Seattle Pacific University Top Questions

Enjoy every moment of high school, everything happening in your life now will change. You will lose friends closest to you, you will lose your boyfriend, you will have a hard time adjusting to a new state and new lifestyle away from your mom. You will have a hard time saying goodbye to people you love the most. Take advantage of everything you have now and embrace it, you will miss it but college has so much in store for you. You will make so many amazing friends and meet so many interesting people. You will miss home and your mom but she will become your closest friend. Embrace your siblings because when youre a 2 1/2 hour plane ride away, you will miss them when you see kids their age around school. Embrace everything and everyone. Enjoy your last year of high school but get excited for the next big adventuer of your life.

Don't be afraid to be who you know you are inside. Sometimes you will feel lonely, you will feel desperate and out of place, but it will always work out. Out in the country people are all the same, and you are diffferant, in the city they are all different and all the same. They will be familiar faces of strangers and that is a great comfort. Some things do not change. That is good. Don't be upset that they don't change because it most other things do change. You are rolling your eyes now, but I promise you, you know I am right. You are so excited to leave and then you will be excited to come back. You will find that who you have been hiding is the person that people love. So go be yourself, as cliche as it is. Your own skin is just fine. You will make friends. You will have fun, and your life will change. The funny thing is you won't even notice until you take a backwards glance.

Everything is going to be fine, you just need to relax andunderstand what needs to be done. Get two jobs over the summer and please do not spend it on fast food. That money will save your life when you have to pay your monthly fee. Also, that card that mom gave you that was full of money. Don't touch it. Just give it to her. That money will also help you in the end. Manage your deperession please, don't think you can do it alone. Make sure to get a job in Seattle as soon as you get there and be more reserved so you can focus more on work. You're going to meet a boy and become friends with a boy named Paul and he is going to die on June 5. We were okay friends then but please become his best friend. Watch Kill Bill with him, go out for long strange walks with him, and watch his incredible dance skills. It will hurt more than it does now when you have to lose him but then you'll get the full experience. Otherwise you'll do fine.

My words of wisdom would be: do not let anything hold you back! It will seem from time to time that your world is crumbling around you- but that's called life! The funny thing is that it won't always go as expected. But do not let those changes stop you for one minute. If anything, let those moments of sadness, fear, or just plain confusion turn into motivation. That determination can keep you focused on accomplishing your goals. Those alternate routes will end up being the times in life that you grow the most. As much as the happy times in life are needed, so are the discouraging. If they weren't there, how would you get stronger? Keep pushing forward. Know that things have a way of working out, even if it's not according to your plan. In the end, life goes on. Don't let one failure hold you back, let it go. In the end, take what life throws at you and use it to your advantage. Be appreciative of the little things, strive for success, and truly love the life you have been given.

I would tell myself to not worry what people think about me in highschool. Highschool is only a small season of our life, and therefore it does not matter whether or not you have friends, are popular, or have a date to prom. I would tell myself that someday you will be looking back at the faded pictures of highschool and realize that after highschool is your chance to restart your life proud and confident of what you will accomplish in college that will affect you reaching your dream career. I would also advise myself that complaining and being negative about highschool wont help myself reach college. It will only slow myself down and bring depression. Instead I would advise to be happy for what will happen in the future, and to be positive so you can inspire others while you finish highschool even though you may despise every hour of highschool.

If I was able to talk to myself as a senior, I would recommend working on my time management skills. It seemed easy, to only have three to four classes per quarter, rather than six, but I spent almost three or four hours per *night* on my calculus homework. I also would have told myself that socializing is a huge part of college, but you can get on without it. It is incredibly useful to have friends to do homework with, but going out to get coffee or watching a movie is rare. I needed to know how to spend my time more effectively, because I slacked off in my first quarter. After I started to fail calculus, I put my studies in front of absolutely everything else, and did not hang out on weekends or evenings. I needed to use my time more effectively, and cutting out a social life did that. After being lonely for a while, I began to find a better balance between being social, and working hard. Scheduling my week on Sundays made my life easier to manage, and therefore more fulfilling and fun.

If I could go back to when i was a high school senior, knowing what i know now in life, I would tell myself to move back to Missouri and not stay in Arizona. Along with this, i would tell myself what I will be doing with my life; so one, don't take things for granite, but also don't take a year off to decide. I would let the high school senior Jacob know to apply and Seattle Pacific University and go. Make sure to save up a good amount of money, and make sure you get grants and scholarships because they will help out a lot; especially with SPU. Lastly, I would tell myself that no matter what happens with life and family, make sure you actually do this; don't let things get in the way. It is always great to think of others and help them out, but you also have to think of yourself and make you happy.

Be prepared for anything. Each person's college experience will be so different. Know yourself well and what you want as you enter college. Be comfortable with yourself because this is a time that you get to choose to just be you. The first year of college will pass more quickly than you can imagine, so choose to live each day intentionally! Even more so than high school, college is truly what you make of it and requires more effort on your part. So don't be afraid to jump all in when you want to do something. At the same time, remember that you need balance. Life in college can easily get too chaotic too fast. Know what you need and what you want and do not be afraid to cut out everything else.

Be social! Make sure to make friends the first couple weeks, because that makes the transition so much easier. People here are happy to meet you, and are welcoming and kind.

I would tell my high school senior self to figure out how to study NOW. I regret not taking my study habits seriously. During my freshman year, I struggled with figuring out exactly how I study best - which took a toll on my grades. I also regret not being very involved in high school (clubs, socially, on-campus activities). I feel as though I missed out on some good opportunities on being socially active. I almost always stuck to my close group of friends and I feel that made me "forget" how to make new friends. I got so comfortable with a small group of people that I didn't know how to fit MYSELF in once I got to college - out of state, not knowing anyone in this state/school, etc.