Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Top Questions

At this point in your college career your dedication is surly paying off. You have maintained scholarship-winning grades and have received elaborate recognition for your hard work in both research labs and internships, congratulations. However, you’ll soon see that college is about so much more than numbers and awards. It’s about cheering until you’re hoarse for your school’s football team. It's about bonding with friends doing midnight McDonald’s runs while pulling all-nighters in the library. It’s about failing an exam after weeks of studying and gaining the courage to dust yourself off and do what it takes to pull through next time. It’s about learning what you do and don’t stand for—even if it will cost you a friend or two along the way. It’s about discovering you and your passions, not what the world is shaping you to be. “Small is the number that see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts”: this is a truism of Einstein that your professors won’t teach, but strive greater to be apart of this number too and you will surly succeed. Go Jackets!

Calm down. College is far from what you've seen on TV and in the movies. Every single moment is not life defining or a means to climb the crucial social scene. I know you think that college is the one time you have to redefine yourself, and it is that time. Its also the time when you are going to studier harder than you ever have before and still just make it. Its going to hurt. You're going to feel disappointment in grades and boys. No, you're not going to fall in love the first day like your sister did. But you will meet some pretty cute boys that think you're pretty cute too. Don't let them distract you from more important things like the best friends you're going to make or that calculus test. College is a balance. You are going to have more opportunities to succeed, screw up, and have the best time of your life than ever before. You just need to devote Monday through Thursday to succeeding and the weekend to everything else. College is about the experience, so join clubs, make weird friends, study, and forget some Friday nights.

Study. I really wish I could go back. I never realized how difficult college is. High school is so much easier than college, I felt so unprepared coming here. During the first week of orientation all the older students were saying how they study 30 hours a week, and I thought they were just the over achievers and exaggerating. Nope, they definitely were not. I had to learn how to get in good study habits, and that procrastinating won't work anymore. Along with studying I needed to learn time management, not only was there studying to do, and a lot of it, but there was laundry, cleaning, making friend/fun time, and I never thought I'd say this, but taking time to shower! I think my record for days not showering is around five, yes, very gross. So if I could go back that's what I would say, so then I wasn't overwhelmed with the transition to college life.

First of all My advice to myself: Make time for studying 2.5 hours a day for each class so you have time to put that knowledge in your brain, so your not guessing on a test. Do the homework and if you don't know what your doing then ask the instructor for help so they can teach you how to do it. That's why they are there, so they can teach you to how to do the work. Get into a good sleeping pattern so if you have an early class your not sleepy and wanting to just stay in bed. Once your in college your whole life changes, you have to be more independent be on time make it to every class and don't miss a day. you miss one day it's like missing a week of school. Your missing out on what your paying the college for. Get a tutor!

If I was to go back in time and talk to the younger Ryan, I would advise him to be himself in college. Most people talked to Ryan about the large workload involved with college, and the need for time management and organization; no one told him that above all that it is crucial to remain true to yourself when you arrive at college. College has been a life-changing expereince, it is a truly accepting place where people from all over the world can be together and learn from each other, but it is easy to get lost in college and try to become someone who you are not. With all the different groups of people, it is easy to try and conform to one or the other, and I would tell the younger Ryan that conforming is the opposite of what you should do in such a new, wonderful environment. Instead, I would tell him to be himself, blaze a new path, forge new friendships that know the true Ryan, and value your traits over others.

It's okay to be unsure. Try EVERYTHING. Sure, not knowing may make you uncomfortable, but you grow the most when you are uncomfortable. Don't feel forced to declare a major or to know from the moment that you enter college what you want to do. College is the time for exploring. If you don't know what you like it, find it. If you think you know, confirm it. Try anything and everything you are even slightly interested in. You learn about yourself in trying new things, and the people you'll meet will stay with you forever.

I would tell myself that things are going to be different. There are going to be changed in your life and that you have to prepare for them. Freshmen courses are going to be hard and you need to do well before your GPA falls during your second and third year. The friends you make here, are going to be the ones you are closes to after you graduate. Prepare early for grad school by getting to know your professors and really start talking to them. Do not let your social life get in the way of your studies and you will have to make some tough sacrifices. But for the next four years, have fun and enjoy yourself, these are going to be the best times of your life.

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior I would advise myself to challenge myself more in my school work. I would take class that were college course that were avaiblefor me as a high school student. Also, put more effort in finding scholarships that would help my parents pay for my college.

Since, at the age of 63, I am an unconventional college student, I find it challenging to look back at my high school years. I was very fortunate to have had wonderful teachers that gave me a great education. To this day, more than forty five years later, I still rely on information that they provided. I have had a career in business that has lasted more than 30 years and now I am embarking on a new career. In 2013 I will be an RN! I think that I would want my high school self to know that anything is possible and that we can keep growing, learning and achieving throughout our lives. I would tell my high school self that we are usually right where we are suppose to be and it is up to us to make the most of each minute.

The best piece of advice I can think of: don't waste time. What I mean by this threefold: be more efficient when studying, think carefully about degree planning, and make time for social activities. Studying isn't just staring at a page in attempts to memorize the information, but you also don't have to "pull allnighters" to get work finished. If studying is broken up in smaller parts, while still reviewing all material, not only will grades go up, but you'll get better sleep, too. Efficient study habits also leave more free time for social activities such as clubs on campus or just hanging out with friends. Trust me, this will help make a difference in college, especially when studying (you're less likely to dread spending the time to study). The third point I wanted to make is to carefully plan your degree out by semester. This helps keep you on track for your degree and also helps make sure that credits aren't wasted as far as financial aid is concerned. Changing majors is sometimes inevitable, but that doesn't have to make your college cost significantly more.