University of San Francisco Top Questions

Write down your dream; the reason you are going to school, what you hope to achieve there, and what you want to be able to do after you graduate. Nothing is too far-fetched, trivial or embarrassing for this particular letter to yourself. Put the letter in a special box under your bed (or on top of the microwave, or rolled up in the pocket of the coat you never wear ? dorms are awfully squishy). This way, on those particular Mondays when you think you failed the Chemistry test, your roommate kept you up too late talking on the phone, or your just miss the way your mom?s famous chocolate chip cookies taste, you can dig up your dream and remember why all this hard work is worthwhile. And if going to school for a few semesters has changed the way you look at the world, even better ? just add to your letter and remember that with enough hard work and the right lucky penny, everything is achievable.

If I could go back to give myself advice as a highschool senior, I would start off by telling myself not to be so hard on myself. I realize now that their are so many opportunities and different paths of success for people of all skill sets. Everyone has this idea of what a successful person looks like and in highschool this mostly consists of perfect grades and extracurricular activities. I would tell myself that you will go to college, meet new people, become inspired and find your niche. I would tell myself that you will find your passion and be great at it as long as you work hard and you truely love what you are doing and you have an open mind. As long as you love what you are doing and have an open mind to continue learning there will be passion and you will be successful.

If I knew what I do now when I was a senior in high school, choosing a college would have been a lot easier. In terms of my choice of school, I could not have picked better. The transition from high school to college is difficult for everyone, and that is the one area I would have warned myself about. Living alone with no supervision is liberating and exciting at first, but it is important to think about the responsibility that comes with it. I would definitely tell myself to focus on balancing my social life with school, because that was difficult for me last year. Most importantly, I would warn myself about the changes in my relationship with my parents. As a kid, I looked to my parents for answers and rules; now they are here for guidance and advice instead. Although returning to some of their rules on vacation can be tough, I have learned to love our new relationship.

It?s not about the reputation, the prestige, or even the location. Having a great college experience where you?re pushed to learn is most possible at schools with a close nit community. Small liberal arts colleges provide you with opportunities to build close relationships with students and professors. These opportunities are inevitable not sought. In these communities people are there for the same reasons and many you build relationships with care about you, they help push you to do better, but not in a competitive sense. Within the tight nit community you build lifelong bonds. You are forced by professors to discuss, reason, and problem solve. The people that you build relationships with won?t let you fall through the cracks if you show you?re there to learn. I cherish the relationships I made at my small school and will accredit any success I create for myself to the professors who taught me how to reason and think logically, the professors who encouraged me to question the rules and what is generally accepted. They are who taught me how to think not just learn and know. That is what I?ll apply to every aspect of my life.

The most important thing about choosing a school is the location. The school must be located in a place that is conducive to both the students academia and his/her social life. Unwinding from a difficult week is just as important as the hardcore studying. Both are necessary in achieving great grades.

VISIT the school and maybe attend a class; spend at least two days there getting to know the school, people, and surrounding area

Love the city that you are going to, and take every opportunity to go abroad. I highly recommend homestays.

Finding the right college may be difficult, but I guarantee that it's possible. Get as much help from your college counselor as possible because they know what they're doing and just want to help you. My college counselor really helped me choose my college. Make a list of everything you expect from your future college, starting from what state/city you want to go to school in, possible majors, tuition budget, and the list goes on. This will help you narrow down schools. Make sure you do enough research about universities because you want to know as much as possible about them before making your final decision. Get an early start with college applications and don't procrastinate. Start writing your essays, asking teachers for recommendations and getting your transcripts and all that needs to be done. Pretend as if they're due a month before the actual date. That way, you'll get them done ahead of time. As for the college experience, just enjoy being at a new school. Don't take on too much because school is your main focus, but remember to have fun once in awhile!

One day, as I sat around my room trying to figure out how I felt about my college exerience, I had a few thoughts on what I had done right and what I had done wrong in finding a college. Overall, before I came to college, I envisioned myself as an athlete and then as a student. My GPA coming out of high school greatly limited my choice in schools because I relied on coaches and not my own abilities to get into college. After that I knew very little about majors and how to succeed in college. My best experiences in college were doing well in classes and making lifelong friends. My worst experience was varsity sports. To minimize the negatives and maximize the positives I would advise the student to get himself into school and to not rely on anybody else. Coaches can manipulate you but if you are where you want to be then it wont take as much of a toll on your mind and body. Above all take risks by attempting to meet new people and by experiencing new things. Find out who you are, not who everybody else wants you to be.

The environment in which you study is just as important as the institution that you will attend. If you are not satisfied with the people around you and your living situation why study there? College is more than just school, it is usually the time of one's life and it is up to you to chose the best setting.