Washington University in St Louis Top Questions

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior, the first advice I would give to myself would be to be yourself and follow your heart--academically and socially. I have spent 2 years of my college career bouncing between majors only to end up as a Comparative Literature major (with a double major in Marketing)---the major I originally told myself I couldn't major in because my parents didn't approve and because I would never find a job with a literature major. Socially, it is important to be yourself always but specifically in college because you are just beginning to define who you are. This definition of yourself will affect the genuineness of your future friendships. If you are genuine to yourself, others will be genuine in their friendships to you. Secondly, I would remind my high school self that finding a balance between following your passions and being realistic is important to collegiate success. Following your passions blindly is easy, following your passions with goals for the future takes talent and practice but will ultimately pay off post-graduation.

I would tell myself to always be patient. Patience has been a hard lesson for me to learn. I have had to endure my insufficiency it seemed while all the while I was growing and toughening up and wisening up. I would also tell myself that the growing pains would come and that they would be brutal and that I would have to push through them. I have learned as much about myself in the past 2 years as I did throughout the rest of my life. I have seen how I handle stress, how I handle failure and how I handle success and I have realized most of all that I really have not felt what it's like to try and not succeed and try again before coming to college. I would tell myself also to keep my top priorities my top priorities. I have neglected many important things in my life since coming to college and it has done me no good. A happy Allan is the best Allan and that a troubled self is too high a price to pay for academick success. Lastly, I would tell myself that there is nothing I cannot do.

Don’t be so afraid. Yea, it’s nice to have a general idea of what you want to study, but it's important to enjoy your last summer before you become a full-fledged independent adult. I know it’s terrifying to have to leave the comfort of home but know that it’s for the better. You will meet fantastic new people that will become some of your closest friends that you enjoy being with. Don’t be shy. Jump right into it. College provides you with so many opportunities to get involved with the community. Take advantage of it! Find a nice balance between clubs, leadership activities, sports, and your studies. Don’t psych yourself out. Relax. There are quite of few things to be done before you take that final step out of Mom and Dad’s car. Take it easy and don’t freak out about preparation. Plan it out and enjoy preparing for your new life. Challenge yourself. Don’t take classes because they’re easy. Select classes that interest you regardless of difficulty. Have fun. You’re a college student now. College is an experience, learn from it.

Don't be afraid to go out and introduce yourself to random people. The first few days everyone (for the most part) is in the exact same spot as you. They don't really know many people, and they're simply looking to make friends. If you actually make the effort to go and introduce yourself to random people and get their numbers, you make friends a lot easier than if you just stick to your roomate like I did for my first few days. The second thing, as cheezy as this sounds is just be yourself. If you try to kind of ease your personality on people and be the kind of person you "think" they want you to be, you'll be 1) super unhappy and 2) stuck with friends that may not be people you want to be around or people with similar interests. If you're just your weird, crazy self, you'll meet other people that love being around you for it, and you'll soon find out that those people will become some of your closest friends. Oh also, this is the big leagues, not high school. You actually have to study.

Become self-reliant. There is only so much others can do for you, and there eventually comes the time when you must act for yourself. This applies to all aspects of life, and internalizing this mindset couldn't hurt more than taking the SAT just one more time (provided ScoreChoice is allowed). A looming issue you may face is the personal essay for college applications. It would absolutely not help your cause to ask everyone for suggestions and input. Outside feedback can be helpful, but do not cave in to the impressions that people impose on you. No one is the better expert on you than yourself; friends, teachers and parents can only know so much about the individual Jeffrey Gu. Moreover, there is more to life than suffering over applications day and night. You might forget that, while you may be qualified for college on paper, you may not necessarily be ready in truth. When was the last time you cooked something edible? When last did you take on responsibility for yourself? How often have you managed your time, or followed through with your commitments? So please consider the above. I suspect I'm a reliable source of advice.

I would tell myself that failure isn't always failure. Success isn't just measured by making the best grade in the class or by making all A grades like I thought in high school. Yes, those things are important, but there are so many more opportunities to learn about yourself and to build relationships with others in college that sometimes might cause you to not study as much as you'd like for that test, and in return, to make a bad grade. Have that late night conversation in Bears Den (dining hall) about religion and politics and whatever else comes up. Take the time out to play in the snow and go sledding during the first big snowfall of the year - it doesn't snow in Texas, so enjoy the experience! Don't turn down the chance to traverse the city with your best friend looking for Wal-Mart at midnight. What's most important is to make sure you're learning at every opportunity you have.

Hey I'm you from the future, it's time to get your act together and stop playing games. College is no joke young lady, take it from me I'm in college and it's a whole other world compared to high school. There's no mommy and daddy to run to when things get out of hand, in college everything is going to fall on your shoulders. Whether you like it or not, once you cross that stage in June, you're on your own, its the real world and it's time to grow up. Take this advice and apply to your everyday life and every decision you make. Its time to step up and accept the fact that you're a woman and you should be acting like one. Well it's nice to see my high school and I hope that what I've told you somehow changes the future I'm about to go back to.

Ditch your history major, and replace it with a psychology major. You'll thank me in a few years. Study hard, and take linear algebra. Take HIstory of Gender in the 1950s. Then seek out the new assistant professor in personality. Trust me, that class and he will make your career. Enjoy yourself and stay healthy. Remember to seek out the social behavior lab. Do it. Get involved in all the research you can. You'll discover that you're addicted to it.

Dear Julia, You need to stop worrying. Stop worrying that things won't work out--that you'll make the wrong choice of college or won't fit in. Things will change, that's life. You know all that stuff that seemed so important for the past few years: GPA, ACT score, AP tests? Well they won't matter all that much once you get to college. So stop worrying about them. Also, stop being so hard on yourself. You've got it. You're in a great place. In fact, you've got money and privilege that you're pretty unaware of. You'll become aware of it in college and, you know what, you'll handle it pretty well, too. So don't worry about that either. In fact, stop worrying about yourself at all. Start looking around you more. Start opening your eyes. There are some pretty great people and places out there that you haven't experienced yet because you're too busy worrying about yourself. In the end, some things will go well and some things won't. Don't worry about that either. Chin up! -Julia

To remember always, the great author Mark Twain's thought provoking qoute ..."I never let my schooling interfere with my education." On first reading it, it appeared to be an oxymoron, but on further study it was eye opening and created a sea change in my outlook on schooling. On this treadmill we call life at school where each week we are given multiple test and we are graded and the question of what we have learnt seem lost in the more pressing goal of getting a high GPA has made many students, myself included, focus more on passing the test than in learning valuable lessons from highly educated professors I cite an articule in one of the major newspapers where a grad student with a 4.0 GPA in finance, graduating from an ivy league university who was mired in $250,000 in debt was unable to secure employment. When one of the finance companies that turned down the student was asked by the newspaper why, they cited the student debt as the reason. I qoute "who would want someone who could not handle their personal finances managing theirs or the company's would you? So now I learn.