Knox College Top Questions

Stay Focused and determined on all your goals and never give up.

If I could go back and tell my high school self one thing, it would be to treat myself with more kindness. I spent too much of my young adulthood criticizing myself and comparing myself to others. Perhaps it's because I'm from a generation that's been pressured to succeed, one where success is narrowly defined as "being the best." I tried my best at whatever I did, whether it was a swimming race or a paper; but like most of us, my best was rarely perfect. What I thought were failures--lost contests and grades under an A--were really just shortcomings. By being kinder to myself and more accepting of those shortcomings, I could have learned more from my experiences. Instead of being disappointed, I could have appreciated my accomplishments and tried to understand my mistakes. Success is not based on numbers and plaques. I don't remember my grades from high school or the names of awards I recieved, but I remember being proud of writing a poem and finsihing my first lab experiment. What really lasts is your willingness to grow and learn, and you can only do that by loving yourself first.

I promise you are going to find a place to fit in. You're not abandoning your friends by coming here, and you will make a large amount of new, wonderful, amazing friends who will support you 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c}. Don't worry about the music either; you're going to be so busy with rehearsals and private lessons and personal practice time that you won't know what to do with yourself. Also I know you're really going to miss Angel (and sometimes the homesickness does get overwhelming), but you do get an awesome beta fish, and your family is only a phone call away. Everyone that you love will still be there when you get back.

I would tell myself to not worry. Life goes quick and risks are meant to be taken. College is hard and school work is important. In order to succeed I need to put in the time and effort. I need to go to teachers and make sure I am well prepared. I need to leave my comfort zone because in college there is no one that wants to be a friend with a non-social person. Be social and take care of school. Parties will be there for the next four years so don't worry about not being cool because you do not party. Parties are the same no matter what, even if you are not there to experience them. Do not worry about women either. They will distract you from your schoolwork so worry about school above all. That is all.

To rephrase a well-known song, a little less thought and a lot more action please. The person you are on Day one of orientation is not the person you will be by Thanksgiving break unless you refuse to do things. So try things- clubs, auditions, classes. Sit down with strangers and start asking questions. Go and try out for a sport you've never done or choir. Join a volunteer group. Just do more than something, do many things. I don't mean overwhelm yourself, but don't limit yourself just because it's your first term of college and you're new to this. College is a four year shooting star that moves so quickly. In one year, my entire self-definition changed drastically and it's a beautiful thing. Just doing things without giving myself the time to think and psyche myself out made transitioning into my new life easy and enjoyable. I watched people transfer out of school after only 10 weeks because they thought too much about how different everything was. I liked high school. I didn't want to change, but that doesn't mean that I didn't absolutely need it.

I would tell myself to strive to be who you are. Do not let the people around you affect the nature of being. There will be great people that will help you in many ways, but there are people in the world who struggle with themselves and unknowingly draw negativity from the people around them. Stay positive and work alone if you have to. Maintain integrity and be a leader. Everything else is just a detail.

To enjoy every moment, and know that even when something seems to be the most stressful desicion in the world, it is part of the best experience of your life. I would also encourage myself to take classes outside of my comfort zone, and maximize the benefits of a liberal arts education to the fullest degree. I was a theatre major and now I am going back to Graduate School at the University of Chicago for my masters in Social Service Administration. Had I not had a liberal arts education, I am positive this transition would not be possible today. I only wish I had opened these doors a little earlier during my time at Knox College by exploring all of the options available to me at that time.

My time at Knox College was an invaluable experience that helped make me the person I am today. Prior to enrolling in college I was someone with a strong set of opinions, yet I was afraid to express them. Knox gave me the courage and the confidence to express my opinions, while also forcing me to critically think about why I held such opinions in the first place. Knox forced me to challenge my own assumptions about the world, as well as those held by others. The end result was that I was able to come away from the experience with a much broader world view that served to strengthen my position on some of my views while totally changing my perspective on some of my other views. Thanks to Knox College I can proudly say that I am a more informed individual with the capacity to undertsand my worldview in the context of other peoples' perspetives.

College is an experience for the better, that's for sure. You get to meet new people which definately helps your social skills. Besides the college social life, the education now a days to get a good job is absolutely a deciding factors in who gets the job and who does not. You learn the reality of being out on your own, with nobody to fall back on. It has certainly been a maturing process for me and I am sure the majority of college students as well.

What I have recieved after attending Knox College for only one year has been so amazing, it's difficult to put into words. Notonly have I recieved an interactive and stimulating education, but I have recieved a deeper understanding of myself. I have always been an independent person, so living far away from home was never a pressing issue. It was the time I spent with others, others who had different life experiences and different perspetives than I had, that made me more aware of who I was and who I wanted to be. Being away from my hometown, family, and childhood friends allowed me to introspect and find different habits and ways of thinking that felt natural to me - I just didn't know they existed. I have found a home amongst those at Knox College and I will be forever grateful that I found an institution that encourages diversity and open-mindedness in such an inclusive environment.