Coe College Top Questions

“Believe in yourself, believe in your intelligence, your academic skills and your ability to succeed ” is the advice I would have given myself. “You have a superior application, a high GPA and hours upon hours of community involvement. Do not shy away from applying to some of the top schools in the county. Don’t short-change yourself, you are capable of anything and everything you set your mind too. Don’t get me wrong, you will enjoy any institution you end up at, but I want you to be satisfied and happy with your ultimate decision. Challenge yourself, get involved, talk to your professors, and finish each test and each course with the feeling and satisfaction that you indeed performed at your best and highest of ability. Finally, remember this is just the beginning of the marathon. Work hard, believe in yourself and the strength of God, and you will finish and exceed anything you thought possible.”

When I really sit down and think about the biggest lessons I have learned since being in college, there are three key concepts that come to mind. One, in no specific order is the idea of giving your all in everything that you do, whether it be sports, academics, relationships, etc. You can never be dissapoointed in yourself when you give your all, and less regrets as a result. Looking back at my high school years, I regret not giving it my all; I didn't see the big picture soon enough. The second lesson, involves growing up and gaining your independence, which is definently a continuous process and doesn't happen at once. However, mommy and daddy are not always going to be there to help, and you must be able to manage. The last lesson concerns confidence and sureness in oneself. It is said that college is where you really find out who you are, you discover a lot of things about yourself and the world around you. In the midst of all of this discovery and encountering, be sure that you stay true to yourself, don't let the challenges, people, and circumstances change who you are.

I would tell myself to take alot more AP and college based classes in high school instead of just sliding by. Taking these type of classes would help because they teach you how to read and study for college classes. I would also tell myself that if I want to drink alcohol in college that I need to get somewhat of a headstart in high school. I would say this because kids that come from very controlling parents that aren't allowed to do things such as drinking and partying usually come to college and just go absolutey nuts in regards to partying. This can lead to very bad consequences such as drinking too much and ending up in the hospital or getting into situations that they would not have gotten into if they knew their limits while drinking. The last thing I would tell myself is to try and be as outgoing as possible. I like to thing of college as one big slumber party especially in the dorms and if you know how to meet alot of people and make alot of friends its an awesome experience.

Stay home and work hard. Don’t get side tracked by things that only seem important. Believe me when I say that the most important thing in your world right now is shcool. You deserve a shot at real success, but every time that you choose not to study or not to do the best that you can on an assignment you set yourself back immeasurably. Give this whole school thing your all for a little while longer and I guarantee that you won’t regret it. The future really is "only as bright as you make it," so make it brilliant. Learn to care about your work because your successes and failures now are very real indicators of the same in the future. People will not always be able to meet you and see that you are better than the "C" on your last report card. Their impressions of you may be formed solely by way of your grades… and wouldn’t it be pathetic if you were judged a “C” caliber applicant when you know you could have, and should have, been an “A”.

“Get your science general education requirements out of the way. After four years of high school having an 8 A.M. course seems great, but after a semester or two of college it’s ridiculous. Also, don’t worry about the money so much. It’s part of college. You’ll survive. Most importantly, get working. Not on your schoolwork—that isn’t going any harder than it was in high school. You’ve got more opportunity to screw it up, but you know better. But your classes aren’t going to teach you how to be a writer. You know that—though you're hoping you're wrong. So start putting in the extra work so that when you graduate you’ll actually be able to go somewhere. And for the love of God talk to people. Stay away from the frats—you’ll be tempted to one of them, but trust me it’s not worth it. But there are some good people who are going to need your help. Some of them are going to be hermits, but that’s alright. Talk to them anyway. You’ll be talking with them the rest of your life.”

If I could go back, I would convince myself to look elsewhere other than Coe. Now that I am transferring to the Unversity of Kansas, I realize that Coe was not the place for me. In going back, I would explain how to look deeper into the school than just the surface. Sure, I learned a lot and matured quite a bit. But I realize that being one of the only non-drinking students at a school of that size really affects the amount of fun that I can have. If I could go back, I would encourage myself to take a deeper interest into the science and math classes, and gear my college search towards schools that offer more of those kind of majors. I will not say that Coe wasn't a helpful step for me to grow and learn from, but I believe that by telling my senior self to look elsewhere in a college, I would be more successful.

A few weeks ago in the midst of the soul searching that every freshamn in college goes through, I figured out what I'd been doing wrong throughout my entire schooling. I asked myself why I disliked school so much and thought about why I was so negative about school. Someday I want to combine my double major of psychology and art and go on to be an art therapist. When I think of psychologists I think of very intelligent people, and artists seem to me to be very wise and expressive. If I want to be an art therapist I need to be really smart and wise! I should want to learn more things. I should be more excited about the fact that with every bit of information I soak up in my classes I am bettering myself and preparing myself for the rest of my life. I wish I could tell my high school self to be more excited about what I was learning. I wish I could tell me to be more positive about the work that I produce. Lastly, I'd stress to myself the difficulty of doing outstanding work in that which you are uninterested.

Knowing what I know now, the biggest piece of advice I'd have for myself is not to stress so much. The transition really isn't as scary as it seems. I'd also tell myself not to expect to be best friends with my roommate because that often isn't the case. I'd tell myself to not be so shy and show off my fun-loving personality sooner. I'd also tell myself to take financial aid a little more seriously and start looking for those schoalrships as soon as possible. Money is tight in college so start saving now. Finally, the last piece of advice I'd have for my high school senior self is although you're at college to learn, it's important to let yourself relax and have some fun too.

I have gotten so many possitive things out of my experience in college. One of those is making connections and finding resources . There are so many helpful people and opportunites that can be found on a college campus if you just look. For instance I didn't realize how much help could be found in the labs (math, reading, computer, and spanish) at my previous school. Making connections with poeple on campus as well is key to having opportunites open. By opening up to other students and the staff I was able to find the perfect part time job for myself. By taking advantage of connections and resources that can be made on a college campus as well as outside of the campus many opportunites can arise. Had I not attended three years of community college I'm not sure that I would be so open to new people and getting to know them. I feel connections and knowledge of resources are key to success in college and in life.

College was what I always considered just "the next step" in my life. I want to work overseas, and before I arrived at campus, college was just a means to an end. Within the first week of orientation and classes, my opinion did a complete turnabout. My campus is bursting with life; there is always something going on to stave off my normal boredom with the world. In addition to all the wonderful activites, I have met more people with my same interests and goals than I ever knew existed. My small farming community growing up was not enough to encompass all the opportunities for friendship and exploration that I am just now starting to realize are out there. These past months I've grown in intellect, but also in personality as my ideas and morals are continually challenged and forced to a higher level. Going to college was the best choice I've ever made in my life.