University of Wisconsin-Madison Top Questions

If I could back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior, I would tell myself to save more money and take the financial situation more seriously than I did. I now know that college is actually as expensive as my parents said it was and possibly even more. I would have told myself to save even ten extra dollars out of each paycheck than what I did and to not make excuses about why that extra ten dollars made a difference whether for clothes, gas, or food. I also would have told myself to apply for more scholarships and to investigate them more frequently than I did. Seven scholarship applications were not nearly enough, like I thought it was. Applying for a number closer to twenty would have been more productive and probably more beneficial.

It goes without saying that high school seniors will have plenty to learn once out of their parents' house and into the dorms. Minor responsibilities such as laundry, following a meal plan, and managing finances is easily learned, but self discipline, health management, and advocating on your own behalf can be much more difficult. Without parents and teachers to continuously track your efforts, classes become easier to skip but exams then become harder to cram for. Keeping up with your studies early will cut down on the physical and emotional wearing experienced by large workloads in high stress situations later on. The pressures of college bring about feelings of anxiousness, physical exhaustion, and mental burnout. Allowing medical services to help you stay both heathy and sane is not a weakness but integral to academic success. It is crucial to be your own advocate once you enter college, especially at larger universities where it is easy to be overshadowed and overlooked. With far too few credits in the physical sciences I was forced to enroll in summer sessions and online courses, teaching me the importance of tracking my own schedule. Do not place your fate in the hands of academic advising!

First of all, forget about high school. That is all behind you now; in front of you is your future in college. Go to a college where you don't know anyone, where you can be whoever you are. It is your time to grow into the person you are. Second, don't listen to them. Everyone will tell you to go to college. Don't go to college for someone else's reasons. Go because you want to learn more, and go for what you want to learn. Its your time to explore. Thirdly, don't worry quite so much about the classes you have to take to get a diploma; instead, look at the giant list of diverse classes like a menue at a resturant. Use your first semester or year to take all the classes that sound interesting to you. Everyone changes their majors; use the first year to figure out what you like. Lastly, college is not all about the acedemics. Its about growing as a person in every aspect of life, includeing your social life. Meet new and different people who will challenge your view of the world. Now is your time explore.

If I could tell myself one thing as a high school senior, it would be to take chances and try new things. Seize opportunities to have fun and learn. Do not be afraid to join a sport or organization, or afraid to meet new people. Almost everyone that I will meet on my floor is in the same situation as I am: it is also their first time living by themselves and they do not know very many people yet either. However, they are the people I will spend my next four years with, so I should not be shy or scared to meet them. But most importantly, do not allow the possibility of failure keep me from trying something; it is only failure if I do not learn from my mistakes. If I do poorly on a test, work harder and study better. No matter how distant my goal is, how many obstacles stand in the way or how many times I fall short, I cannot become discouraged. After all, like Thomas Edison said after finally succeeding to make the light bulb: ?I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.?

First and Foremost, congrats on making it to college, but don?t celebrate too much. The key to your success is FOCUS; you must learn to focus on the most important thing in front of you. Learn to prioritize your time, this isn?t high school you can?t spread you self so thin this time around. Be involved, but you don?t have to try everything right away, pace yourself, you have four years to impact the campus. Don?t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone, because just as uncomfortable as you are, they might be too. Another thing, it?s kind of top priority, STUDY! By study I don?t mean just do your assignments, but actually study, indulge yourself in your study's that?s how you learn. Go above and beyond to make sure you retain the material, because it?s never about just passing or the A, but actually learning the skills and knowledge you will need for life. Abuse your professors office hours and your TA?s, utilize all resources available to you, and make all who come in contact with you remember you. Don't panic love, HAVE A BLAST!

As a high school senior I was someone very eager to start her new life yet rather overwhelmed. I would tell myself to slow down. I think a mistake that seniors in general and myself in particular make is thinking that they have to know what they will do with the rest of their lives. They need to be open to new options. I was so sure I knew what I wanted--a degree in International Studies and to join the foreign service that it took my first year at college to realize that I was not considering what would fulfill me as a person. Since then, I?ve learned to make maps, worked in spanish with children and studied abroad. Though I never changed my International focus, I know now that teaching is what I am passionate about. Three years ago I could have told you exactly where my life was headed, but that inflexibility set me off my true direction. I would have told myself to take a moment to slow down and realize my whole life was ahead of me, and that choosing now would be cheating myself and the world out of too many options.

Michael, You are one year away from High School Graduation! In a short time, you will be leaving the school where you have become so comfortable. You are academically and athletically successful and have a bright future. What will that bright future look like for you? Where do you really see yourself 20 or 30 years down the road? Think long and hard about where you want to be? What do you want to be doing? What will make you happy? You want to choose a career path that allows you to be challenged, financially secure and able to achieve the dreams you have. Look to those around you and ask questions. Start with your teachers and coaches as you see them every day. Listen to everyone you come in contact with, some of them have so much to share with you. Get to know what they do and what path helped them to their current place. Keep your standards and values high. You have one life to live so go out and make the very best of it. You can be anything you want to be!

Time. I can simplify everything that I wish I would have known down to this one word. For the most part, in the trasition process from high school to college I took my time for granted. Through every step of the process (from choosing a college to attend all the way to shopping and packing for dorm move-in) I always felt like I had plenty of time to prepare. The truth is, that was almost never the case. I ended up being a little stressed out in the end trying to get everything together (especially when all of the packing and shopping for dorm move-in was left for two days!). The best advice that I could give myself is to pace yourself. Take things in steps or doses. It makes things much easier to assimilate to. And quite frankly, we could all deal with a little less stress in our lives, couldn't we?

Since I have arrived and spent a semester in college, I have learned many things that I didn't expect to learn. First, regardless of one's preparation for life without family before coming to college, the transition takes a lot of time and energy, especially when one has classes to contend with. Classes themselves are also a larger challenge than in high school because they force you to manage all due dates and dead lines. They are also fairly merciless when it comes to midterm and final exam time as these exams tend to bunch together. However, thie question asks what advice I would give, not what I have learned. In all honesty, even though I probably would have greatly appreciated this knowledge before high school, I don't think I would give myself any advice at all. Part of the reason for coming to school is to learn these things for one's self, and knowing the road ahead diminishes the value and depth of information to be gathered along the way.

I would tell myself to pursue people! I've met a lot of people since I graduated from high school, but have lost touch with many of them. Some losses are circumstancial - I've moved quite a bit - but I definitely feel the loss of friendships I could have put more effort into. I would tell my former self to be brave and ask people to hang out and to keep pursuing the people I really connect with! I think friendships are one of the most important things you can come out of the college years with, and they can certainly last a lifetime. But in order for them to grow lasting, they require effort.