University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Top Questions

I would tell my high school self to take a deep breath and relax. I was, and sometimes still am, the type of person that wanted everything planned out to the last minute. I was a little uptights and very focused on my goals. During these past four years I have learned to relax and go with the flow. My best memories are when I little go of my fears and didn't overthink what I was doing. Everything will work out, whether you plan it out or not.

If I could go back and talk to myself as a high school senior, I would tell myself to breathe, and breathe deeply. There is no class worth stressing yourself out to the point of tears over. Your perfect school is waiting for you just a few months down the road, and the grade you got on that statistics test isn’t going to take that away. You’ve got this! It seems daunting to realize that you will be completely on your own – without your parents, your boyfriend, your best friends. But what you don’t know yet is that you won’t ever be alone, not even for a second. Everyone you love at home will always be behind you to catch you if you fall (and sometimes you will), and there are some pretty extraordinary people waiting to love you and support you from the moment you step on campus. You are intelligent, and you are strong. What you are not, however, is superhuman. You’re a person, and you will make mistakes. The most important thing is that you keep breathing and allow yourself to feel blessed each time your lungs expand. Just breathe, Elena!

Quiet, shy, and creative Jason. Don't come to college as the obnoxious freshman who thinks he can take on the world just because he made it to college! I'll tell you now, your first semester will be your hardest semester because you decided to take the maximum amount of credits and by mid-semester you dropped half of them. You were on the verge of probation one and even considered dropping out if not for the wonderful professors and advisers that reached out to wipe that crying face of yours. I'm glad that you made it to college, but take it slow! No need to rush and graduate within four years, you only get to be an undergraduate student once, so instead of worrying for the future, enjoy today! Enjoy the things that people take for granted today that they will be wishing for tomorrow. Wake up with a smile everyday and tell yourself it's going to be a great day and it will be! Explore your emotions and really come to terms with your identity because tomorrow is an abstract idea and you don't know completely what it will bring. Enjoy kiddo!

I would tell myself not to be afraid. I stayed home and went to community college my first semester. I saved alot of money, but looking back I realize how worth it it would have been to go to college right away as a freshman. I would also tell myself to focus on what I want, since this is the one time in life that you can focus entirely on yourself and follow your dreams. Also, I would remind myself to be myself and accept this experience as a fresh start because there are going to be a lot of changes and it might be scary, but embrace it because college really is so much fun! And in so many ways!

I would tell my younger self to study more and take academics more seriously because its important in college. I would tell myself to steer away from partying freshman year and instead focus on academics and making new friends. Last advice I'd give myself is to start searching for the right professor to do undergraduate research with sophmore year instead of waiting till junior year and to take academics and GPA very seriously because graduate schools expect very good GPAs.

To be honest, I am a high school senior. I have been taking college classes since I was a freshman so technically I’m a college senior as well. Although I only have enough credits to be a college sophomore. Needless to say, it was kind of difficult to fill out this survey and made it impossible to answer this question. I wish I could go a couple of months into the future however. I would ask myself where I finally decided to go to college and how I figured out how to pay for it. As for advice, if the future me is anything like I am now I probably wouldn’t be very helpful. If I could go back in time to when I was a scared freshman, scared that was going to get shanked in high school or shanked in college, things probably would have gone a lot smoother. I would tell myself college is nothing like prison (not that I know what prison’s like). I would tell myself to stop worrying so much and that all my constant panicking about grades would stunt my growth and give me ulcers.

Transitioning to college is a fun and exciting time in anyone’s life. Many high school graduates, like myself, were excited for the freedom that would come with transitioning to college, but little did I know with that freedom would come many responsibilities. After completing my first semester here at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse, and not doing as well as I had anticipated, I would go back and tell my former self two simple words that would make a huge impact, “Time management”. I went into the fall semester feeling confident and in charge, but by midterms I was unsure and everything seemed to spiral out of control. I fell behind in classes and couldn’t seem to make up for lost time. You simply cannot make up for lost time in college. Time management is key. I may not be able to go back and tell my former self this, but I have changed my time management skills since last semester. The work load seems more manageable, I’m staying ahead in my classes, and once again I am feeling confident of what this semester has to bring, all because I learned how to manage time efficiently.

If I could go back in time and talk to my high school self about college, I would tell myself to be more outgoing. My first year of college I did not make a lot of friends. I was afraid to put myself out there and go find friends. I choose the passive route, hoping that friends would come to me. I know now that this does not happen. If you want to make friends you, and only you, have to go out there and find them yourself. I would tell myself not to be so afraid to ask a classmate to hang out or grab lunch after school or to go and knock on your neighbors door and ask them to come and watch a movie with you. The worst that could happen is they say no. Life does not give you anything without a little effort. Yes, making new friends can be hard, but it will not hurt to try. Put yourself out there or you will risk a lot more than someone saying no.

The advice I will give myself will be that college isn't what the teacher in highschool tell you and that the professor in college are more lenient. Do your homework even though the professor doesn't assign it and study for exams. Take advantage of the services the college provides for the students, also try to make as many new friends along the way so that later on you can ask them for help when needed.

The most important advice I would give is to not wait to live life until after you have achieved your dreams because you will always have more goals to strive for. It is true that hard work and perserverance are extraordinarily important to realizing your dreams and completing your goals, and yet these are not the only aspects which you need to keep in mind while beginning your college career. Maintaining balance and perspective in life will undoubtedly assist in achieving your goals even though this fact can be unintuitive at points. When faced with the decision of studying 51 hours for a final exam or studying for 50 and helping a friend for one, realize that that last hour will more often hinder than help your grade. Even if you find it hard to altruistically offer assistence or kind words, you will more likely than not need their help in the future. Lastly, understand that the vast majority of people want you to succeed, do not disappoint!