Baylor University Top Questions

Armed with the vast wealth of experience I have gained in one year at Baylor University I feel enlightened enough to share my knowledge with friends still in High School. If I could go back and talk to myself as a High School Senior I would say seize life, inhale the knowledge around you, enrich your soul with volunteer opportunities, start early with college and scholarship applications, and have fun; savor your Senior year because it will fly by at the speed of light. Looking back I wish that I had known that scholarship searches can and should be started early, preferably in your junior year. AP and Dual-Credit courses are important and will affect your college GPA; so if you are going to take them, take them seriously. Grades do matter so if you’re tempted to slack off your senior year remember you will be competing against the best and brightest students in the country; so you need a GPA as close to 4.0 as possible and a high class rank. Work experience, volunteer involvement, and participation in extracurricular activities make High School more fun and increase your value when applying for college admittance and scholarships.

If I could go back in time, I would tell mysef to enjoy life at home with my parents a little bit longer. I've slowly taking classes since I've graduated High School, and am happy that I have done it that way. The only thing I would of done differently, is I would of stayed back home in Kansas longer. I moved away to Colorado only six months after graduating. The change was good for me, but still to this day I miss my family dearly. It was a stressfull time with family drama, and I couldn't handle it! So I moved away and found my own life. I don't regret my transition to Colorado, but I would of taken my time more if I would of known better. Also, I should of started working on becoming In-State Student much sooner than I did. Out-of-State laws for students in Colorado are tough to get around, even if you are independent.

If I could go back in time would tell myself to apply for more scholarships so I would not have to get as many loans. I would also tell myself to have as much fun as possible my senior year because I will never be in high school again.

If I could give my highschool self advice, it would be to stop, breathe, and not worry so much. The problem with AP students is that they're taught anything less than excellence is failure. I spend so many nights crying in fits of anxiety. All my classes were either AP or college credit courses. I took the SAT 3 times. The more I pushed myself, the more I felt inadequate, and the more I hated myself. I ended up being diagnosed with depression last winter. My GPA suffered, but you have to learn to slowly picking yourself back up. Accomplish something small each day and go to bed feeling proud of yourself. Don't wallow in self pity over low test grade, don't drop that class. Passing the hardest Pre-Med weed-out class with a C will be seen as an accomplishment to your friends that gave up too fast because they weren't going to get their A. You are not a failure if you tried your hardest and things just didn't work out as you planned. You are only a failure if you give up.

I would have told myself to study in high school. High school was easy for me and i could breeze through most of my work with little to no effort at all. Now it's killing me that i haven't learned any study skils to help me prepare for classes and each semester is a different experience when it comes to studying simply because i don't know what works for me yet.

If I could go back in time to my senior year self, I would say this: be true to yourself. Your dreams and goals cannot be spelled out to you by your peers or parents. The best part about moving away is discovering who you are and living a life running towards God. Do not be afraid to ask for help or guidance from professionals. Be vigilant in prayer and recognize when chapters in your life have to be closed in order for you to grow. The greatest gift you can give to a person is just to listen—you will find that the less you say, the more of a relationship will be founded with that person. Above all else, trust God will ALL your burdens and praises, even when you think you can figure them out on your own. His way will relieve your heart and soul and allow you to focus on the important gifts and blessings you have.

If I could go back and talk to myself while I was in highschool I would tell myself to stay strong. What you do now will help you in the future. Struggles will pass just keep your head up and don't let other people's choices keep you down. I would also tell myself to learn to stay focused, make good decisions, and follow your heart. Making the transition to college is not easy. You are suddenly an adult as soon as you step foot into that college even if you have never been treated like one before. Be prepared! Every move you make matters whether you believe it or not. Keep your head up because it will be worth it!

The best advice I could give myself would be to take as many general education requirements in my first few years of college, before deciding on a major. I am an adult female attempting to get into the nursing field and I wish I had taken some harder math and science courses the first I enrolled in college. I've spent the last two years taking these prerequisite classes and had I taken them before, I could have had a jump on my nursing career.

I would tell myself: "Transitioning from high school to college can be a long and testing journey. You will be faced with challenges that will test your limits, find out that coffee is your best friend, and fail a couple of tests along the way. But in the midst of all the struggles, you will find yourself given opportunities to strengthen you and allow your spirit to grow. And if you’re lucky, you just might catch a glimpse of yourself along the way."

If I were given the opportunity to meet my past self, I would probably give her a lecture about how I wish I had done more college research. However, I know that my past self couldn’t have possibly known all the things I know now or about the problems I would eventually encounter without experience. I couldn't have predicted that a zero on the Expected Family Contribution would have meant that we would have to take out many loans, or that I was no longer eligible for a scholarship that had sparked my interest in a particular university because – thanks to a new program I signed up for at the last minute – I was no longer considered a full-time student. I was naïve. I was a first-generation college-bound student, and I was overconfident in my academic skills. I assumed everyone would be nice and that my transition to college would be smooth. I was wrong. Thankfully, nothing goes to waste because I learned a valuable lesson that I will pass on to my younger siblings and – if possible – my younger self: Be more proactive. Take responsibility. Above all, never take things for granted.