University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Top Questions

If I was able to travel back in time, I would give the high school senior version of me the advice to be more outgoing. The transition from high school to college is overwhelming, and I wish I would have been more confident. I would tell former-me that college gives you the opportunity to meet many new people, and that you need to take advantage of that in the first couple weeks of school. I would also explain the difficulty of college classes, and how necessary it is to study after every lecture instead of procrastinating and studying before the test (which works for most high school students). Lastly, I would encourage myself to get more involved. In the first couple days of school, I was intimidated due to my freshman status, and afraid to try new things. I wish I could restart college with the new found confidence and initiative that I have developed throughout first semester.

The advice I would give my senior-year me, is that high school was great, but college is so much more than that. In college you are going to find life long friends. You are going to change. Your senior year is very important. It's a time to cherish the time at home and with friends, but a time to prepare yourself to open your mind and think differently. In college, they aren't going to just tell you the answers. They help you figure them out. You use your critical thinking skills. Prepare for this. Don't go in thinking you don't need to study. You may have skated by in High School, but college is a whole new ball game. Most of all, prepare to find yourself. You change and find out who you are. You don't have to be afraid that people won't like you, because at college there is always someone who likes or identifies with you. There is always someone who feels the same way you do. You just need to find them while you are finding yourself.

I would tell myself that the weight of the world does not rest upon my shoulders. My parents got a divorce when I was in seventh grade and during my senior year of high school, my father took my mother to court in order to lower the amount of money he had to pay for child support. My mother is an incredible woman; while my father enjoyed the luxury of vacations to Mexico and very little work, she worked sixty hours a week and knitted hats in her spare time to provide for my brother and I. Late in my senior year of high school, I decided that I would pay for all of my college tuition and room and board to help relieve some of the financial burden placed upon her. During this time of my life, I felt an enormous amount of pressure to succeed at everything I did and to work as many jobs as I could when I wasn't studying. This made the transition to college particularly difficult, as I felt useless without a job and income. I would love to tell myself back then that making ends meet isn't impossible.

If I could visit myself during my high school senior year, there is some significant advice that I?d give myself. First of all, I would tell myself that the first few weeks of school will be some of the most emotionally taxing days of your life. I didn?t realize how tough it would be for me to say goodbye to everything and everyone I knew. I?d also tell myself not to be afraid to start a new life. I was so afraid of drifting apart from my old friends that at some times I didn?t want to make new ones. Now I realize that I should work hard to keep in touch with my best friends, but falling out of contact with most of my high school friends is inevitable. Lastly, I would tell myself to take advantage of any opportunity to meet new people. Making new friends can happen at any time and in any situation.

I would tell myself not to worry about all the small things, such as who your roommate is and what your class schedule is like. In the end none of that really matters. You give yourself the power to make friends with whoever you want and to succeed as much as you choose in classes. It's not worth all the stressing and tension that people agonize on for days, maybe even months, building up to their departure. I would tell myself just to relax and play everything by ear. Everyone else on campus is in the same boat you are and are just looking to have a good time and get an education. Simply, that's all it comes down to.

If I could go back and talk to myself as a high school senior I'd tell myself to re-evaluate my expectations for college. My transition into college was exactly what I expected which turned tou to be a bad thing. I did not take my classes as seriously as I could and so I've paid the price for that. Perhaps the most important thing I'd like to tell myself it to ease my way into college. Knowing what you want to do in college is overrated. There's something to be said for taking your time to examine what it is that you really want to study and then go for it. I think a lot of people come in to college and miss out on everything it has to offer when they don't take the time to look around. College is about self-discovery and not just about the grade. Taking the general education classes is not a waste of time and can very well lead you to an area of study that you find extremely interesting. Once you've found something you're inspired to do, studying isn't a chore anymore.

Study every night except friday and saterday, make the classes work for you don't work to strech yourself for the classes and focus on your morals and not those of your friends

I made the perfect choice by attending tech school to complete my general classes and then transferred to UW-LaCrosse. That worked out well for me, and happy that is the course I took.

The advice I would give myself would be to take my time choosing a school and really consider it a big decision. I based my decision solely on which school had the lowest tuition that I got into. I could have gone to Marquette University and been on the track to become a dentist, but I decided to go with the lower priced UW-LaCrosse. Not only have I changed my major, but have started to really regret making this decision. I would have told myself to go with my gut feelings on which school I really wanted to attend. I feel as though I would have been more passionate about going to school at a different University instead of saving money at a different one. However, I believe that I have chosen a great field (Radiation Therapy) to get into, and am really excited to start my program and get right into my career! I also would remind myself that everything will be okay, just stay dedicated to school and really aim to succeed!

If I had the opportunity to talk to my high school self knowing what I know have learned about college, I would encourage myself to be very involved on campus and strive to build a healthy, academic-centered realtionship with my campus. I would also suggest that I spend more time studying class material ahead of time as to ensure I am fully understanding and remembering the subject matter discussed in class, which will later be applied to my preferrred professional enviornment. Lastly, I would tell myself that college is a time to find out more about yourself than ever before. College is an amazing experience where you can create life-long friendships with peers and professors, and grow individually and ultimately become the person you are striving to be.