Westfield State University Top Questions

As a high school senior I would tell myself that even though getting good grades is very important, so is making connections with fellow students and your teachers. Going to classes is more than just learning the material; it is learning how to work with other people from different walks of life. The first year or two of college I didn’t bother to make real connections with anyone because all I wanted were the grades and the degree. Now, I have made dear friends and have learned that everyone is in school for the same reason as I am and to enjoy it while I’m there.

I would advise myself to take it slow and and just enjoy being in school. Take in as much as possible but still give a lot of thought to what exactly are my career goals and what I should do to get there.

Thinking about my Senior Year, I laugh about how stressed out I was commiting to Westfield State, but once I arrived on campus, I felt at home. The advice I would have given myself senior year is to just be yourself. Don't apply to a school because your friends are going there or apply because you hear it has awesome parties. Go because when you tour it you can picture yourself walking around campus. When you pick a school and you move in, continue to be yourself, it is the most imporatant thing I can tell you. When you get here, you will meet people prettier than you, smarter than you, more athletic and talented than you, but just rememer that no one is you. Join clubs, try out for a sports team, do what makes you happy, don't listen to other peoples opinion about things that intrest you and not them. People here will like you for who you are and what you are capaibale of. Don't pretend you are someone your not because you will end up forgetting who you really are. Be yourself Torie, and I promise you will succeed in what you do.

Chose to test your seemingly innate beliefs and objectively decide whether those assumptions hold truth. After you're removed from the surroundings of your upbringing, you need to determine your individual lifestyle. Many people fall into habits, but you need to factor mental reflection into this process. That’s the only way to make sure you're not living aimlessly, to live your life with purpose and limit regrets. But how can you be truly objective? How can you make sure you're not simply seeing what you already believed, and subconsciously ignoring the rest? Should you remain subscribed to prior assumptions that don't align with what you really believe? These are some of the questions you need to address if you want to live a life with purpose and direction. Your perceptions will certainly change as you endure more experiences and as more knowledge floods your brain. Yet, you need to decide (and continue to decide) what is concrete and what lessons you choose to take from the past eighteen years. Factoring introspection into your choices will help lead you toward success and insightful failure.

I would remind myself that this is my first babystep into adulthood. I'll have to get used to not having to ask and recieve everything from my mother. It is now that i'mbecoming a "grown up", I will advise to start sharpening up my interative skills because knowing people can help you get to places. I would advise myself that its time be on your own...finally!

I feel the biggest advice I would give is figure out a much stronger plan. One of the hardest parts about the overall experience is micromanaging different aspects - time to devote towards school, towards work, towards maintaining relationships. To make progress and have life change to a point where school had to be set aside, where my own career goals became questioned by not doing the proper research, took up a lot of time - I learned alot in the process, but to go back in time, I would want to tell myself to focus more on creating a sensible plan that would allow me to financially and emotionally be capable of continual progress.

If I could go back in time to when I was a high school senior, I would tell myself that everything is going to be okay. Going to college was a struggle for me because it was the first time I had really left home. It seemed like I was on a foreign planet with no resources. I would tell myself that the panic and frustration of it all will be over eventually because every kid goes through it. It might take some time, but eventually everyone makes the right friends and gets comftorable. When I first went to college, I left after 2 weeks because I was scared of being on my own. I would tell myself to tough it out, because in this world that's what you have to do to make it. I would also tell myself to focus on what I want in life. Having a mother that is sick basically all the time is hard. I felt like I was abandoning her, but in reality, thats exactly what she wanted. I would tell myself not to let anyone hold me back.

Please choose a college that is in a stimulating location. Don't assume that you can't get financial help and don't assume that you'll find things to do in whatever location you find yourself in. Think carefully about what you really want in a school and make sure to thoroughly research the programs to make sure it fits what you want. Also, the more you apply for financial help (ie: scholarships) the better chance you have of winning. Don't slack off. In a year you will regret not putting in the effort to be more thorough in choosing your college.

I would tell myself to study harder, pay more attention to math classes. I would also tell myself to ask for more help from teachers and classmates. There is nothing wrong for asking for help. Then I would tell myself not to wait to go college waiting makes it harder. Harder to catch up and learn. Life will sweep right by you if you wait, before you know it you will have a family and responsabilities that will take up a lot of your time. School is important and college is also. Life is hard and jiobs even harder to find without a good education.

As excited as you are for college, don't take yourself out of the rest of your high school experience. The final months of high school are the most memorable and being focused on college almost prevented me from investing myself in those last few months. I am so thankful I put all my focus towards that time because I rekindled, strengthened and formed so many friendships during that time and after four years, I saw my class finally come together. Don't get me wrong, preparing for college is so much fun and arriving to start a new life is just as exciting but when you feel homesick, which you will, those memories from the end of senior year are what got me through. Both high school and college are such memorable, different experiences and it's important to fully invest yourself into each experience because they will both form memories that will last forever.