California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo Top Questions

I would tell myself to start applying to schools a lot earlier, procrastination is evil and it brings stress along with it. Had I started earlier on them, I could have been more relaxed and focused on my schoolwork and finished off the year better.

If I knew then what I know now I would have taken more college courses while attending High School. I almost have all of my Liberal Arts classes completed and am waiting to hear at the end of this month if I have made it into the Nursing program. I am currently employed as a LNA and a full time student at NHTI in Concord, NH. I love to challange myself and would love to keep learning. I believe by interacting with Colleges and attending College fairs while in High school you can really get your name out there and alot of people. Never stop learning!

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior I would tell myself to take a breath and relax. My goal has been to be a veterinarian which requires an excellent educational grade point background. I entered college with an intensity and goal to achieve straight As. This resulted in my getting so stressed out and in my head before every exam that I hampered my test-taking ability no matter how well I knew the material. If I could go back in time, I would make sure I knew that its ok to go out and have some fun. Its ok to not spend every night inside studying. Its ok to not always do well on an exam as long as I took a breath and made changes to my study habits for next time. I believe that if I knew back then to not let myself stress myself out, I would achieved even better grades in college and my college experience would have been even greater.

I would tell myself to never give up no matter how difficult the challenge is because giving up only leads to more defeat in the future. I would tell myself to have a stonger metal game because mind over matter is extremely important when getting work done since I am able to work a thousand times faster in college because I am not worried about set backs I just tackle all the work I have to get done. I would also tell myself to not take myself to seriously. I would get so down on myself if I ever did poorly on a test and have a bad mood overall but in college I have learned to roll with the punches and realize that I can always improve and become a better version of myself if I put my mind to it.

If some person were actually able to create the most desire product, a time machine, I would gladly volunteer myself as a test subject. Looking back and knowing what I do now, I would have to tell myself hours' worth of information, but most importantly, I would spend most of the time focusing on one subject - change. That one word can describe almost all that happens the first year of college compared to high school. Changes in maturity levels, in friends, and even in relationships with those that were to be remembered forever. Some individuals who used to be the "most likely to succeed" in high school would be the very ones partying every Friday and Saturday night, while I remained the same - the one person who stayed in the lab room spending more effort than needed on a project (which I would let myself know to keep doing). I would also let my younger half know that an alteration of life, with regard to eating, sleeping, and studying, are a necessity, not just a recommendation. Overall, I would remind myself that life is a journey with many detours; it is ultimately up to me to take the correct road.

Be bolder. Your classes will not be as hard as you once thought, so push yourself. You may have heard a hundred times that you only get to be young once, but this holds truth to it. That doesn't mean because you are young you should waste your time partying every night and "because this is college, you should take it easy." It means you are only young ONCE, so make the most of it and make it count. Take the hardest classes you can, spend time working out, build quality relationships with others. Doing these things is what it actually means to be young. So I'll say this once again... you, Sean Shepherd, are only young once so use the next few years of your life to be purposeful. Make sure that when you wake up at the end of your college years you are satisfied with the person you have become and the goals that you have achieved. This is truly living. And becoming the man you want to be, with a career you love, friends that challenge you, and a family you love more than all those things is more satisfying than anything else.

Advice I would give myself would be to not underestimate the workload of college, particularly of architecture. Another piece of advice would be to not be afraid of asking for help, especially first year, otherwise it might be too late. Finally, I would tell myself to not stress out so much but to keep your time management skills in handy because those skills will help greatly.

Why go back in time when you should live with no regrets? The journey of not knowing is the excitement in it all. Though this is true, moving forward to a new beginning such as college is another story. This is the perfect opportunity to travel back in time for all the answers. If I were to travel back in time I would cover three major topics with myself; time management, networking and independence. Time management refers to dedicating yourself to strategically organize and manage a set schedule which incorporates scholarship deadlines, study hours, community service and social time. Secondly networking, this includes forming relationships with teachers, counselors, employers and even local community impacts such as pastors/ministers at your church. High school is about education as well as politics. Though you may be intellectually compelling, if you are not socially capturing you can miss out on opportunities to create those connections. Lastly create independence senior year. Push yourself to complete tasks on your own. Become your own parent and except responsibility. Given the opportunity to speak to Tori Poindexter her freshman year of high school I would explain to myself the importance of time scheduling, connections and maturity.

Save money wherever possible! Out of high school i accepped admission to San Francisco State university and was unable to enroll due to financial reasons, and instead i spent 2 years at a local commuinity college. This ended up being the best thing i ever did! Not only did i save literally thousands of dollars, but i got academic resources that will better my future. While at this community college i recieved the board of governors fee waiver grant, which essentally gave me 3 of my 4 semesters there for absolutly free! I used that saved money to buy a car so that i could work while going to school (I was working 2 jobs for a time, but I have always held one job while enrolled in college). I used the fact that i had been unable to enroll in a 4 year college straight out of high school as motovation to do better in my community college. Although i wasnt throlled to go there at first, I was able to save money and recieved 3 time academic honors from the school, was VP of an honor society, and now I am able to go to my dream school!

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a highschool senior, I would say a lot. There are a lot of things I have learned this year that I wish I would have known in highschool. I would tell myself to never wait until the last minute to do anything and to do as many scholarships as I can. I would tell myself to try my hardest in highschool, because it really does affect your college life. I would also tell myself to do everything that I could to get a good score on the ACT, because the college that I am now transferring to gives great scholarships for good ACT scores. I would tell my highschool self to really do my research on every aspect of college, becuse it is so important. Sometimes, how our lives turn out to be is determined by our college years. College is one of the most crucial parts of your life, and I wish I would have realized that in highschool and prepared more. I'm glad that I know this now, because I can help other people and tell them to take highschool seriously but also have fun.