Hampden-Sydney College Top Questions

If I could go back to high school and give advice to myself about college it would be to think outside the box. Many high school students receive the anwers before without knowing facts and analysis of such reasoning. I would love to go back to gain a significant ability to assure myself to work harder to answer the question why. Why is the question. Many students in high school cannot answers this question. Why? Students have a hard time adjusting their minds outside the norm of society. College teaches about thinking for yourself and analyzing specifics for an answer. If I had the tools such as analyzing and questioning the current, I would have been more educated on certain topics such as my Western Culture class. I had to qualify answers sometimes in Western Culture. I know if I had this experience in high school I would be better off in my future learnings at Hampden-Sydney College.

If you've finally decided to attend college at this point, and I know you have, there are some things that you should know before you shove off. Don't worry about where you're going though, you'll be happy there I assure you. With that said I’ve gained quite a bit of wisdom these past four years, and I know you would benefit from what I have to share despite my brevity. Firstly, don’t worry about making friends. You’ll meet wonderful people and form bonds that you’ll probably keep for the rest of your life, and you’ll do it quite easily. People like you. Secondly, don’t you dare procrastinate. I mean it. You’re more than capable enough to earn a 4.0 GPA, but you definitely need to do all of the work to get it. Thirdly, don’t second guess yourself about anything. Trust your judgments and you won’t be wrong in any decision you make. Lastly, don’t forget about what you’re leaving behind. Your family needs you just as much as you need them, remember that.

The most important way to find the right college is to know where you want to go before you start college applications. Visit these colleges. Ask a high school counselor for a college?s Student Admissions Office information. Many colleges allow prospective students to visit and stay for a weekend. This allows a student to experience the college before he or she arrives. Prospective students should make good use of this time to speak with the current students of the school about what they like about the school. Another important key to finding the right college is to look at small schools along with the larger schools. Division 1 schools are not the only good schools. Many good schools are smaller and can offer experiences that large schools cannot. It is important to know what you want in a school, such as class room size. Some people learn better in a lecture setting, others learn better in small classes. Those that learn well in lecture settings should spend more time looking at larger schools. Students who learn better in small classes should spend more time looking at smaller schools.

The most important lesson I learned from my experience is that you will be molded and influenced in very important ways by the college you attend; not just academically, but you will take on a significant measure of the character of your institution. In light of this little-mentioned fact, pay attention to mission statements, honor codes, the campus culture, and the values of the students, faculty, and administration. The temptation is to attend a big school because you see their football team on TV or because you recognize the name, but smaller schools often have huge advantages. Small schools often have the right mix of faculty-student interaction, strong positive-values which their size allows to meaningfully permeate the attitudes of students, and often provide a better education than the big-name state schools. I know that I would not have learned or, more importantly, matured and developed as a man without my small-school environment's cultivating the values, ideals, and attitudes which I know will lead to success in life. Examine smaller colleges that you might not normally consider and you may just discover a hidden world of unrivaled personal growth, development, and education.

Take the time to visit a few colleges, get a feel for the type of enviroment you want to spend the most important years of your life in.

Make sure you visit a school before you agree to spend four years there.

Look into private colleges as well and don't disgard a college because it is all male or all female. These colleges provide students with the ability to study without distractions, to form bonds for a lifetime and opportunity to know themselves as males and femailes without the pressure of having to engage in mating rituals before they are ready or have the necessary maturity. Yet students of the opposite sex are always on campus however not in the classrooms so opportunities to socialize are available.

Go out and try out as many colleges as you can before you make the decision. Visit friends stay for more then one day and take in the whole experience. Once you find the right one for you do everything you can in the first year. If their is a remote chance that you may enjoy something such as a club, sport, greek life, anything take the chance and try it out. Not everything will work out but it nevers hurts to try. You can never win if you don't play.

Never limit your options. Often you'll find yourself favoring one college over the others you've looked at, but it is important to apply to many colleges so that you'll never be stuck in a certain one. Once you're there though, enjoy it and try to branch out and meet new people who may have different views than your own. Have fun, but don't forget to stay focused in your school work; it is important to have a social life and still maintain a good GPA. Parents can help their kids by checking up on them every few weeks and just seeing how things are going. If the college is in reasonable driving distance, I've found that students tend to njoy having an occasional lunch with their family. It provides a nice little break from the workload and stresses of college.

My advice to any parent or student would be to visit the college of choice on a regular day, not just the prescribed "visit days". On "visit days", the schools are made to look cleaner, and better, than usual. On a regular day, You can sit in on a class and observe. you can visit professors. And, you can see for yourself what the studnet life is like, not just what some brochure tells you. The second part of my advice is as follows: while in school, school comes first! I have had the misfortune of watching friends say "Oh, I'll do my work later," only to find that they will never do it. They get caught up in activities, sports, or drinking. However, there is a way to be involved and not jeopardize your work. Simply put your work first. If you can't get your work done because of something, quit that something. Your schoolwork is far more important. You can return to that activity later, but you can't come back to your work. Do your work first. In conclusion, remember the following: visit the school in question, and always, always, always, put school first.