University of Hawaii at Manoa Top Questions

I would tell myself to not change anything. Enjoy being in high school, go to every activity/events. Relax and enjoy the moment of life under your parents, take the time to go with friends and family. However with all this in mind, keep in contact with your peers, teachers, counselors and coaches. Learn the necesary tools in school while you are having fun, learn and make the mistakes now so its corrected before you go off to college. Take up the time to sit with your career counselors/peers and talk about the future, what you want to as an Adult for the rest of your life. Don't get involved with anyone that will not believe in you. Think before you speak, don't take life granted someone will be there or help will always be there as it can turn upside down in a blink or in an hour. Speak up in class more to get the information you need. Look up scholarships, pell grants, colleges and your finances. But most of all, Don't regret anything, do what makes you happy and live life to the fullest.

College is a place to discover yourself on a whole different level. Up until the time college started, I was sheltered by mt athletic teams, school, and parents (especially). When I was lucky enough to finally experience college life in a different state across the ocean on the beautiful island of Oahu, I was awe struck for the first couple weeks. I had not been away from my family for longer than a week. Leaving my family was hard, but not the hardest part of the transitional experience. If I could go back in time , I would advise myself to start accept living independently. I was fighting so hard against being independent my first week or so or school, because I was so used to relying on others. Once I taught myself to be self sufficient, I felt so empowered. I discovered myself on a whole new level.

If only this were possible! College life is difficult if you take into consideration the fact that most people must work as well as study. The end of High School made me feel like I was ready to enter the workforce and I was tired of school! I would like to tell myself that the transition to college life (aka. more studying) is nowhere near as awful and unfulfilling as working a series of unchallenging, low-paying and generally miserable jobs in the real world. I would tell myself that no matter how boring and awful college seems and how much I would prefer to do what I want and "Have fun while I'm young", I will be eternally happier to have finished a few more years of education in order to have a more fulfilling life in the future with no financial hardships! I would tell myself that no matter how much fun I think I am missing, you can have even more fun in your later life when your peer group consists of well-educated individuals who appreciate and enjoy life and other cultures as much as yourself, and have the financial where-withal to experience them!

Throughout my high school senior year, changes had occurred drastically. It never occurred in mind during that moment, until now as I think back, that I have dashed through an important phase of my life. Looking back, I could say that clearly I could have performed better in class-that I could have gotten a higher grade, and possibly have applied to scholarships. It was however the senior state of mind that took over, which compelled me to think about my youth evolving into an adult. So instead, ?fun? had a higher significance to me as an active student, before High school was put into past. However despite the many more things that I could have accomplished during my senior year, I am still proud of the things that I did accomplish. That I don?t regret nor do I dislike the outcome, in fact I believe I?ve accomplished allot, from extracurricular activities to winning awards in competitions and community services. Through it all the only thing that I could tell myself If I could go back in time, would be to never give up in my dream, and to always try to be the best at it.

I am 28 years old and only now going back to school to complete my education. I often feel as if I've waited as missed out on a lot of the magic of going to school when I was younger. If I could go back and talk to my senior in high school self now, I would extract from myself a promise to live freely, follow my dreams at all costs, and not be intimidated by what is different or unknown. Simply put... life is too short to waste time NOT doing what you love, and being that learning and writing are my favorite things there's absolutely no reason not to embrace it, celebrate the pursuit of knowledge, love the 'nerdiest' parts of myself and in so doing become a more resplendent human being.

If I could go back in time and talk to my highschool self I would adviced them to reasearch things thoroughly and plan out things so it can be done earlier. In my current experiences in college life thought me one thing, make a good decision by planning it, be prepared and be early. What I failed to do in my senior year was just that. I did not reasearch enough information on the college I wanted to go to and what preparations I needed to have a life there. I failed to do things early which resulted in diffiulties for myself. I did not think that dorming was first come first serve. I did not apply for enough scholarships to cover a year in college plus how much the books and other miscellaniuos things. I did not plan out my schedule and what my limit can be on studying. If I were to go back in time and able to talk to a younger me I would tell them that to be prepared early so you can get the things you need or else it will be a bad transition to college and a harder college life on you.

remain comitted to the degree i choose

If I could go back to my high school senior self and give her advice about college life, I would tell her don't stress out so much. Almost everyone doesn't know what they're going to do. People change majors all the time. Just keep your grades up, and enjoy senior year. And for Freshman year, take the general education requirement classes, and you'll find what you care about it. Your major will fall into place. It's better to major in something you are passionate about, rather than just making the big bucks and hating your job. And as far as starting at a new school, all over again, by yourself. You just have to be friendly and open to meeting new people. Especially if you live in the dorms. There are tons of other students, just because you don't fit in with the majority, your matching puzzle pieces are in that student mass somewhere. Have fun, you're only young once, but be responsible, and party it up...when your class isn't at 7:30am the next morning!

If I had the chance to talk to myself as a high school senior before going off to college, I would try to instill a better work ethic for my school work and to have a plan worked out to budget my time, school work, and social life. I would tell myself to put all my focus on my studies rather than meeting new people and trying to fit in by always going out and partying. Now that I know how hard it is to do things on my own, I would have asked for some help with things before jumping into the college scene. I would tell myself to also budget my money and only spend it on essential things with a few fun things here and there. I would also tell my senior self to develop connections with professors and TA's because they are the only people who can truly help besides yourself. Also, I would tell myself that as long as I focused on school and kept a good budget, I would probably have had a low stress and illness-free first year of college.

When choosing classes for your first year in college try to branch out a little from your desired topic of study because you never know if that is actually what you're going to go into. Try to fit your schedule to the colleges graduation requirements, take at least one grad requirement a semester. For UH that was four semesters in a language, four writing intensive courses, etc. But if you start taking those courses in the beginning of your college career, you won't have to worry about fitting them all in to the last year of school. Once you get to school and start in your classes, talk to your classmates and make them you aquaintences (if not friends), these people can help you out. Join clubs and activities, even go out and do the extra curriculars for classes. If you have friends that go to your school, hang out with them but not exclusively, college is a good time to make the new best friends of your life. (Make new friends, but keep the old.) Have fun, that is the best way to get through college, if you're enjoying yourself.