Bradley University Top Questions

I personally didn?t think that college would any different from high school. I had spent a lot of time not living at home, pursing different things. I felt that I was very prepared for my new life at college. But boy was I wrong! One of the first things I learned right off the bat is that you don?t have any structure at school. All of sudden I could eat, sleep, and go out whenever I wanted, which wasn?t very good for me. You definitely have to start planning things. I created schedules and lists so that I could be organized and make sure I got things done on time. Being prepared for everything made me feel less anxious about new things and more equipped for what life threw at me. By the end of the semester I was able to balance work and play and to make good decisions. Living at college helped see to that. But it would have been nice knowing all of this at the beginning.

If I could go back in time and tell myself how to make the transition into college easier this is what I would say. Make sure you go to all of your classes. Missing even a couple will put you far behind and it won't be easy to get caught back up. Don't be afraid to go for help. Even though you're used to doing things yourself don't think that it?s a bad thing to get help. The work is much harder and if you get help when you need it then you won't be overwhelmed. Most importantly, try lots of new things. Joining new groups will help you meet people and are a lot of fun. Plus it will help keep you sane when you feel like all you have to do is work. You'll really enjoy Bradley so just keep up with your work and you'll do great.

If i could go back and offer some advice to myself i would suggest that I take a few moments to appreciate the beauty of the new things around me. i would also suggest hitting the library a little more. I feel that as a freshman I should have studied more and worked a little bit harder instead of assuming that i could skate by like i did in high school. Something that i think is important as well is getting involved on campus. I find that whenever i hear of a club or oppertunity that i miss i wish that i had gone and done those things. for this reason i feel that it is important to advise getting involved an experiencing as many things as possible. you only get to go through college once and the most should be made of it.

The advice I would give the old me would be to stay focused on what is important. Friends will come and go but your education is serious and there is no going back. I would also tell the old Ashley that she needs to start to take notes and pay close atteting to what she is being told in class becuase that information will be on an exam in the near future. The last thing I would tell the old Ashley is that she needs to get her prioities in order, you can have fun but you have to finish what needs to be done first.

My advice would be to follow your dreams. It's hard to see though the obstacles especially today. If you not only persevere but also look past the things that are stopping you from achieving your goals, then you will soar above all obstacles and even your dream career may become a reality. You have to open yourself up to new opportunities as they come. College may seem far away but you may have to make that big decision sooner than you think, and it?s up to you to prepare yourself for the things you may encounter. It is important to make contacts with representatives from the schools you're interested in attending and to show interest! Even if you do not know who you want to be in the future you need to express interest in learning, growing, and contributing in your own way.

Seek out the knowledge of your professors and advisors. The faculty and staff are there to help you -- they are readily available and eager to do so. You will benefit in the immediate, but also in the future; and you will experience these benefits in both your personal and academic life. In terms of academics, making a 4-year course plan is key, and knowing your academic goal is incredibly important. The chances of timely success in obtaining your academic goals will increase tenfold if you seek the advice of the ones who have gone before you. In terms of your personal life, your professors can serve as mentors while you are in college, but possibly even more important is the networking that will happen naturally as you develop relationships with your professors. You will likely look back someday, perhaps after landing your first "real" job at the company your professor referred you to years ago, and realize how thankful you are that you knew that professor! You will be amazed at the incredible source of information that is accessible to you, waiting right at your fingertips if you will simply take the step to seek it out.

I would tell myself to take risks and apply to schools that would be called "reach" schools. I wish I would have just taken a chance and applied to that Ivy league school. I also wished I would have applied to more schools. Maybe I would have been happier at where I ended up. I also would tell myself to stop being so lazy and apply for scholarships because that would have lightened the amount to pay for college. I would have told myself to set higher standards and go after what I wanted. Rejection is definitely not the worst thing that can happen. Even if you do get rejected from a school, at least you tried. Better to have tried and failed than to not have tried at all.

If I could go back to my senior year in high school I would prepare more. I would make sure that I took a full load of classes and perhaps make sure that some are Honors or AP classes. I think it would be very helpful if high schools could make it mandatory that seniors take seminars in organization, planning and time management! I think seminars like this would make the transition from high school to college very helpful! I would also take more seriously the fact that just because I did so good in high school it would not be the same in college! The college material is definitely harder and in larger loads than what I did in high school. I think more counseling would have helped me to better succeed my first semester in collelge. I had to learn a lot quick and unfortunatley the hard way! I now know that I have to stay ahead of my classes at all times! This semester I will definitely have to be working harder and stay more focused.

College is much harder. Study harder and put more into your school work. Don't worry about making friends, they will come. Save more money, it will be tight. It's fun, but don't go overboard.

To be more carfull on tests and to make sure to do all of the homework. To double check work and avoid mistakes as much as possible.