Westfield State University Top Questions

Be series about your studies concentrate and have fun.

Live life without regret. To prevent this I have learned from both my high school and college experience that when something is sitting right in front of you, you should take advantantage of the opportunity. When colleges host open houses, you should visit to see if you will really enjoy the college and make you feel at home. This will prevent you from choosing the college that is completely wrong for you and prevent you from wanting to go through the transfer process. Also, in my high school juniors and seniors that contained a certain GPA were given an opportunity called the "High School Partnership Program." This gave high school students the chance to take a transferable course free of charge. This is something that should definitely be taken advantage of because you can save both money and study time in college. Lastly, as a senior in high school you should take advantage of all those scholarships and actually search for some whether they are small and large awards. This helps because in the end all those small scholarships add up. In the end all these things will help you so you do not regret anything you missed out on.

I would have pushed myself more academically in my senior year to try and boost my GPA as much as possible. I also would have tried to apply for scholarships earlier to try to have guaranteed financial aid before enrolling in the college. Each semester the amount I have saved up for college is diminishing more quickly than I had expected. I would have also applied to more colleges to try to have a larger selection of colleges to attend; well more than the four I had to choose from. Overall, I would have pushed myself more and I would have told myself to apply to more colleges.

I would tell myself to study more and make concrete study habits. It's been a challenge to get into the work as well as others have, but I seem to be doing well. Working hard is a major part of college that I'm not sure highschool students really understand. The work is very different.

I think that the most important thing I would have to relate to myself would be not to be afraid. Before I got to school, while it was still an unknown looming closer and closer on the calendar, I had reached the point where I had simply resigned myself to it. I didn't really want to go, but I figured there wasn't really any getting out of it now, so I would go there and just endure it. I would go to class, do my work, and simply endure the next four years. But now I see that there is no point in doing anything, no point in living, purely as an exercise in endurance. I had resigned myself to misery before I had even set foot on campus, and only upon arrival did I realize how silly that was. I had only done it, really, because I was afraid. But there was never anything to be afraid of in the first place. I made friends, had fun, and did not have the need to endure anything but dining commons food. I had dreaded college for months for no reason. Silly me.

I think I made the right decsions for where I am, I wish the school was closer but the closer school didn't have what I wanted. I would have meet the people I've met. I have friends for life.

I would tell myself to start practicing the clarinet more since I am a music major. Build confidence. The last thing I would tell myself is work hard and dont worry everything happens for a reason.

If I could talk to myself as a high school senior, I would explain that the experience is going to be fun and enlightening, but nothing like I expected. I should not have assumed that college would be much different than high school, especially considering I chose to go to a fairly small college. I should give myself the opportunity to look at larger universities, or ones in a city. I would also tell myself not to get to anxious about the process; slow down and enjoy the changes that are taking place instead of stressing. When looking back, the summer before college was an extremely stressful time for me, and it did not need to be at all. As soon as I began school in the fall, everyone at the school was eger to meet me and help out. The faculity did a great job transitioning school work from high school to college as well. Before school started I was worried that I would not be able to keep up with the work, but my overcompensation made the work ultimitely very easy to complete. I other words, I would simply tell myself not to be so anxious about college.

If I could go back and talk to myself as a high school senior, I would drill into my head these two things: studying hard and time management. I was always one of those people who could pick up a textbook, read the chapter once, and do pretty well on the test which caused me to never really develop good study habits. Unfortunately, this kind of came back to haunt me since college level academics involve much more reading and comprehension of the material. As for time management, I go to school full time (averaging anywhere from fifteen to twenty-one credits per semester), work (sometimes up to 39 hours a week), and persue my career of aviation. I do not know how I do it and most days I can feel myself dragging and sometimes my academics slipping. Luckily I am quick to notice it and make a change, but it is one area that I wished I had learned more about how to successfully do so that I am not always so stressed out about how I am going to get everything done and keep from going insane!

Researching as much about the institution is very important, however, tours are very important. Students need to personally experience the school before making such an important commitment.