California State University-Fresno Top Questions

Advice to the high school version of myself. Do not be quick to judge. Don't dismiss a person or idea too early just because you immediately get a bad impression from it. Pick the right classes. Think very carefully of the classes you take. You are setting the foundation for your career with these classes. Have respect for authority. Your teachers and your parents care about you and are only doing their job by giving you advice. Listen to their advice and heed it. Do well in academics. You want to develop good academic habits for college. Invest a good amount of time in researching and applying to scholarships. Money is hard to come by as a college student, take advantage of these opportunities. Create a set of goals. Both short term and long term. Make a plan on how you would like to reach those goals. Learn to take accountability. There is nothing wrong with admitting you’re wrong. And last but not least, learn to see things in others perspective. Everybody has their own lens. See and appreciate other people’s perspective, I promise you will learn a lot from them.

If I could go back in time I would tell myself that the grades do matter, and to keep up the good work. I would encourage myself to practice writing more, because you do a lot of paper writing in college. I would also tell myself that it's ok to relax and have fun sometimes. The most important thing would be to encourage myself to save money. Although I recieved grant money in undergrad, I have struggled greatly in my graduate school. I have had to take out student loans and now I am experiencing a great deal of stress because if the financial burden.

Fernando, You will be fine. The application proccess will be difficult; you will get rejected, and you will be accepted. Making a decision will be the hardest part of the process, but you will be happy with the decision you make. I know that going to college seems scary, but after meeting some of the people, you won't be nervous anymore. You will pick Mechanical Engineering as your major, which will be an extremely difficult major. Transition from high school to college will be a diffiult change, but you will enjoy the college atmosphere much more than high school. Don't stress your last year in high school, and have fun.

I would tell myself to try harder in college once I started. High school was a breeze, so when I started college, I thought it would be the same way. It took me a semester to realize that I have to crack the books open and put in some work to do well in college. No longer could I get by with only paying attention in class and not doing anything else. I would tell myself firmly that college is not like high school at all. It is some serious business that requires hard work and dedication. It is definitely not like how it is portrayed in the movies where people party all the time and never do any homework or studying. I would also tell myself to make the most of it and meet new people. I learned a lot just from the people I met in college. The toughest advice I would give myself is that sometimes there are professors who want you to tell them "what they want to hear" and not your opinion if it goes against theirs. This was the hardest thing for me to accept about college.

I would try to work on my study skills.

If I were to be able to talk to myself as a high school senior, the main thing that I would tell myself would be to work harder and study more. I can remember being told that if we did not do well in high school by our senior year, we would not succeed in college. I would tell myself that this is not true, and there is always a chance to work hard and succeed. I would make sure that I knew that the college transition from high school would be difficult, and to do prior research to find the departments and services that would help me to succeed in college. I would also advise myself on the importance of volunteering, and encourage myself to start as a high school senior instead of waiting for my freshman year of college.

Given the chance to travel back into time and talk to myself as a higschool senior I would only have one thing to say: Keep calm, and carry on. I would explain to myself that there will be speed bumps ahead, but as long as I continue to work hard I can overcome any obstacles. It is important to remember that in the end everything will bw fine, and if everything is not fine don't worry; it's not the end. I would also tell myself to approach people, don't be scared. The world is full of amazing smart people, the only way to learn from them is to approach them.

Focus on school and save more money. The VW is a lemon and will end up costing more to fix than originally paid. You need to self-motivate above all else, and remember that your education is important. Nobody will be there telling you to go to school or complete assignments. Test out of as many generals as possible - the experience of those classes isn't worth the stress. Make friends and do things besides work so you have those experiences. Mom will help out more than you expect. You won't be ready for the courseload until after you have a child. You're pretty immature yet and won't fully comprehend the gravity of flunking out of college until you're trying to pull your GPA out of the gutter, and it WILL follow you around years later.

Dearest Claudia, I know you think you have everything figured out all ready, but you are about to enter a bigger world with lots of opportunities. There are good and not so good apects of college. You will be exposed to several different types of people in your community and you will need to know how to get along with all types. You will make plenty of new friends and loose lots from high school. However, the friends you keep are the ones that will help you get through college and become successful. I advise that you get involved with school organizations because not only do you get to meet new friends, but you also begin networking for your future career. The people that you know really can open opportunities that are not always apparent. Don't ever be scared to express yourself either physically or verbally because college is a whole new playing field compared to high school. Instead, you want to make yourself stand out on campus and in classes because it shows you mean business. Lastly, even though classes look rigorous, DO NOT DROP OUT! You will learn the most in those classes. Goodluck, you got this!

If I would be able to go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior, I would remind myself of how difficult it was to transition into not only a college student but also into adulthood. Aside from having to worry about maintaining good grades, I would also have to worry about wheather or not I would have enough money to pay for my rent and basic expenses. I found myself struggling all the time, if it wasn't one thing it would be another. So therefore, I would tell myself to save up some money, start saving some of the allowence money because in the long run that would make my life so much easier. I would also tell myself to research more about what my University actually has to offer, I went in almost as if I was blind. I had no idea where anything was much less what kind of services Fresno State actually offers. I would also encourage myself to try getting into a sorority because I believe that would be helping me out even more, I would start becoming more social rather than just dwelling on what could have been.