University of New Mexico-Main Campus Top Questions

First and foremost I would tell myself to live in the worst, most typical freshman dorms. My friends did that and made all of their friends they have now from their living situation. I picked dorms that were fancier and therefore made no friends. Also, apply to many schools and give yourself options. Although you may feel you want to go to a school, when the time comes to choose you may want to chance your mind. If you limit yourself to one school, you will have no other option and therefore feel stuck. Lastly, do not feel as though you need to know what your degree will be going into college. You will be able to take your time and figure out what you like and what you don't like as you go through schooling.

As a 33 year old, I have had many years to think about what I could and should have done differently. If I could go back in time, I would have spent more time worrying about grades and homework than boys. I spent my senior year applying to colleges, but I also spent it worrying about how I was going to go to college after having my baby. I was three months pregnant when I graduated high school. I worked part-time and went to school part-time, but not for long. I quit school, got a full-time job and life went on. When my daughter was six years old she passed away from a cavernous angioma in the frontal lobe of her brain. I was 25 years old at the time. I do not regret anything in my life, but I do regret not being able to accomplish some of my dreams. They say it?s never too late, so here I am many years later hoping to put some initials behind my name and to get the degree I always wanted. The only advice I have is, ?don?t be in such a hurry to grow up?.

As a senior in high school, I was very nervous about college and my future. I was unsure of a lot of things; I didn't know what degree to pursue; I was worried about living away from home and everything familiar to me; the list went on and on. Now, as I enter my second semester of my studies at the University of New Mexico, I have experienced, taken on, and overcome many of the concerns I had as a senior. Had I the ability to go back in time and talk to myself, the first words out of my mouth would be, "Don't worry, everything will eventually work itself out." Thinking too far ahead, as I often did during that transition to college life, often proved counterproductive to me. I would easily become overwhelmed by future concerns that had no bearing on the present. Instead, I've learned that the key to success is to take on each problem as they arise. When one can, one should preempt other concerns, like grades, by doing homework and studying early to take the stress off. Nothing is impossible unless you think that it is.

If I were to go back and talk to myself as a high school senior, I would encourage myself to become involved in campus activities from the beginning of my college experience. When I started college, I spent a lot of time with my older sister and her friends, and I did not join any on-campus organizations, so I often felt alone and separated from other students my age. At the end of my sophomore year, I started working on campus as an orientation leader, and became close friends with other students who encouraged me to participate in campus activities. Since then, I have become very involved on campus, I have chartered my own student organization, and I spent a semester in Washington, DC as a Congressional intern. These opportunities have opened my eyes to the wider world and the opportunities that are available to me. Through these experiences, I have met incredible people who have changed my life. I wish that I had become involved in campus activities from the beginning, because doing so has truly transformed my college experience. I can only imagine what other opportunities I may have had in those first two years of college.

Assuming I could go back in time and talk to my younger self as a high school senior there would be a couple things I've learned since being out of school that I would have to let myself know. I spent my first year attending school for something I knew wasn't right for me and ended up wasting valuable time and money given to me in self-discovery. I've known for a very long time that I was going to and wanted to pursue a career in music production. The one thing I've always tried to keep in mind since I was young, is to always be true to yourself and who you are as a person. I've known my whole life who I am and I let the people around me try to influence what I should do with my life and how to fall into society. But I've learned that I am my own person so I should always do what makes me truely happy. That is the advice I would give my self, assuming I could go back in time.

If I were to travel back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior I would have many bits of advice that I would share with my younger self about how to be successful in college/make the transition from high school to college seemless. My first piece of advice that I would give to myself is to take college classes seriously, because even though they are introduction classes and more likely less challenging than upper level classes it is still important to start off with a good GPA. I would also tell myself to learn good time management. Although you might not need these skills early on in college, you will eventually need it when you start taking more difficult classes. The most important aspect for me was to have fun and take classes I was interested in, college is suppose to be a fun time in your life so make it that way. Regarding deciding on what major to pursue, I would tell myself to follow your gut and think about what your interested in, (drawing, design, architecture) and hopefully it won't take as long for you to figure out as it took me.

If I had the oppertunity to go back in time and speck with myself, I would tell myself to take my ACT and SAT more seriously, look into taking college level classes that would count towards my degree, attend college full time right after high school.

I would tell myself 5 key pieces of advice. The 1st would be the importance of time management. The hard part of college is not going to be the course work, but rather juggling the requirements of being a full time student, part time employee, and occasional tutor. Prioritizing and allocating the proper amount of time to each task will alleviate most of the hardships of college. The 2nd piece of advice, which goes hand in hand with time management, is organization. Organization will prevent headaches, frustration, and in the end, it will save time. The 3rd piece of advice, and probably the most important, is networking. As short as time will be, make time to speak with professors and employees of corporations. This will open the door to research opportunities, letters of recommendations, internships, and jobs. The 4th piece of advice would be to avidly apply for scholarships and to deposit any earned scholarships in a savings account. Tuition, books, and bills are going to be expensive and every little bit will be important. And the last piece of advice would be to be careful with that hydrochloric acid in Chem Lab, or you will get in trouble.

DEEP BREATH!! It's really not as big of a deal as everyone's making it out to be! It's just like high school except with longer classes and you don't have to ask to go to the bathroom. And don't forget that NOTHING is set in stone. I know it feels like its such a final decision, but you can always change anything at any given time, so don't worry about it. Stop stressing over everything so much. It's not the end of your life, this is just the beginning. And the University of New Mexico is a pretty good school, and you're going to spend your entire freshman year there so just go with it. It'll be a good year. Don't worry about Eastern until later. Oh, and on December 5th your boyfriend is going to break up with you, but its ok cause we get back together later.

I would tell myself to go to school in Arizona where my mom lives for more financial aid. The college would be cheap and home is close enough for me. And that scholarships do help a lot and you can never have enough of them. I also would encourage myself to schedule my time better and study even though I know the subject. Study with people from the class and use common sense about what happens in college. There is nothing more important than how well you do in school because you wanted to be there so put effort into staying there. Your grade is everything to you and following my advice you would be able to head in the right direction. Away from all the bad things you are not suppose to do in college. You may have freedom but your here for school and a future that you dreamed of since got into high school.