Bard College at Simon’s Rock Top Questions

I would definitely apply for as many scholarships as possible. I regret being in school and working now because it takes away from what I'm paying for- my education. I need to be focused on doing well and making head on my degree rather than trying to get ahead of student loans.

Life changes drastically. Once you leave, you are gone and Mommy and Daddy are not in the next room over. There are people you do not want to deal with, but you have to and learn how to quickly. There will be many temptations, no matter where you go to school at, just prepare yourself to deal with them. Whatever did not happen in high school will not magically happen the moment you step on your college campus. Drama exists everywhere, you can not really escape it, just find a different type of drama, one that you are compatible with. Roommates are not how they are portrayed on television; they are not always obsessive murders, nor are they always your best friend that you agree with on everything. There will be difficulties and problems, just learn to work through them. Living on your own is not all that it is cracked up to be. So many days I want to go home and crawl into my mom's bed, but then I realize that it is 1,000 miles away, so enjoy what is in front of you while it is still there. Lastly, enjoy college; it really is fun.

I would tell my self to not be afraid. I spent too much time feeling self conscious about my intelligence, appearance, and personality. I had so much more potential than I realized my first semester of college and I would have done so much better and been way more successful if I had just applied myself. I would have told myself not to worry about what other people think of your opinion and to share your thoughts as often as possible because they are just as valid and important as anyone elses ideas that I encountered. I also would have told my self to try extremely hard and go beyond the requirements and not stopped just because I reached the finish line but continue because I was still able to push forward. This is the advice I would have given my high school senior self.

I happen to have never been a senior before though I am currently a college student. My spin on this question is what advice would I give to myself when I was a sophomore being recruited by my school. I would make sue that my past self understood my new found value of acceptable study habits. This would be the topic that I’d discuss because taking time to study and do my assignments has always been things that I procrastinate about. In high school, when I would push things to the last minute, I was still able to get great grades. I’d explain to myself that once I got into college things would be totally different; I wouldn’t be able to work in the same fashion because my grades would suffer. High school was pretty straightforward; college on the other hand is no joke. One C on a report card will destroy a student’s GPA and I had to learn that the hard way. If I could have went back and spoken with myself before college then that may not have been the case.

There have been a great deal of choices I have already made in the 17 years I have been alive. But I feel that my decision to drop out of high school and attend college early has truly awakened me in so many more ways than just a satisfaction of my intellectual fervor. Today I have a number of friends whom I know I will never forget, people who are each memorable in their own ways. The same people whom you may find in a heated debate over a political issue or an opinion on Plato's depiction of Socrates are the same people you find drinking tea in the library's atrium or hugging upon greeting each other. In coming to Simon's Rock, I have felt myself change in the last three months more than I have in the last three years. Each class provides the perfect opportunity to discuss, debate, and learn. Classes rarely exceed 15 students and the average sits around nine people per class. I no longer feel lost in crowds of a huge school. I feel the presence of friends, of intellectuals, of some of the greatest people I may know in my lifetime.

It will be my pleasure to experience one of the most academic challenging school in my life. I will always remember how my school has prepared me to learn diligently and always put my best effort into everything that I do. I will be ready to face any hardship; emotionally and physically even after I graduate from this college. Although, I am one of the student who doesn't have a very strong academic background, my school welcome me to think outside of the box with a lot of progression in many areas.