Milwaukee School of Engineering Top Questions

If I could go back to my first semester in college and give advice, I would say to myself "Get involved in a campus club as soon as possible." When I transitioned into college I found myself having trouble forming a community. I felt this way because my college has 16,000 students, and unlike in high school, you are in the same class for 3 to 4 months, and then you move on and could potentially never see any of those students again. This makes it difficult to get connected to campus, and made college seem fleeting at first. One day while walking on campus, there was a club fair going on and I joined Intervaristy Christian Fellowship. This changed my entire college experience. Suddenly, I was being connected with people with similar interests and instead of just going to class and then going home, I was building a true community. I also had more opportunities to practice leadership skills, network with people already in the professional world, and discover more about myself. I now know that joining a club was the most enriching decision I made, and it made the transition much smoother!

If I could go back in time and have a conversation with myself my senior year of high school, the first thing I would say is to live in the moment. Focus on soaking everything in from the senior year high school experience. The biggest thing is to keep school work first because that is what gets you to the next level of education. However, live your life and have a good time. Enjoy the time you have with your friends and family while you are at home. You will make so many new friends in college, but you'll have some of the greatest memories with your high school friends. Don't let any high school drama bring you down because it's all forgotten about in college. Most importantly, appreciate your mother because starting next year laundry and ironing is on you. Finally, every time you step on the field for Friday night football, give it your all and play like you know you won't ever play again after high school. That's the thing you'll miss the most.

In college, it's so easy to be overcome by all the chaos; what's not so easy is standing steadfast and true to who you are and the person you want to be. It all is extremely analogous to the story of Daniel from the Bible. Kidnapped from his native land, he and a few other Israelites were given the rare opportunity to be educated, as their intelligence had impressed the king. They found themselves in a completely new environment, learning completely new things meant to introduce them to Babylonian culture and idols as well as structured education, a situation not at all unlike college. Daniel had three options: he could surrender completely and assimilate into this new culture and religion, he could completely reject it and remain shut up in his room, or he could fight it by actively interacting in a way that bespoke the person he wanted to be: a Christian. Whether or not you are religious, you have the same options in college as Daniel. It's up to you whether you surrender and lose yourself, reject it and miss out on the experience, or use it as an opportunity to become a stronger person.

If I could go back to my high school years, I would give myself these bullet points to follow:•Fun is not the priority during school, there will be plenty of time to have fun after graduation, just think how old you will be? Plenty of time! Furthermore—you will be able to afford to have a real vacation, a real party, not just a bottle of bear in somebody’s 15-year-old car. •Don’t skip years! It is harder to come back to school when you have children waiting for you, husband or wife you want to spend your time with. It will be more painful to loose time with them than with your friends now.•Don’t fall into illusion of love! Your partner for life “qualifications” will change dramatically when you find your true self in the next few years.•You don’t have to drool watching others living prosperous life, driving expensive cars, living in front of the beach, -- graduate-- and you will have it too!•Choose friends with the same values and goals. •Get involved in your school; bring your own opinions and values to the classroom.•Just do it!

If I were able to give my high school self advice knowing what I do now, it would be to work harder and start to work on time managment. Without hard work nothing will get done. At this school, many hours of hard work and dedication are required in order to succeed. One minor slip up can cause a much more dramatic academic fall than that of high school. Additionally time managment is critical in order to succeed. High schools manage the majority of students time with classes imediatly after each other and homeroom in order to do their homework. This is not the case after high school and should be corrected as soon as possible. Another big point I would advise myself to do is not to worry as much. Through school a lot of things will happen. New people will be met and friends will come and go. The main thing is not to worry about things as much because they are not as bad as they first seem. In summary, work hard, manage your time, and don't worry. If you put your mind to something, nothing will stop you.

If I could go back to senior year, I would tell myself to be happier and more excited about the college process. Applying to schools and scholarships is challenging, but in the end, you have accomplished so much. Getting through applications is a huge step towards becoming a college student. Writing countless essays helps you figure out who you are as a person and solidify your future goals. Most of all, don't let your friends bring you down. Everyone feels stress the first semester of senior year. Your friends should not make you feel guilty about your level of stress being less than theirs.

Get involved in something extracurricular! For the first half of my high school experience, I cared very little for the classes. I got decent grades, never anything worse than a B-, but my focus was going home and playing video games. I had little interest in anything else. Finally in my senior year, I joined the school Stage Crew and met so many incredible people, many of which are still my friends today. Only then did I fully reflect on all the time I wasted during my first two years and regret doing so. Finding an extracurricular activity is so beneficial. Committing 6 more hours per week to Stage Crew helped me manage my time better. Being in a group let me meet new (and awesome) people, which made me feel like part of a group and generally increased my self-esteem. When the play or musical was performed, I felt that I had contributed to a positive cause, something I definitely was not doing during my freshman and sophomore year. In general, I feel it also helped me focus better during class; I had something better to look forward to at the end of the day.

Do your homework. Don't fall behind. Talk to people in class.

I don't care if you're one of the smartest kids in the class, MSOE is not going to be like high school (or, for that matter, most other colleges). Work harder at academics and buy fewer videogames, because you're in for the long haul. You should get used to being unhappy with your life, because the payoff later when you have a good college degree gives you far more freedom than not getting one.

The thing that is worst to any student coming into college is almost always the same. The risk of starting their whole lives over again. Although not all of them admit it every college student is at least a little nervious about going to college. Who are they going to room with, how will they make new friends? Their entire life is going to change and they never feel like it's going to work out for the better. But in all reality after even a week at school every student is having the time of their life. It is important for students coming into college to remember that every year thousands of students are doing the same thing as them. Every person they meet is in exactly the same postion as them. It is imposible not to find a connection to any of these students. It is almost imposible not to instantly make friends at college. Friends who will be there to help any problems from your classes to relationships. It is important for new students to realize they will make it through the transaction and that they shouldn't find any reason to get nervous.