Colorado State University-Fort Collins Top Questions

Don't take for granted what your parents and teachers have told you. College is going to be a lot harder than high school was. Study all the material presented to you in class and then do your own extra studying. Sometimes items on the tests will only be covered in class in five minutes. If you have problems in a class, take advantage of the office hours for the teacher. They know the material and the test, if you ask for their help you'll have a better chance of getting a good grade in the class. Do not slack off. If you fall behind, it's harder to get caught up. It will help you save time and requires less effort if you just keep up with the material. While studying is important, don't let it consume your life. Go ahead and relax from time to time and hang out with your friends, otherwise you will burn yourself out and your college experience won't be so fun.

I initially came into Colorado State University as an undeclared freshmen with an interest in Civil Engineering. I had advisors and family members give me advice and warn me that it would be a smart plan to research and discover alternate major choices. I did none of the advice and later learned the day before move-in day that I wanted to switch my major to Watershed Science. Therefore after re-declaring a major so late I was behind on classes for my required major for the first semester and had to take a large load for the second.

The advice I would give myself as a high school senior, is to not be afraid of opportunity. Many leadership opportunties have come my way while attending CSU. One of which was the chance to be a orrientation counselor (a person that welcomes new freshmen to campus). At the time I thought this opportunity would be too time consuming. My GPA was already struggling to stay above a 3.0 because a divorce was ensuing between my parents. I would tell myself that I should enjoy the family time before depression, and other handicaps keep you away from the things you truely want. I would tell senior self to hold my head up high and take a chance on those opportunities that come along because they will help your self esteem as well as make your college experience something worth while. I would tell my senior self that studying more than 2hrs per class will be manitory to get the A's and B's you've always had. Most of all have fun and be open to the chances and opportunities you will have. Through God's grace you will get through!!!

Your freshman year try to go out and meet people. Enjoy the little things. Each semester is going to get tougher and your free time is going to decrease. Start early with trying to find an internship and remember there are internships for freshman too. Remember that you will have the rest of your life to live in your own house and pay your own bills. Most important stay true to yourself. You will change a great deal over the next few years and remember what has made you who you are.

I would tell myself that sometimes things just don't work out like you would think. Now that I have grown up a little more I realise that some plans you just can't keep. Things happen, like in my case a mental disability popped up. But I would also tell myself not to give up on your dreams. I have a lot that I want to accomplish and think that even with my disability I can still make it. I would also warn myself against getting into drugs and that they would only hinder me.

Looking back on my year as a high school senior with the knowledge I have now about college, I would advise myself of a few things. First, I would encourage the enthusiasm I had about college. I was so excited for the transition, and this proved vital to my introduction into the campus setting, therefore, I would encourage anything to increase this excitement. Taking initiative and finding my voice would be a crucial piece of advice, telling myself to talk to professors and classmates, as well as to begin making relationships with key campus individuals and staff. This advice connects to another suggestion of filling out scholarships whenever I can. Making a calendar specifically for deadlines and a file for all information and contacts, would be a primary idea I would lend. Lastly, I would encourage myself to have fun but also devote this time to academics and building vital tools for my future. This could be organization, promptness, and involvement for example. College is a special time, and should be cherished and valued for its academic, social, and personal benefits. These are all suggestions I would give my high school self.

If I could go back and talk to myself two years ago as a highschool senior, I would tell myself to calm down and enjoy every minute of college life. I would tell myself to calm down because it is so easy to get overwhelmed with studying and grades. I think it's easy to develop a tunnel vision of seeing a problem as gigantic and as having a direct coorelation to the amount of sucess you experience in life. Obviously, a paper or test that goes poorly will not cause you to never experience sucess in life. Secondly, I would tell myself to enjoy every minute of college life because it goes so fast and you have so many oppertuities and so little time to experience them all. I am shocked at how fast two years have gone past and I'm sure the next two will go just as fast and I don't want to miss a minute. College is literally a once-in-a-lifetime experience with a multitude of oppertunities with new people and things. When I leave there will still be unexperienced experiences, but I am trying my very best to seize the moment.

Knowing what I know about college now, I would tell myself simply to relax more. As a high school senior, I was extremely stressed about picking a college, about what college life would be like, about how I would pay for college, and so many other things that I could probably fill a book with all of the things that I worried about. Now that I have been in college however, I think that I would tell myself that I simply needed to relax more. For me, the transition to CSU wasn?t without its challenges. It was stressful for me to be away from home and from my family, and switching to dorm life was difficult as well. Although, stressing about it all certainly didn?t help me any, it just made me worry about everything that I think that I knew that in the end would turn out just fine. That is what I would tell my high school senior self if I could go back.

The advice I would give myself as a high school senior, after experiencing college life would be very important and helpful in my situation. Something as simple as having an open mind with classes and absolutely NO procrastinating. Two very important things that I have learned so far. By avoiding a closed mind and procrastinating, college life has been less stressful and more enjoyable!

If I could talk to myself as a high school senior I would tell myself to focus on the right things, to put myself before other people more often. My first semester would have been much more successful if I had not been trying to make everyone else happy. I would have gotten better grades and would not have been as stressed out as I was. Relationships, even if they give you the warm and fuzzies at the time, are not worth it if the other person cannot support the goals that you have for yourself. They should never ask you to sacrifice your goals, your future, for them. They should be proud of the hard work you are doing and not try to make you feel guilty and when they do you should be strong enough to realize that that is not right for you.