Utah State University Top Questions

Kristin, in the future there will be something waiting for you. You?ve always told yourself that you will study animals for a living! Well do it! College is waiting for you. I have to warn however that it will be difficult, and you will not get into the program for Wildlife Science because of circumstances beyond your control. But don?t worry, keep pushing! We?ll get into the program and we?ll succeed! The only thing standing in your way is yourself. So I?ll step aside, and let you through.

If given the opportunity to travel back in time to speak to my younger self as a high school senior, I would explain all of the things I know now about life that I didn't know then. I would explain the dangers of making certain choices and to be wiser with money. I would tell myself to focus and work towards an achievable goal. I would tell the teenage me that life is what you make of it and if the wrong decisions are made, you are left with a difficult hole to dig yourself out of, so it may be a good idea to invest in a shovel. Only you can learn from your mistakes and only after they are made. Be strong and resilient. You will make it through.

Sunny, I?d like to call your attention to a simple expression: "Practice Makes Perfect." You know that phrase well, don?t you? It haunts your sub-conscious. It has been sitting in your viola case for 10 years now. And whenever you stumbled over an etude, your music teacher would draw himself up and profoundly recite the overused slogan, as if he was the first to discover its wisdom. This phrase will become the motto of your transition to college life. Unfortunately for you, this train of thought is ridiculous and completely inaccurate. Perfection is defined as being without flaw or defect. The world has convinced you that perfection exists. That there are perfectly tuned musicians, perfectly beautiful girls in magazines, perfectly intelligent women getting perfectly high test scores. The hard truth is that perfect people aren?t real. So past self, as you move to a scary new school that pushes you to be flawless, this is your revised definition of perfection: a step in the right direction. It?s moving towards the person you want to be. You might eventually become that person, but most likely you will not. You will keep practicing. And that is perfection.

On a basic and non-spiritual level, if I had the ability to go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior, the advice I would give, before I just jumped into a university, is to first attend a community college, which is less expensive and would prepare me for a more socially, financially, and academically challenging environment. The reason I would give my past self this advice and any other student, who does not have the advantage of an exceptional high school GPA, is because if one first attends a community college it will accomodate as a practice run and provide a clean slate to earn the GPA they had desired. Starting with a clean slate in a community college will also provide more time, experiance, and knowledge for a student to make a more accurate decision on the investment of there money, future, and education. On a more down to earth level, If I had the gift to interact with my past high school self, aside from all the obvious advice concerning education and money, I would tell myself to keep up the good work and that you will be successful no matter what.

I am the type of person to have no regrets so I am happy with the decisions I have made but I would definately have certain things I would advise to myself. I was very young as a highschool senior compared to now because I have grown up so much in the last two years. I would have advised myself to stay closer to home for school because being a divison one athlete and not having your family around for all the games is tough. I would have told myself to just enjoy the time in highschool and not take anything for granted. I would have told myself to be prepared and work on time management because everything is way more intense in college. I did pretty well my first two years so I dont have too much to teach myself as a high schooler.

If I could go back in time to give myself advice, I would tell myself the following: Stay away from Janet L. - She will drive you crazy. She is unstable. Date as many girls as you can, don't go steady Start a business. Save your money. Don't splurge on any one girl, until you are married. Go on vacations. Wait to start college until you've been married for at least a year - that way you can actually thing about college instead of your wife waiting at home for you. Buy a home early. Buy those franchises - when you have great credit. Don't get credit cards. Don't get merchant credit cards. Enter every invention you have - because others will if you don't. Buy it if you have the money saved for it, othersise you don't need it. Go for a Ph.D. in psychology. Get a Juris doctorate. Don't ever drink alcohol. Don't go on LDS mission. Get out of LDS church and find Jesus. That's it - have fun. Don't take yourself too seriosly.

Its hard to say what advice I'd give, things have turned out much better than I would've ever expected I don't know that I'd advise myself to really do anything differently. I guess a few pointers that I'm still figuring out now that would've helped when I was a senior would have to do getting financial aid, and just some practical advice. First in helping myself in getting finacial aid for school I'd tell myself to take the ACT again and to study for it. Had I scored one point higher on the ACT I would've had a high enough idex score to qualify for scholarships offered from the school opening many windows that are now closed to me. I'd help myself understand how scholarships work and how easy they really are to aply to. Second more on the practical side I'd tell myself to not worry so much about how things are going to turn out, and to go ahead and try new crazy things that I'd never done before. To make the most of lifes experences good or bad.

If I could go back in time, I would tell myself to not fear the unknown, but to embrace it! One of the hardest parts of going to college was saying goodbye to everything familiar and stepping into the darkness. I was so nervous and worried. I had no idea what to expect. "What classes should I take? Will I be able to do all that is expected of me? Will I like my roommates?" My older friends tried to comfort me, but their words did little to ease my pounding heart. Eventually I came to realize that when I feel uncertain of what lies ahead, I need to focus on just one thing at a time. "Right now I need to do this..... then I can worry about that." By dividing all that is required into chunks, life becomes not so fearful and stressful. At first, it is required to take a few steps into the darkness. Then the path can become clear.

To my past self, take as many college credit and AP classes that are available to you. P.E. classes and lower level government classes will make your senior year more fun and give you less homework, but there are more important things to be worrying about. These college credit classes will prepare you for what college is like, such as the material will be more vigorous and the tests will be harder. Getting in the habit of taking notes in class and also going through the textbook taking extra notes will be very beneficial. Learning more studying techniques will make high school and college much easier, the information you will be learning will also be more concrete in your mind. Last but not least, another very important part of doing well in college is making friends in your classes. Forming study groups to go through the information together will help each other through the class and through the rest of your college career. These little things will make a huge difference in your educational experience, your stress levels will be much lower and your grades will be higher.

Self, take as many college courses as you can while still in High School. They are cheaper and help you get further ahead in your goals. Find scholarships now and work hard to get them. They will help you so much so you can focus on your education rather than worrying how you're going to pay that large bill. Involve yourself with clubs and extracurricular activities that you enjoy so you're happy as well as getting experiance dealing with other people. Work hard and enjoy every minute. Good luck Ashlee. -The Older and Wiser You