Massachusetts College of Art and Design Top Questions

If I could go back in time I would tell myself not to stress over the application process. In fact I would tell myself to not even bother applying to all the schools I know I won't attend. When I was first applying I had an idea of where I would be going and whenever I thought about college I always imagined myself at the college I am at now. Yet still I spent my senior year stressing out about all these little trivial things about which school I would go to and how I would afford it and so on and so forth. I would just tell myself to relax and enjoy my senior year and focus on the things I love because time is fleeting. You don't realize how fast it goes until its already gone. And thinking back on my senior year I cannot believe how fast it went by and I wish I could have enjoyed it more. I would tell myself that college isnt hard because I enjoy what I'm doing and hopefully it continues that way.

As a student at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, I can honestly reflect and say I did not get to where I am without some serious personal pep talks. Some say it is impractical to attend a school that is training creative professionals. When I was in high school I faced a lot of speculation from peers and family members for wanting to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts. It was difficult to hear harsh judgments and assumptions when I was expected to unconditionally support the choices of my classmates. I can recall one moment when a waiter asked what I intended to study. I told proudly told him, “Art Education” and he responded, “Great, you can teach kids how to not make a living.” The advice I would give to my high school self is not to worry about the misinformed opinions of others. I shouldn’t have had to convince myself that it was OK to do what I love. Self-doubt caused me unnecessary stress and unhappiness. My confidence grew once people who shared a love for art surrounded me. I encourage a strong sense of trust in your aspirations, regardless of what they may be.

My high school self is sitting by the shore. Tirelessly over-thinking of what will happen to her when she goes to college. A place trapped in mystics, like Atlantis; drenched by stormy words pouring from the mouths of men so relentlessly, there would be no telling what someone might find. She has been swimming against the powerful currents of self-doubt for a while now. Mental waves of 'what-if's' crashing onto her so heavily, she's just barely treading in the waters of her mind. These worries keep her from touching the tides while others around her plunge into the sea. All who are ready to immerse themselves in a new and foreign world. Breaking through the oceans surface, my past self would look onto me with nearly drowned out eyes. "You can't just sit on the shore forever," I would shout to her, "you have to start swimming now!" A look of confussion would mix itself somewhere between her eyes and mouth. I would then smile widely, "You'll never make it to Atlantis that way! Just start swimming! Don't wait for anything!" My former self stands, takes a breath and dives in.

You are worth it. Stop allowing yourself to feel that you are unworthy of help from others. You have done everything on your own and you will feel proud of that fact...but ask for help. I have learned to do this very quickly since being at college. There are people around you that think that you deserve help if only you ask! Just trust that you are good person and that you deserve to follow your dreams. Laugh more! You have been stressed out for so long! While attending college I have learned to just laugh. Sometimes events do not unfold like you planned and those are moments when you need to be able to relax. You cannot control everything (despite what you may now believe). So keep working but allow yourself from room for mirth. Open yourself. Going from a small town to a big city has been hard. I have learned to be open to new people and experiences, despite being afraid. So for now, just open your mind to new possibilities, even though you aren't able to have those possibilities. They will come!

Aspire to be successful and happy. Strive for the professional ambitions of obtaining enjoyable opportunities to utilize and expand your knowledge and related skills. There is a whole world out there, and the best has yet to come. Practice your self-motivation now, because you're going to need it later.

Life is filled up with opportunities, a famous English writer once said, we just have to learn how to take the best out of them. Being a high school senior, I would definitely try to prepare myself as much as possible for college with a much mature perspective, realizing what a great opportunity is to study at Miami Dade College. I would also take advantage of every resource available to me to learn more every day and open new horizons in my professional career. Now that Im in college I have learned that , in order to succeed, we have to do more than it is required, because after all, what is the difference then between ourselves and the other students? Only excellence can define it. Therefore, I would strive for excellence with more inspiration every day , seeing every course as the pathway to become a succesful pharmacy doctor. If I was back again in high school, I could give myself a lot of tips, maybe some tricks too, but the most important advice would be "make the difference, see your goals accomplished, visualize yourself as a professional and behave accordingly, prepare yourself for the next step in accomplishing your dream".

The best advice I would give to myself as a high school senior would be to think about the next 4 years in college as a whole. not just as a easy escape route to get out of my home town for the first time ever. I would think harder about my decision due to finances, location, cost of living, tuition and the stress it would put on myself by moving far away. It was good for me to get away at the time. I feel like I needed to experience living away from home in a new place., it really was a good choice. But now, 2 years in, I am feeling the stress of being cut off from my parents and dealing with living on my own in one of the countries most expensive cities. I do not regret my choice at all, but I think It would have been better to think of college in its entirety, instead of just the first year. It would have reduced a lot of stress that I am going through now if I had planned better. Art school is not cheap, and living on my own in Boston is not easy!

I advise all high school students entering college to push themselves. By facing personal fears, like performing stand-up comedy at a school poetry-out-loud event, I confronted my fear public speaking. Unexpectedly, this also gave me more opportunities to talk to more students. But, most importantly, this gave me a drive. I became more motivated to see how far I could push my education. When a professor assigned an open-ended 3D project, I took off. By creating a solid plaster sculpture of a human-form, I considered what it meant to be human. And, this resulted in exercising my mind as well as a thesis-statement (to be human is a combination of physicality and emotions). Studying for art does push the student in intellectual ways. It’s possible to view the human-form as a sculpture and simultaneously study the physical structure of nerves, organs, muscles, skin and bones. I urge students to consider that art school, like all education, has the potential for great education, however, it’s up to you, the student, to catalyze it.

For one, it's not going to be as overwhelming as you think it will be. All you need is to take a deep breath and not get so frustrated about not knowing everything at first. You're used to just walking in and instantly knowing what's going on around you. While yes, that is fun to be able to do, college is a completely different ballgame. You have to sit back and observe for a few before jumping right in. Above all of that, you can't just breeze by anymore. It's going to require you to do actual work, but that's what you've always wanted: to be challenged. Well, here's your challenge: Have fun, be better than everyone else at what you're doing and become wiser and stronger so you can protect the people you love.

If I could go back in time and talk to myself when I was a high school senior, there would be many things I would make sure to include to benefit me in college. The first would be to improve my study habits, through out high school I barely ever studied and got decent grades. When college started I figured it would be the same situation, I thought I could just show up for class and instantly be able to pass the test without studying, which of course was not the case what so ever. I would also tell myself to make sure to familiarize myself with my teachers. They in the end are the ones who determine your grades, and should be the first people you go to when there are problems with papers, projects etc. I would also stress making sure you really know who you are hanging out with outside the school building. Hanging out with the wrong group of friends can really make a difference with your education, they can often lead you in the wrong direction without you even noticing. Therefore make sure you choose your friends wisely.