Hawaii Pacific University Top Questions

I would remind myself that I am working towards something; a better life and an adventure that I couldn't possibly imagine while in high school. No class, club or activity is meaningless, and it can all be used to build a profile for the future. I would tell myself to get involved; because the teamwork will be important later in life. I would also tell myself to follow my interests, and not to worry about following the crowd. There will be a day that there is a fit for my interests. I would remind myself to not worry about social struggles. There is a world out there where everyone fits in, and where everyone has a unique spot to fill. Finally, I would tell myself that my parents were right. They told me that high school would seem distant once I started college, and that there was a whole new reality that is exciting and interesting and feels relevent towards meeting my goals in life.

Thus far, my college experience has taught me many different things that would have been nice to know about in high school. College is actually twenty times harder than high school and there is no such thing as studying the night before and getting an A on an exam. I would tell my high school self to enjoy the amount of academic freedom because once you get to college, things get much harder. I would definitely tell myself to loosen up a little and learn to say NO sometimes. In high school I had many responsibilities that ranged from being class president, being a captain of wrestling team, national honor society, and helping my dad raise my two younger siblings. I would always say yes when someone asked a favor of me, and sometimes it got the best of me. I would always be exhausted physically and mentally, but somehow I made it work. I learned to be an independent hard working young lady.

Really learn about your financial aid and apply for as many scholarships, grants, and whatever other free money you can have.

The first thing I would tell my high-school-senior-self is to be more aware of the events happening around the globe. In college, professors will always mention the news (local, national, and global). My first semester of taking World Geography, I had no idea what the professor was talking about and I should have been more updated about the world news while I was in high school. My second advice would be to really focus on writing, and when I mean writing, I mean writing research papers. It will be the death of you, but if you know how to structure a paper with organization and fluidity, then it'll achievable. Learn everything that you can in high school, even if it doesn't seem to matter in the moment. You never know if your professor in college might test you on that very same subject that you hated in high school.

Do your homework and get some networking done. Definately apply for classes yourself because your counselor is going to overwork you with too many classes. Call out people when they are rude. Don't hide behind "I'm fine" and make sure your partner is secure because it will be detrimental if you lie to them like that.

So listen dude, you need to quit messing around with your video games and get more serious about your studies. If you put the work in now and get your grade point average up, not only will you do better in college, but you will qualify for some awesome grants. Many scholarships require you to have a high GPA as well. The top colleges are very competitive and you will need good grades to be accepted. It wouldn't be a bad idea if you began to do some volunteer work in your community because many colleges and scholarships are looking for individuals who have done community service. One area you need to really step up your game in is your general education, such as reading, writing and arithmetic. The majority of your time in college will be spent reading, writing and doing math. The better you are in those areas when you enter college the easier college will be for you. So, set some limits now on those video games and put the extra time into focusing on school and you will find college easier and more rewarding.

Be prepared to have no money. As a college student now, I wish I would have saved more money for books and the things I need. I wish I would have saved up at least five thousand dollars for my expenses. Being on your own allows young adults to prepares them to support themselves. When living with your parents asking them for twenty dollars every now and then seemed like nothing, but when you have no income and have debts (if you need them) college can be a difficult transition for money. I have had to create a major budget and watch my expenses carefully. More advice I would give myself is freshman 15 exists! Though my college gives healthy food choices and warns students about their eating habits, I wish I would have taken it more seriously. Exercise is difficult to accomplish when five days a week you are going to school, studying and doing homework takes away at least eight hours a day. When the weekend comes around you dont want to work out. I wish I would have introduced myself to spending the extra money I have on healthier food. It will benefit in the long run.

If I had the opportunity to go back and advise myself about making the transition between high school and college there are three main things I would say. I would preach the necessity of scholarships, the importance of patience, and how much procrastination actually hurts you in the real world. Living on your own is hard enough without having to worry about student loans. I believe the focus should be on your education, not how you're going to afford next month's tuition. Equally important is the patience needed to deal with people; whether dealing with language barriers or cultural differences, you must possess this trait for personal growth. I have learned the hard way that the most common and detrimental quality among college students is procrastination. This is harmful because it takes away from the quality of your work and is one of the main stressors on campus. I firmly believe that knowing these qualities as a high school senior would have saved me much wasted time and effort while adjusting to life on my own in college.

An advice I would give myself is to know what I want to do before I enter college. I would tell myself to pick a major I would want to stick with and seem interesting to me that I know I would like. Once I have told myself to choose a major before going to college, I would also tell myself to look for the requirements for that specific major and plan out my four years of college. Planning out my four years ahead of time could help me because it would allow me to finish school on time without spending extra money for classes I could have taken during the school year. Lastly, I would tell myself not to stress out so much because college is similar to high school, except I am responsible for all my actions I make.

Well, being seventeen again would be amazing because knowing what I know about college I would tell my self to save as much money as possible. It seems that ever since I attended college it has been money trouble from day one. To be honest I think I would tell myself to not go to HPU and go to community college so I would at least have more money saved and then transferred to HPU and not worry about money 24/7. Being nineteen and living at home with my family and finding the struggles to survive college has been difficult. I think the best option for me would have been to go to community college and to also have more self-confidence in myself. Students in high school were mean from day one because of my acne problems and my academic skills. I wish I would have stood up for myself becaue I know in college people accepted me for myself becaue I was being 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} myself with my humor and kindness. All and all I would tell myself to be the best person I could be and just keep trying hard.