. Build friendships and connections that will last you a lifetime. Socialize with as many people as you can, you never know who can become an ally. Get involved in clubs and organizations on campus and maximize your college experience. Don't allow yourself to get distracted from the original task at hand, remember what you are there for. Treat every assignment like it's a final project. Strive to get on the Dean's List, and get involved with the school's newspaper. Do everything possible to start your career now.

College has been tough, and from these past four and a half years, I can give you one SINGLE solid piece of advice. No matter how bad you fall, no matter how many failures you encounter, you can always find a way to pick yourself back up. That’s how I’m able to write to you right now. I know you want to do everything all at once, because this will be an entirely new experience for you. I also know you’ll rush into it all without thinking twice (I would know that best about you). From not getting a good grade in an extra tough class to taking on too many clubs and organizations, you will make TONS of mistakes. Your transcript won’t look stellar, and you’ll get a few hour long chiding lessons from club advisors for problems. You will learn and grow from each of these defeats. Not only will you become a great leader in Circle K International, but you'll also join the wonderful brotherhood of Alpha Kappa Psi! You’ll become a great man as you will a student as long as you learn to pick yourself up.

DO. NOT. WAIT. TO. APPLY. TO. SCHOLARSHIPS. That is the biggest thing I messed up on senior year. I applied to colleges and everything on time, but I totally skipped applying for scholarships. That was dumb, senior me.

Dear Monique, Now it is the time to go big or go home. Start researching everything you want to know. Learn to let school work wait until after you acomplish your own personal goals. You need to have personal plan, ones you can plan out, and see accomplished in your situation. Don't wait to be social, talk outside of school. Find what makes you happy, and find out where that happens in the real world. Learn new things, and create a better study ethic, NOW! You will need skills necessary for fast paced study in college, to get ahead. You'll need to know how to talk to people you do not know, learn how to be comfortable with yourself as well as others. To make things easier from high school to college, I would do a few auditions for the violin, and I would visit the campus, talk to the other graduated seniors there. These are the people to help you into your first year of college. Don't be afraid of what you might do wrong, becauese it'll stop you from doing what you can do right after high school. Good luck! Yours forever, Me

Knowing what I know about the college scene now. I would give myself invaluable advice about studying ethic. Not only should the time you spend studying be simply looking through a book, or staring at a computer screen that contains the information you need to know, it should be time you spend truly comprehending the material. From what I have experianced, it is more worth while to truly understand one section of material than to have a vague understaning of ten sections. It is the in depth knowledge of a subject that will provide you with the information needed to succeed over a shallow view on a broad spectrum of information. All in all, give everything your best, but always know to focus on the main points and not the superfluous mass.

l know l will make it.

My advice to myself would be to prepare a lot more. I came from a family that pushed the value of education because they did not have the opportunity to receive higher education. I did not know much about higher education when I was a high school student and neither did my parents. I only knew that you have to know what schools you want to apply to, write essays and pay a fee to apply, and then have a degree choice when you do apply. It sounds naive, but this is very true. Not once did I consider how important grades were or doing research on the university costs and basic requirements to get admitted. It was not until my junior year in high school when I became more serious and pushed myself to obtain above a 3.0 and by then it was too late. College is an amazing opportunity for one to have, but it’s not as easy to get there if you don’t prepare. My concluding advice to myself is to have planned immensely for college and prepared myself mentally and academically the moment I stepped foot on campus as a high school freshman.

If I could go back and talk to myself as a senior I would give a plethora of advice that not many others contemplate about even as 40 year old adults. Being in college has been an extremely magnificent introspective and maturing experience that I wouldn't trade for the world. Before I went to college I never made the connection of all the physical sciences and how they relate to the world, fueling my passion to learn. I have had profound thoughts and experiences which are shaping me into a marvelous gentelman I know my deceased father would love to have seen me become. Having a mother with early onset Alzheimers has also matured me immensely these past few years and I continue to make her proud. I have been very active in college as president of the Medical Club and Senator for student government which has immensely imrpoved my college experience. If I could go back to high school and tell my past self what to do I would tell them. Get scholarships so your mother isn't struggling to make ends meat, help people, get involved with clubs, be patient, and READ THE TEXTBOOK!

I would tell myself to take more initiative as I have witnessed that it has actually helped. Answer class questions, participate in discussion, ask questions to clarify, and most importantly build a relationship with your teachers. They can help you in various ways, the most obvious being education, but one that is overlooked is their relationship with other teachers/organizations which may help you in securing scholarships, job opportunities, and can help in building a diverse network of peers and mentors.

Time, time is your most valuable asset. Higher education waits for no man, if it's the goal, truly desired, than stop at nothing to achieve it. They say "if you don't use it you lose it" after awhile you start to forget it all becomes fuzzy, the simple tasks become impassible mountains. I'd leave my past self with only this that determination and hard work are the only way forward, the only way to reach the top.