Brown University Top Questions

I would say that college is an experience that you cannot truly prepare yourself for. Some of your friends may change and your outlook and interests may also shift but this is not a cause for alarm, but a part of the whole process and learning experience. Do not be afraid to take chances, college is the time to do things that you will not have the flexibility to do in the future. No matter what, make friends and stay focused, partying might be fun, but ultimately you will regret not getting started on that essay a little bit sooner.

Anticipate change. Be prepared to sacrifice anything in order to achieve what you came for, be ready to sacrifice that extra hour of sleep, that night out with friends, that phone call back home, because you will have to change in order to adapt to this extremely different environment that resembles nothing from the one you come from. Be ready to question yourself, but don?t think doubt mean you are wrong, it simply means it is time to change and redefine that aspect of your life. Be willing to put aside your pride, and acquire that humbleness that you will need when you go ask for help, because you will not know everything when you get there. Be open to many challenges that you know might seem tough, but that ultimately will provide you with a greater understanding of yourself. Do not think that this is all a clich?, do not minimize this opportunity, and do not think that you are only here to study, because you are here to start a new part of your life, and ultimately to build intellect, character, morals, values, and social skills; all of which are tools for you to function in society.

Do not let people walk all over you. You will make friends and be nice, but always remember to stand up for yourself. You are God's daughter and deserve respect and kindness from people. Stay focus, even when relationships become intense. Try not to let family issues get too much in the way of your work. Besides that be yourself and you will do fine. Actualy forget everything I just told you, because if you do not go through these events then you might not turn out to me the amazing women I am today. Don't worry you will do just fine, you are made for a great purpose.

Stay true to who you are, be open minded and outgoing, and never place too much importance on what people think of you.

College is not the end of everything.

I will tell my high school senior self that when filling the questionaire for dorm, go to the extreme. I know the person that I am and when I filled out the questionaire I was lenient because I was afraid of the extreme neat freak studious student. Now living with my roommate, it is miserable. She is sloppy and I mostly believe that she doesn't study very much. Brown's questionaire is not detailed so take the few questions that they provide into careful consideration. When coming to Brown, pack light and bring only the necessity. There are stores here that you can buy whatever you need. The first month or so you will feel that you spend too much money and are afraid that you are out of funds, don't fret about it. It's natural because you are buying the necessities and books. After the first month your expenditure will sharply decrease and if you want to live cheaply, it will be possible to spend little money.

Be confidently yourself. The pettiness of adolescence and high school is over. You were admitted because you stood out, not because you fit in. Why would you want to hide who you are, anyways? It's far more fun to be genuine than artificial. Be passionate in what you do. Your college years are few and go by surprisingly quickly, so you better make the most of them. Engage yourself fully in your classes (go to class! do the reading!) and you will feel greater satisfaction in the knowledge you gain. Attend campus events and public lectures. Get involved in student groups and develop your leadership skills. Think about your values. Adult life is far too busy and stressful to allow the breathing room necessary to think deeply about your values, desires, and personal philosophy. Just as you must rely on your formal education in adulthood, you must rely on your self-education. Take the time to consider what you want out of life; how important is national service, family, money? Have fun. You are surrounded by thousands of smart and accomplished kids who have also watched Animal House. Do crazy things and always have fun. (Alcohol definitely not required).

Don?t worry you?re going to make it. Take a deep breath. Finish out senior year strong, but don?t get too preoccupied with school. Learn to appreciate friends, family, pets, your car, your bed, and home cooked meals. Now, get excited. College is big time?you?ve been working towards this your whole life?and its almost here. College will go by faster than high school; it?s OK to feel like your head?s underwater and the whole world is flying by. Even so, try to appreciate it. Try new things. Take interesting classes that you can?t stop talking about, even on the weekends. Make new friends. Meet, flirt, kiss, repeat. Date someone. Even if it makes you feel silly, call your family, they miss you. Don?t forget where you came from, stay in touch with your friends at home. Read everything. Maintain a balance in all you do. Even if you feel like you're too busy to make the grade you want, have the social life you want, make new friends, keep the old ones, and still manage to sleep a little, slow down, relax, and remember: I Can. Learn. Find yourself.

I would tell myself not to expect too much too quickly. I came to college expecting that within a matter of weeks, I would have a strong core group of friends, have some idea about what I might want to study, be excelling in my classes, have experienced all that Providence has to offer, etc. When I got here, however, I realized that those things take time - much more time than I had expected. The transition was difficult for me because my expectations had not matched up with the reality of the situation. I would make sure that my high school self would know to make peace with whatever situation I encountered upon arriving at college and understand that the transition will take time. It is called a transition for a reason - it doesn't happen overnight. Only a couple of months into my college experience, I am still searching for many of the things I had expected. It took me a while to realize that I won't be able to obtain these things quickly, but now I am taking each day as it comes in my college experience.

The advice I would give to my senior-year self would be to be more self-evaluative and open-minded. If I had been better at juding my strengths and weaknesses, I would have had more time during my first year at Brown to explore academic interests and non-academic activities that I intially had written off. Being more open to different possibilites would have helped as well. When I came to Brown, I had the preconceived notion that I wanted to work in the media industry. I have a certain number of the requisite skills to succeed in such a field, but I should have realized earlier on that pursuing jounalism, for example, did not fit with my personality. If I had been more honest with myself and more willing to test new subjects, I would have taken what many people onsider "fluffy" courses - those involving philosophy, social/cultural theory, visual art, and performance art. Instead, like many other ambitious students, I believe those topics were below me and I focused on the social sciences. Two years later, I cannot help but wonder if I would have been better suited to such a field.