Berry College Top Questions

When I entered college I had all these ideas of what I wanted to do with my life, but I had never explored how I was going to achieve those goals. I pressured myself to do the best that I could to live up to my mother?s expectations. By the time my first year ended, I did not have much of a social life or many friends. Looking back on my experience, I wish I could tell my senior self not to forsake relationships for academic success, there is a happy medium. Once I started developing friendship and increasing my social life, I found that success in school increased and that I became less stressed. I only wish I had the friendship skills then as I have developed now. For the first time in my college experience, I am truly happy and successful, and it is my junior year. Now that I have figured out a good balance between my social and academic life, I am gaining valuable friendships and relationships with people who are in my field of study, and who want to help me succeed in my future.

If i could go back to visit myself in high school, I would slap myself in the face and I would tell myself to focus more. In high school i procrastinated on everything so I would tell myself to find better ways of finishing projects on time. I would also tell myself to apply to more colleges and scholarships so that I wouldn't have to struggle with finding money now.

Ever since I could remember I was looking forward to attending college. As the saying goes, " it is the best four years of your life. " Little did I know as a high school senior preparing for college the amount of opportuinties and chances to experiance new things that I would have. If I were to go back and talk to myself as a high school senior I would tell myself to prepare to become an adult. No longer will there be the friends that I have know since elementary school that I was dependent on. No longer will I have to follow a schedule that someone else has created, eating at a set time and place, etc. I would tell myself to prepare to grow as a person and learn more about the world. My transition into college was not just a change in location, but a change in myself to become a better person.

I would give myself the advice to save all my money. Academics should always be first, but money should be second. Though there are meal plans at school, it helps to have money for books (which are ridiculously expensive), emergencies such as car troubles and doctors visits. Also, if you have your own money, you can help your parents out. If your family is financially not doing well, it is a blessing to help out any way you can. If you start college out with money, you will less likely be in debt when you graduate. Saving money is the best tip, and the second best is to manage money wisely. Don't spend it on things you don't need- put it in a savings account called COLLEGE and don't touch it!

I would tell myself to not expect the environment to change much from high school if I were to still go to Berry. It is still very much a controlled environment. I should look around at more schools and apply to more than just Berry. I wouldn't change where I ended up, but I think I should just know more about other schools. People at Berry are very friendly and I should be prepared for lots of enthusiasm. I will need lots of patience with students and the administration. Also, the food is horrible.

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior and knowing what I know now about college I would tell myself to start learning how to use my time wisely and manage it to the best of my ability. Time is of essences and the work to be done requires a lot of it whether or not I want to do it, so do it now. I would tell myself to learn how to study and make wise choices. Studying is key to doing well in college; if you have studied then study again you will need the extra help. Making wise choices are important, putting off work for some fun now will greatly hurt you later. I would talk about how I should not rush myself out the house because the freedom I will get is dangerous if it is not properly used. Even though I can make my own choices and live my own life in college, I will be missing the family house rules because consequences there are less harsh. Every part of the academic side of school is important but these are of most importance for me to grasp.

I would advice myself to start a part-time job and save as much money as possible. In addition, I would work on organization skills, time management, and meeting deadlines. In addition, I would begin working on scholarship applications as soon as possible. The most important advice I could give myself in high school would be that although my education will be worth the cost, I should do all I can to reduce that price.

Many assume that high school aged kids can grow and learn how to do things in college or when they get out on their own. I really wish I had had a guidance counselor or mentor who would have explained how things in the real world work. For example, I would have spent much more time looking at financial aid or doing a joint enrollment program to help reduce the stressful amount of hours I need to take to graduate on time. I wish I had known how to budget properly and time manage because there are stressful times in college when unavoidable situations occur and time management would have saved a lot of lost sleep. Instead of stressing about SAT scores and the future, I should have chosen to relish in the high school environment of diversity and friendships. With a background of public school, I should have paid more attention to the variety or students that surrounded me and how I could have better communicated with them to empathize with who they are and where they come from, both their cultural and family backgrounds.

Knowing what I know now, I would go back to my senior year and tell myself knowledge that would make me be less stressed and allow me to enjoy my freshman year. I would have applied for more local/state/national scholarships and I would have kept better track of how much financial aid I would need to cover my tuition for both the fall and spring semester. I would have made myself kick my habit of procrastinating, which has been detrimental to achieving my academic goals. I also would have figured out my major and minor at the beginning of my fall semester, so I could have had a decisive road to travel from the start. I would have told myself to put myself in the spotlight more often and get comfortable talking around people I don't know. If I had done half of those things: I would have a higher GPA, I wouldn't be worried about paying off the $4,185.00 that I still owe, I would be less stressed, and I would able to spend my time doing things that I enjoy.

I would tell myself to start researching different colleges as soon as possible because I was not very open at that point. I would also tell myself to focus on narrowing the colleges down by selecting only the ones with good education programs since that is what I was looking for. I would also remind myself not to turn away a college just because I thought it was too expensive. Another thing I would have told myself was to look into as many scholarships as I could find. I have more options than the usual senior since I am Hispanic and American Indian, and I should take advantage of the opportunities available to me. I would also tell myself to think everything through with great importance because it will affect the rest of my life.