West Chester University of Pennsylvania Top Questions

My first year at BYU was pretty hectic. It was a big culture shock coming from Hawaii then moving to the mainland and experiencing a different lifestyle. It was a big difference like night and day. But going into it I was up for the challenge. I love learning and I love suceeding. But there was something missing, life just wasnt the same. I turned all my time and attention to school work and accomplishing things. I became a loner and cut myself off from the world. I was majorly depressed. Now looking back at that experience I wish I would've taken more time to enjoy the experience. Take time to make friends. Make friends with classmates including doing study groups and signing up for classes together. Make friends with the teachers and rely on the wisdom of those with greater experiences. And enjoy every opportunity to have fun like instead of take all science classes take one or two classes that you enjoy and can have fun with. Variety is the spice of life and the reason we are here on Earth and the reason we learn is to have happiness and to have joy.

If I were to speak to myself as a high school senior I would tell myself "Don't hold back. Go to school where you want to go and when you get there do what you want to do. If the opportunity of a lifetime arises, take it, don't hesitate. Get involved in everything and anything. Don't be afraid to take chances. Soak it all in and enjoy every minute of it because this experience only happens once."

The best advice I could give my past self about the transition to college life from high school would be to formulate a good schedule. The social life in college is demanding but, even more so is the work load. In order to gain the full college experience you cannot isolate yourself and devote every second to studying but, you also cannot spend all of your time with friends. The best thing to do is figure out the right balance and stick to it. If there is a particularly difficult class adjustments will have to be made, increase your time studying. Cramming may help you pass one test, but everything in college builds upon itself, and it will hurt you in the long run. Also schedule in some free time, do not burn yourself out.

Perseverance, hard work and time management are the three skills I would instill in myself if I had the opportunity to go back in time and advice myself as a senior in high school. Many times challenges deterred me from achieving my ambition. Therefore at these times I would tell myself “With positive attitude, high self-esteem, determination and motivation I CAN DO this.” Through experiences and downfalls, I would have taught myself to build selfless relationships with friends who would help me stay on course with my goals. Moreover, I would have advised myself to use my leisure time efficiently by engaging in extracurricular activities that involved more student-teacher and senior-freshman interactions, which would help me enhance my positive self-development and leadership skills. There were many opportunities that were presented to me as a high school senior, but I was lured by unimportant endeavors and failed to make use of those opportunities, therefore I would make sure to grab them if given a second chance. Lastly, I would also sublimate my ego of being a senior and help my fellow classmates by equally sharing my experiences and skills that would help them succeed academically.

Once you get to college you will see that it is full of resources. There are advisers who will help you pick the right classes, the library will let you borrow books, and the financial aid office will do its best to find you money. These are just a few of the many resources available to you once you are accepted. But one of the most powerful resources available to you once you step foot on campus is something most people never think of -- your fellow students. I recommend you make an effort to connect with the students on your campus. Join a club, sorority, fraternity, student government, or any campus based activity that will allow you to build relationships with the students at your school. Your fellow students will be able to offer academic support (like study groups or working together on projects), as well as emotional support (like wiping your tears as you study for your final in Calculus III).

Although I am only in my second semester of my freshman year, I feel that I have gotten so many experiences already that will benefit my future. Most of my classes have been focused around my nutrition major, unlike in high school where you were forced to take any and all subjects. I think that it is so valuable to my future to start studying what I am getting into as soon as possible, which is exactly what is happening. The professors realize that you are studying to become something with your life, so they focus their classes around real life problems, where students need to find solutions to them. This is especially valuable for students' futures when the problems they use in classes will be ones that students will eventually need to know the answers to in their career. College is not only about the academic experice you will get, but also the social experience, sporting experience, and the freedom you get living on your own. Not only do you get a degree at the end, but a four year life changing experience, valuable to your future.

What have I gotten so far out of my college experience? That is a wonderful question. I have gotten a lot out of my experience. One thing that stands out the most is that it forced me to grow up. I came here an adolescent who thought she was ready for what the real world had to offer. Although I really had no idea on what I was doing. Being on this campus forced me grow up because at home, I depended on my parents for everything and when I got a chance to live on my own, i was not sure on what I was supposed to do. I was forced to make decisions and handle problems on my own and I had to learn that I could not call on my mother and father for everything. I came to this school as a young, immature adolescent. I know for sure, I will walk out of here, a mature young woman ready to take on what the world has to offer me.

Many will say that college was a time when they “found themselves,” when some momentous revelation unveiled what they were meant to do, or who they were meant to be. However, for me, college was more of a comfortable transition than a life-altering epiphany. My academic pursuits enhanced my knowledge of the world by opening my mind to the infinite possibilities of interpretation, helping me to refine my opinions and articulate my beliefs with more sensitivity. The various service activities I engaged in brought out my passion for humanitarianism and my time working with the SPCA invigorated and solidified my stance as an activist and an environmentalist. Finally, building new friendships on the basis of shared beliefs and mutual interests helped to soften my edges and taught me to recognize the importance of first impressions and second chances. Ultimately, my college experience enhanced my understanding of the person I am and helped me to begin becoming the person I want to be. While there was nothing particularly extraordinary about my time at school, the experience, in all its brilliant normalcy, has been more valuable to me as a human being than any other singular event in my short life.

Since i'm only a freshman in college this has been a very new experience for me. Moving out and adjusting to "life on my own" is new and exciting. Right now i'm learning to take care of myself, develop lifelong organizational and study habits, and make friends in a new surrounding. Getting a higher education is necessary for me to succeed in becoming a teacher which is why it is valuable to attend. Everything i'm learning at school relates to the outside world around me which is neat. I can form connections through all my classes with what is going on in the world today. Knowledge is the power I am getting out of this college experience and it is so valuable to attend because without having knowledge myself, I would never be able to teach what I know to others when i'm a teacher one day.

In my college experience I have discovered what I truly want in this world. The reason why school is so valuable to me is that it allows my entry into this world to be a respected scholar. I hope that someday I will be seen for all the effort and work that I have put into myself and my environment to create a connected whole. I learned certain skills and perspectives from going to school that I would have never had had I never left my home environment. I needed to leave my old simple-minded ideas to create a vast larger pool that this new area had given me the chance to have. The students, professors, town culture, and surrounding areas gave me a new perspective in life that fostered a new confidence in myself to know that I can actually accomplish something in this world. By going to college I now know that I wish to travel the world and seek through my own research certain truths about humans and the way in which we communicate and interact with eachother. It made me feel like this world actually had things to value in it and gave me hope.