Old Dominion University Top Questions

Rise above the urge and pressure to cheat: our education system includes getting graded for your work, the accumulation of your grades gives you a GPA, and that GPA will either award you scholarships, recognition, and admission to your top schools or it won't. Because of this heavy emphasis on your grades, it is almost natural to feel the only goal is getting A's rather than receiving an education that will not just get you a job, but will mold you into a well-rounded person. Consequently, you have the majority of students CHEATING throughout college to insure an outstanding GPA. My advice to you is to have CONFIDENCE in your ability to learn, have INTEGRITY, and DO NOT CHEAT because today, as a Junior in college, you stand extremely proud for committing yourself to not cheating through your academic college career, and for getting accepted as one of 375 students into Loyola Marymount University's Business School as an Entrepreneurship Major with your hard earned honest GPA. Be astounded by those who do cheat, and rise above knowing they ultimately lose and will graduate un-knowledgable citizens incapable of even writing a simple coherent essay.

Over the first year of being at college, I have learned a lot, seen a lot, and discovered a lot about myself. The advice I would give my past self would be to stay true to yourself, don't let anyone influence you, and be brave. Staying true to yourself is the best thing that a student can know. If you know what you want and don't want, stick to it. That goes hand in hand with not letting anyone influence you. It may be tempting when you hear it, but remember that you should rise above any bad ideas and march to your own drummer. It's you who will be the true winner in the end who didn't let anyone get to them and lead them down a potentially dark path. Once you do that, you can focus on the last component; being brave. There will be times you won't want to be brave, or strive to be it. If you are brave in your decsions and actions, you give yourself a good image to others around you. If you show yourself off to be a good person, you will attract the best people.

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior, I would have a lot of prectical advice. I would let myself know that trying to get along with my parents and staying at their house, rather than moving out, would be the best and easiest decision I could make. I would tell myself to join more clubs and do more volunteer work in the community. I would tell myself to avoid getting caught up in work, and focus on school instead. I would remind myself to look in to graduate school and understand what path I needed to follow before making any decisions. This advice is all advice that could have made my life much easier and reduced my stress, while also putting me in line with my goal of attaining a PhD.

To really do your research before you make a final decision on a college.

The advice I would give myself as a high school senior about the college transition would be to go into college straight out of high school. I would tell myself not to be afraid, the sooner it’s done with the better my life for me and my daughter would be sooner, and to keep the determination that I have to accomplish great things academically. I would also tell myself to be patient, keep up with the school work while working, and to make sure to keep a day open for my daughter to spend more time with her. And the last advice would be to save as much money as possible, it will make things a lot less stressful, and that everything I thought I “need” could wait.

Hindsight is so much clearer than decision making in the moment, so I would advise prospective students to seek out past students and those invested in careers from the school of their choice. The wisest choice is usually the most informed choice. It is easy to get into the competition of who gets accepted where, but realistically, you need to view your acceptances as opportunities, not merit badges. There is great value in community colleges for the first year and the savings are significant. Also, consider housing expenses and accessibility. While freshman are generally housed at the discretion of the school, the following years can be competitive. Consider the costs of obtaining off campus housing if necessary. Never devalue the experiences of previous graduates.

The advice that I would give myself is to try harder in each class and be prepared for the real world, financially and mentally. College is really expensive and it would have been better to save my money to be able to pay for my future. I would also tell myself to stay focused and not take life as if it was something really easy and careless. College comes into your life really soon, sooner than you think and when you least expect it you are asking yourself how you are going to pay for it. In highschool there was no stress whatsoever, books and classes were given to you easily and now in college you have many more responsibilities, what classes to choose, are you going the right direction, what is it that you need to transfer and if the staff of your college really cares about you. So now I find myself financially struggling and trying to research on ways that I might be able to obtain extra help from grants and or scholarships.

I would have told myself to get a camera sooner. I got my Nikon Coolpix p510 as a graduation gift, and ever since then photography really became a really new and fun world for me to express me and creativity. Fashion always was my first passion and now that I enjoy photography I can combine both and love what I do.

Dear Kendall, This is your future self from a year from now. I know this is your last year of school and you probably think it's going to go by quickly, but I encourage you to cherish this year every day and focus on school. With classes, try to learn better studying techniques on your own. Trust me, you're going to need it. I also would stress that you take as many college courses that are available to take during your senior year. You may feel as if it will be difficult to take college courses on top of high school classes, but getting as many general education courses will make you that much closer to your college degree and goals. Aside from academics, please spend as much time as you can with your friends and loved ones. Things happen so quickly and you never know if tomorrow is promised. Try to keep in touch with your friends, but also be open to new friendships. Stay true to yourself and never let any one tell you that you can't do something. Concentrate on your work, and be confident in yourself. Good luck, Kendall

If I could go back in time there are many things I would have changed in how I carried myself as well as many of my goals I would have set that were college oriented. I would have told myself to commit more of my time to my studies. Also that time is a precious thing that is not to be taken for granted because it passes you by quickly. These are words that my parents would say to me regularly but never took them into heavy consideration, but now that I am older and more mature I realize how important they were. Something else that I would have told myself is to stop wasting an excess of free time I had going out with friends doing nothing hanging out, and start doing more productive things with my time. Possibly joining more school activities like school sports, or rejoining a martial arts program I was once took a part of when I was younger. I remember really good times making friends and staying active when I was a part of this program, it really brought me a great deal of self confidence and joy.