University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Top Questions

Stop worrying so much. I spent my entire second semester of high school worrying about moving away from home and all of my friends. In the weeks leading up to my move, I was terrified and almost regretting my decision to go to a college out of state. I wish I could tell myself that it wasn't going to be that bad. Looking back on how scared I was makes me laugh now. I have so many friends and amazing opportunities here. I love the people I surround myself with and the organizations I'm a part of. I love my classes and my professors. I can't imagine myself being anywhere else. So stop worrying. You made the right choice.

If I could give any advice to myself, back when I was a high school senior, it would be to minimize expectations. During my senior year I would get so wrapped up in others stories about their college experience, whether it was from my parents, my teachers or my older friends, I had created this mental journal of their stories, expecting my experience to amount to something similar to their's. Now that I am in college and I am wrapping up my first semester I realize that the college experience is an individualized experience. My time in university is going to be different from all other past, present and future college students. With all the different factors that sum up the college experience I am surprised I ever thought that I had a pre-written destiny. Factors which I believe have shaped my college experience so far are my academic classes, my study routines, my social scene, my job and my campus's location. All these elements have created distinguished and unique memories for me, so if I were to go back to talk to myself I would say to enter college with an open mind.

If I could give my high-school-self one piece of advice, I would tell myself to jump into everything headfirst in college. During my freshman year, I was hesitant to try new things, reluctant to talk to professors and upperclassmen and averse to getting out of my comfort zone. I should have tried more things and been more unafraid, because the few times that I did succeed in trying something new, I genuinely enjoyed it and learned so much about myself. Without trying new things during my freshman year, I would not have known that I was interested in entertainment. However if I had started college unafraid, I could have found this out earlier, and gotten more experience in my chosen field. I would have put myself out there, made more friends, and really gotten the most out of my freshman year. Therefore, not just myself, but all high schoolers should know that they should try everything, be adventurous, and start becoming the young adults they are meant to be.

If you want to do nursing or kinesiology or want to go to grad school or PHD go to easy school and get good GPA!!!!!!

Keep studying, reading, and writing though the summer before college. The transition from no school to college is a tough one, and it would have been ideal to not have to adjust directly into it. If I had kept my study habits consistent, this would have been a much easier change.

If I could go back in time and speak with my high school self, I would encourage myself to be proactive in exploring careers and connecting my college education to the "real world." I would tell myself to seriously consider a business centric engineering degree or at least take more math/statistics to develop and demonstrate my analytic capabilities. Instead of being involved with several organizations, I would suggest to myself that I find one I love and assume a leadership position. Because the amount I borrowed in student loans didn't feel real until I graduated, I would suggest taking a job that offered more hours and spend more time researching and applying to scholarships. Reflercting on the positive, I would also show support for studying abroad and make sure that happened again.

I would tell myself to not have so many expectations. Let everything happen as it happens. You cannot plan out your entire college career. Nothing ever goes as plan. So just take one day at a time or you will overwhelm yourself. You won't automatically become friends with everyone you meet. You don't need a ton of friends, you just need the right friends for you. As for school, you will have ALOT of free time, more than you will even know what to do with, so use your time efficiently and wisely. Most of all, you are not alone. Everyone is stressed. Everyone has a tiny melt downs.Everyone feels pressure to be a certain way. Talk to someone, let it out. It will make you feel better and make the college ride a whole lot smoother.

College can be a huge place to navigate and often times you can get lost in its vastness. If I could go back and give myself advice, it would be to be more open and try out different things. One way to accomplish this is by joining different organizations; by doing this, you become a part of a smaller community within the massive community of college, this would make the university seem less intimidating. You can discover more about yourself and your interests by joining these communities as well as develop close friendship with the people within them. I would also tell myself that it is okay to make mistakes. Mistakes are actually crucial to make; otherwise, how would you learn from them; it is essential in the growth process and developing keen insight which leads to the ultimate wisdom and maturity. Instead of being taunted by every mistake whether small or large, take on a different perspective to them and see them as a learning opportunity as opposed to a downfall.

If I could go back in time, I would tell myself to be more comfortable with proffesors as guides, teachers, and great contacts for later. It is always difficult for me to start something out of my comfort zone, but it is neccassary to make relations with these great doctors. I would also discuss carrer options with myself; being concerned with making a quick descision lead me down some wrong turns in my original decision for a major. Many students do enter without knowing their field of study, and although it is benificial to have a general idea, most universities do not require decleration until the end of sophmore year. Especialy at the University of Michigan, I am in the LSA program wich gives a broad base of many subjects, and I have recently decided on a different but similar major to my high school ambitions. Careers should be chosen becuase they are both challening and rewarding to the employee.

I had lots of expectations about what my College Experience would be like. Some were about grades and majors, but most were about parties, sex, drugs, philosophical debates, frisbee, sex, drugs, political debates, etc. But what I didn't realize then, and what I'd like to communicate to my senior-in-high-school self, is that these kinds of personal expectations can be limiting and sometimes harmful. In our society we have great expectations about what students' College Experience should be like. The question I want my senior-in-high-school self to ask himself is this: "Whose expectations do I possess? My own or someone else's?" Hopefully this initial question will be thought-provoking and lead to further questions like: "What is the nature of these expectation of mine?" "Does it match my high goals and desires?" and, lastly, "Are these expectations good or bad for me and what I really truly want out of life (and college)?" The College Experience should be free and fluid. Expectations are helpful for planning our futures, but we should be careful that we aren't mindlessly adopting the expectations of others, especially when they conflict with what we actually want.