Arizona State University-Tempe Top Questions

Good walking shoes are worth the cost, because blisters hurt and campus is enormous. Learn to budget for emergencies and buy toilet paper in bulk. Save emails to and from professors, because without proof, you lose any dispute.

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior, I would suggest to myself to take everything one day at a time and understand that everything will come in its own time. Now when I look back on everything, I remember that I had this mind set that "I have to do everything by a deadline." With community college, I had to graduate within two years or I had failed. Really the most important thing is to understand that it's not a "do or die" situation when you haven't decided on a career. In fact, the first two years are for students to discover what is interesting them - enough to major in. I also would have actually taken the time to be patient with money and be sure not to stress out about the affordability of college. If one cannot afford one full class-load semester, then take half. Life is about finding a nice balance and trusting your own abilities as well as knowing what one is capable of to succeed.

If I had the opportunity to go back to my senior year and give myself advice, the advice i would give would be to get organized and learn better time management before attending school in the fall. I am not as organized as I should be and my time management skills are also not what they should be. I have realized that without any help from my parents, learning how to manage my time has been a challenge. I would definitely tell my high school senior self to work on this prior to attending school. I have also learned that it is very important to be organized in college. This is something I would have liked to have realized was so important before attending college and would definitely give my self organizationa advice.

Time travel. Probably everyone?s biggest wish, to go back and tell yourself what you know now. Well, if I had that chance to do so I would. When it comes to the transition from high school to college, it can be tough. Luckily, I went to a large high school so being surrounded by a huge campus wasn?t too frightening. However, it was the people around me that were the hardest part to adjust to. People change, and it is a part of life. I thought when I went to college, I was going to be with the same people, doing the same things, and having the same schedule, but it doesn?t work that way. Therefore, I think I would just warn myself of that, and that we take away good people in life to make room for the great ones.

If I could go back in time and talk to my senior year self there are a lot of things that I would tell myself. I would start off by explaining how important it is to stay organized. By keeping everything organized you know exactly where things are and it?s much easier to keep track of assignments. Making sure that I knew how important it is to also not slack off. Always taking time to start and finish assignments in a timely fashion will probably earn you a better grade. I would really vocalize how important it is to manage all of your time the best way that you can. My senior year self should also know how important it is to not only be studious, but to also know how to have fun and enjoy college. Taking advantage of all available scholarships is also something I would make sure that I knew. By doing everything that I can to get all the financial aid possible will make paying for college significantly easier. I think that if my senior year self knew all of this that it would have made everything so much easier and less stressful.

Looking back as a senior in high school one of the first things I would tell myself about the future would be to look at all my options which may not only be schools. In this way I know what options I have ahead of me while seeing the different possibilites. In this case I may have identified that school is not the first option I would want to take. Although for myself even as a senior in high school I knew I wanted to go on to college. Eventhough I knew college was what I wanted I wish I would have applied at more colleges and taken more campus visits than I had, in this way I would have been able to get the actual feel of what college life would be like. As for the transition into the college life I would prepare myself that college and being on your own will not always be easy but to keep your head up at all times. Also to formulate a strong support group for myself. This support will help as I have learned in college that we grow and change immensly in our college years.

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior, I would say one thing: scholarships. College is so expensive. Books alone can be a few hundred dollars each semester. I did get a scholarship to ASU, but it still does not cover all the expenses. There are so many scholarships available to high school seniors. Many of them go unnoticed to the majority of seniors, so the ones that do apply have a higher chance of recieving the award. I did not apply for very many scholarships because I was lazy. I regret it now. I could have gotten more, which would have helped me to finish my college education. Now I'll just have to get off my booty and get a job. Nice going, Amber.

The best advice I would give to my senior high school self is to be extremely active. In order to evade depression, making friends actually helps you get your work done. Feeling lonely in such a large complex does things to yourself and work will seem harder. When I mean active, I mean introduce yourself to classmates, people that live in your dorm, and especially be friendly with your roommate(s). Joining clubs is another effective method. It takes weeks or even months for your new true friends to be revealled. It is nothing to be scared about, it will happen eventually. Also, always do your work, try to motivate yourself to get it done, no matter how much there is. If you are active and get the work done, college will be the best time of your life!

I would advise myself to work harder and prepare financially and emotionally for all the changes that would happen. I would have applied for more scholorships and taken more free or less expensive learning opportunities that were presented to me.

To my high school senior self, I would say: "Do not waste money living on-campus freshman year. Find a cheaper apartment nearby. It may seem more difficult or complicated to find a place off-campus, but it's worth it. A few minutes of extra walking between classes and home will do you no harm. Not to mention, you won't have to share a community bathroom with too many dirty girls (and boys who sneak in). Their obnoxious ceaseless noise will not bother you, and your schedule and focus will be much better without their distractions. Although it seems contradictory to the previous advice, socialize more. You spent high school doing nothing but homework, and now it's time to change that. Finally you will have time to breathe and relax. The workload will be much more manageable, and you will for once get to live on your own schedule, more or less. That said, don't take any classes before 10 AM, because you've known your whole life that you're not a morning person, and this will become more true than ever in college. Finally, enjoy the time of your life, and always look ahead."