Orange Coast College Top Questions

Advising myself as a high school senior would be a triumph on it's own. The high school me was a different person that I have grown into today. I have matured and grown significantly from every experience between my senior year and today. The advice I would give myself would be, not every path is supposed to be traditional and embrace my own unique direction in life. When I began college I was not ready for the commitment and hard work, I am happy with the leave of absence I took to grown into the person I am today. When I reentered college I was embarrassed that I was much older than my 18 year old peers, today I feel proud that I am persevering and am persuing something that I truly love as opposed to persuing something I feel is expected of me.

You will enjoy college a lot more than high school, but to be better prepared, you need to get focused and learn to prioritize. One of the most important skills needed for success in college is the ability to study efficiently. You can get by for awhile with your exceptional cramming skills, but you will get the most out of your college experience if you learn how to study now. Take the iniative, open your books, and learn that material, even if your teachers are less than ideal and even when you are just too tired. All that hard work will pay off sooner than you think, because although you don't realize it now, most of the material that you are learning will actually be useful for you in the future. Someday you will wish you learned more in high school, and you will realize that it was your job to search within yourself for the necessary motivation. Once you see that classes can actually be interesting if you just change your mindset, your life will change. You will finally love learning again, and you will begin building your own path to a successful future.

I've only been at college a few days, but let me just tell you this: get your head out of the clouds. Yes, college is pretty terrifying, but you need to do it. Kidding yourself and ignoring the fact that you've hardly prepared for it won't make the fact that you're going to have to be responsible one day go away. Rely on no one because I know you. I know myself. You'll get too comfortable letting people give a little help and then the moment they back off you could have an assignment undone or something as such. As much as I never wanted to grow up, even when I reached adulthood, it's going to happen regardless of if you want it to or not. Don't let yourself become the person you were the last two years of high school and ignore the impending doom laziness will cause. As difficult and almost compromising as it is, this is your future and you need to face it by doing what you're supposed to when you're supposed to do it. Wishing college away is futile.

My high school self didn't think so differently as I do know, so if I had the chance to go back and have a talk with high school me, I would say "You. You will no longer be you. You will become me, and it is a good thing. Listen closely, son, college is not as challenging as you are expecting it to be, that being said, you should definitely be wise with what you do. I'm talking financial wise. You get much assistance, but don't take it for granted. Spend wisely and save likewise. Choose your classes wisely, and stay with your major. People will ask 'Are you sure you want to stay with this major', say 'Yes', and think nothing of it. Your future is bright so stay confident with who you are and what you want to do." That is the advice I would give to my high school self.

If I could go back in time, I would tell myself not to rush into working or focus on money so much. I would say to take some deep breaths and think about what I could do for the rest of my life that would make me really happy. Take a look at all of your personal goals and see if you can find a common thread to make a career out of. Be alert to the world around you and don't assume that you know anything. Look at every experience as a chance to learn something, and above all, follow your heart instead of listening to what you think others are telling you would be the best thing to do.

I would strongly advise myself to start taking my studies seriously. Start focusing on a direction in life instead of falling into whatever laid in my path. I would also emphasize the importance of staying out of relationships, their to distracting and cause more harm then good.

If I could go back in time to talk to myself as a high school senior, I would tell myself to go out and have fun with your friends and go to school events because once you are out of highschool and in college you can never experince it again. Never wait till the last minute to do things because you will never do your best on it. Preparation is the key to success. Also apply to every scholarship as you can before its too late. The most important thing is to never be affaid to try something new. Do stuff that you do not usually do, go out of your comfort zone its the only way to have fun and learn life long lessons.

As a high school senior, my social skills weren't as well developed as they are now. Being in a college enviroment with students from many different backgrounds I often felt overwhelmed. I left home, Hawaii where I lived all my life and went to California. In Hawaii I felt trapped with little opportunity to grow career-wise, but California felt like a never-ending land mass. I went into class shy and I lacked confidence. Everyday I would wake up and tell myself I would make new friends but I didn't. This went on for a few months. Having no friends made me feel more alone and made California feel even bigger. Once I relaxed and stopped thinking about it so much, people were drawn to me like a paperclip to a magnet. I was able to grow academically with study groups and my confidence also grew. I can never take back the months of lonelyness and uncertainty and I always wondered how much easier life would have been if i knew to relax.

I would tell myself not to be afraid. Everyone especially young people have fear of new places and faces, don't let fear stop you from experiencing what could turn out to be the best time of your life. Embrace the opportunity to discover who you are before making life altering decisions. I would tell myself to have faith in God and in myself and maybe-just maybe I would actually listen!!

One of the most significant events in life is the experience of attending a university for the first time and making the transition from high school to a college. Also, there are several aspects about attending college that I was unaware of to begin with, which I am now privy to. Moreover, if I could travel through time and talk to myself as a high school senior I would give myself several pieces of advice; the first of which would be to buy a computer and printer, as this would have made finishing assignments a lot easier. In addition, the second piece of advice that I would give to myself, would be to avoid eating at the cafeteria and start cooking, (This probably would have made the initial experience a lot more pleasant, to say the least.) Furthermore, the final advice that I would give to myself would be to relax and not be so concerned about performing well academically. In fact, my single greatest regret during the first year was that, I spent a great deal of my time in my dorm room, when I should have been outside partaking in campus events and spending time with my friends.