Washington University in St Louis Top Questions

My biggest piece of advice would be to attend as many organizational meetings for diverse student groups as possible, and to stick around after the meetings to talk to people. I met many great people my freshman year, but I could have met so many with diverse interests. I also discovered after a while that sticking around after meetings is a great way to meet people, as the meetings themselves often are not conducive to conversations. Especially at the beginning of the year, everyone is eager to meet new people. Don't be afraid to introduce yourself to strangers, and try to find some common ground with someone. The more friendly faces you see around campus, the happier you will be and the faster your personal network will grow. Also, always go the office hours of professors at least once, and if you make a connection with him or her, go again. The connections are invaluable--for recommendations, for advice, for class help, for help adjusting to college.

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior, I would tell myself to be more involved my first semester instead of worrying about settling in. The workload was not going to be more than you can handle, and not getting involved will push you into a pattern of thinking that hours of free time a week is actually okay. You're going to be at a university with so many opportunities, that unless you take advantage of them, is not going to be worth the crazy tuition your parents are going to be paying. And that as a high school senior, you should search harder and figure out a plan for how to pay for school instead of letting your parents let you believe they will in fact take care of it. Going to college means a new level of independence, one that you need to embrace without alienating the important adults in your life. But don't worry too much about it, because that will stop you from taking any sort of action.

If I could go back into time and talk to myself as a high school senior I would tell myself to save up every penny that I earned rather than spend it on petty things that I would probably never use or need. College is hard to pay for especially when you know that your family is not going to help you out because they themselves are hardworking, blue collar people who make enough to just make ends meet. I would also tell myself to get as many scholarships as I could because they would help out on cutting the costs for student loans.

Dear High School Senior, Hey, it's me. You probably do not know who I am and I won't bother explaining how I crossed time and space to write you this letter. I have some golden advice that you may or may not follow however I hope to decrease the stress you will soon be in. Yes, stress as a senior. 1. Senior year is hard-work. Work hard in academics because unbeknownst to you, mid-year reports are a crucial factor for college admissions. Also more importantly hard-work is who you are. Why give up your self-image of a hard-worker for a few months of laziness? 2. You will get into a college and you will fall in love. You will discover lasting friendships and social niches where ever you chose to go. 3. Maintain relationships. As you move into college life it will be more than too easy to forget about the important relationships you forged in high school. Don't. 4. Be open to what you study. The first and second semesters of college should be an exploration. Don't limit yourself because you or your parents have already decided your life goals.

No matter how hard you've worked before things in college are going to be different. The best advice I could give is to listen to the advice of upperclassmen, but truely listen to them and take it all in. It is so easy to not fully listen. We are all good students because we have worked hard in high school, but it is easy to become over confident. It's important to remember that they truly have your best interests in mind. They have made these mistakes, learned from them, and the unperclassmen hope that by giving this advice you can avoid these same mistakes, so take in everything, and be as successful as you can.

Going to college has given me something that I never really seemed to have in high school, that being a good work either. Here, it is impossible to slack off, if only because nobody else is. Everyone works hard, and the success that comes out of that is greater than any amount of praise or money a person could ever need. I think that in a place like Wash. U., I have also come to love the work I do. I can pick my classes, choose what I want to learn. I have happened upon a possible career, and relationships that, even if they end, will define the rest of my life for better or worse. There is nothing I could imagine being better than attending, and I can't imagine myself being anywhere else.

Everyone says that college is a whole different world compared to high school, but you don't believe it until you experience it. It's hard to live on your own for the first time and realize that you are totally responsible for your success or failure. You realize that you aren't accountable to anyone else but your self: you can choose to go out every night, you can choose to never do your laundry, you can choose to eat unhealthy and not workout, and you can choose to not go to class or to not study. It's hard to know what the right decisions are without your parents immediately accesible for advice. I didn't have the easiest first semester. I got really sick for about a month and did really poorly on my first mid-term. I gained some weight and didn't always make the healthiest decisions. But I'm glad I messed up a little bit, becuase I learned from all those mistakes, and I corrected them. I was able to truly realize my priorities and goals, and I ended up finishing off the semester with great grades, good friends, and some outrageous experiences.

Although it is a definite cliche, college has given me the opportunity to grow into an adult. Even though I have only been at college for five months now, I feel that college has given me the opportunity to mature and change faster than any other experience in my life. From an emotional standpoint, college has shown me that so much of life is under your control. I left a girlfiriend 500 miles away, yet we have been able to communicate and establish a system that lets us continue our relationship. From an educational standpoint, college has given me an exposure to knowledge that I had never before imagined. My education is really in my hands for the first time; I have learned responsibility and the importance of foresight and planning. I have been able to challenge myself and have a great time doing it. This brings me to the final point as to why college is valuable. It is the most exciting time of your life. Being away from my parents and having responsibility for my own life as well as making great friends has been absolutely amazing.

Six cardboard boxes, two large suitcases, one refrigerator, and a tiny girl plopped down on the sidewalk about 600 miles away from home. I thought college was going to be like camp, but really long and educational. No big deal... right? Once classes started, I discovered the myriad opportunities available for me to expand my knowledge and pursue my interests. I could perform in the orchestra, run student elections, re-enact medieval battles, or go on ski trips. Every second of each day released me from my previous lifestyle of completing the next "accomplishment" on my to-do list for "success" as prescribed by my parents. This freedom was, and still is, AMAZING! Yet, in addition to attending classes and working at the hospital, I realized that I had to give up some activities. College has taught me how to make decisions and allocate my time in order to participate in as much as I can. With my new freedom, I learned the weight of responsibility. I am not learning for my parents anymore, but for myself, forging my way through society. College has imprinted a new-found independence on my mind, making me hungry for more knowledge and experiences.