Pittsburg State University Top Questions

Dear DeAnna, I'm so proud of you for choosing to go to college at Pittsburg State University! I wanted to give you some advice before you go down to school, knowing what I do now. Do not be afraid to help others different from you. Coming from a small rural town, diversity was never an option, but at Pittsburg it is very diverse. Be prepared to learn from other cultures, other religions, and people that you never thought you would befriend, in the end it will help you become a more well-rounded person. Remember to put school work before play time. College gives you more freedom than you have ever had before, so you must learn to manage your time well. Don't procrastinate with your projects or you will get behind! Be sure to take every bit of advice that you receive from professors and try to understand where they are coming from. Pittsburg is full of opportunities and chances to stay involved, so do have fun, but remember that school comes first! Stay true to yourself and never change for anyone because you are amazing the way that you are!

My first advice to myself would be to spend more time applying for scholarships. Since so much of my time is takin up by school and practice, I have no time for a job and money is hard to come across. I would have also told myself to work during the summers to save up some money for college. Most importantly I would ask myself if I really wanted to be so far away from my family and all of the people that love me and care about me. When I was making my college decision I was focussing so much on what "I" wanted and what was best for "me," that I did not even stop to think about what would be best for my family; especially my little sister. I would tell myself that if I stayed with her I would be able to help guide her and keep her out of trouble. There have been plenty of instances, since I have been in college, that would have went a lot smoother if only I were closer to my family. I would tell myself to think of others while I was making my decision.

Ask questions about your career choice. Determine to have someone to keep you focused ( to be accountable to). Find study groups for each subject, even if you don't need help. You will find valuable resources and contacts through your peers. Make time to volunteer in the community you are being educated in. Find a church home and do some of the things at church were you came from. Join clubs that will help you after graduation. Start a scholarship finding club for current students needing help with financial aide and help them build confidence as you learn to apply for them also. Look for jobs you can work partime that offer tuition assisatance. Start investing earliy with refunds from student loans and grants, (buying stocks and bonds) to help pay back any money borrowed to fund your education. Look for students from your home high school and mentor them, help them to be accountable to you or others. Last but not least find an outlet to have fun that do not pull you away from your purpose for going to college.

The first thing I would tell myself is that if you want to go to a State College GPA is the only thing that matters. It's okay to take the easier classes and not the AP or College Prep Courses. I have a friend who took the basic classes and she graduated highschool with .2 points higher on her GPA than I did, and got better funding for school eventhough I was in more clubs and took more difficult classes. Then I would tell myself that if you know what you want to major in, pick the best school for you and move there. I knew I wanted to be an interior designer, but instead of moving away to my college of choice I tried to save money by taking the basics like English and Art History at a local campus. It took me 3 years before I finally moved away. The last piece of advice is never move in with your best friend. When I finally moved away to my dream school I moved in with my two best friends from highschool. We haven't spoken since I moved out.

Well one thing that i would tell myself is to be more organized in high school. This good habit will help you a lot in college. Also don't lose contact with friends that you had in high school when you move. You might regret it like I did. Another thing is to have good study and homework habits. There will be a lot of homework in college. And the teachers will not baby you like they did in high school.

You don't have to follow your sisters foot steps. And don't worry about having a boyfriend and if you do, college will be very tough. Don't stress out so much about school if something happens let it go because most of the time you can't do anything about it. Just stay focused and be yorself. Don't worry so much about you high school friends they will move on and most likely you guys will septerate, but don't worry about it. There are a lot of friends out there. Also, make sure you have a job on the side because it give you extra money, helps with time managament, and keeps you out of trouble.

If I had the chance to go back in time I would tell myself read up and get a head start on my classes a week before school starts so that all the information isn't to much to take in the first couple of days. I would also recommend working and saving as much money as possible so that living would be stressfree. Stress is one thing that you don't need in college prepare yourself well with balancing hours and work. College will be the best choice you will ever make and you wil be successful with what you take out of it. Study hard everyday and don't get behind. Then again enjoy your college experience but to a point where to won't get in the way and take any opportunity when it comes to getting paid, Your going to need it!

College is great. There is so much freedom, excitement, new people, and best of all plenty of free time. This free time is really the huge difference between high school and college. Some use the free time to play their favorite video games such as Call of Duty or Halo 3. Others use their free time to sleep their life away and do absolutely nothing. Several find themselves going out several nights a week and getting intoxicated. This, by the way, I do not recommend. And then of course there are those who study almost every waking minute they are not in class. This however, I also do not recommend. I think the secret to being successful in college is to find the balance between both your social life (which can be very important) and of course your studies. Getting good grades should be your primary focus because; this is of course why you are there. To achieve and become something better than you are now. Students should stay on the task of getting their degree, starting their careers, and hopefully bettering the world in the process.

I would tell my self to make sure that I knew the process of being admitted into the college. I would also tell my self to understand more about the financial aspect of it and what I can do to make college less expensive for me.

Knowing what I know now there are three major things that I would tell my former high school senior self. I would tell myself about applying myself and building relationships. One thing that I have learned in college is how to get things accomplished through applying myself. It took me awhile to figure out that I have all the power and knowledge I?ll ever need to accomplish any task set ahead of me. You just have to put forth the effort. If something needs to be done then do it, if you don?t know something then look it up, if you don?t understand something then ask the professor! Also, you have to be able to roll with the changes. This leads me in to building relationships. Whether it?s with teachers or students building relationship is high important. Not only is it nice to have some friends to hang out with, but it?s extremely beneficial to have students who know you subject of study to help you out with you school load. And it can be even more important to build these relationships with your teachers because they know more than you can imagine.