Wheaton College-Wheaton Top Questions

If I could go back to my senior year of high school I would have three pieces of advice to give myself. The first peice of advice would be to work hard at academics from the very beginning. Each class at a liberal arts school like Wheaton is very valuable and I wish I wouldn't have taken some classes for granted. The second piece of advice would be to get involved in different aspects of campus that would normally make me feel uncomfortable. This could include various music, art, or cultural groups. The final piece of advice i would give myself would be to realize how unique each person is and the amazing impact each person can have on our society. Never view yourself as someone that can't do great things because each person has so much that they can bring to our planet. It is very easy to get stuck in the mindset that we are average, but that is not true. Anyone can accomplish something amazing, and I am going to be one of those people.

If I were able to go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior, there are a few things I would tell me. First of all, I would tell myself to stop complaining about work and enjoy the amount of free time I have, because college is another level! I felt that the transition to college was a huge shock to my system, especially in terms of work load. So I would tell my high school senior self to take AP classes. I feel that AP classes would have given me a better idea of the amount of work that college requires, and would have also given me a head start with my college credits so that I could have taken more of the classes that I wanted to. I would have also told him that spending quality time on scholarship applications was essential as scholarships are often applied to by hundreds of people and that it requires a lot of work to actually get accepted for one (also getting scholarship money is a whole lot better than working part time in during school to try and get raise funds).

Well, to start, don't panic. College is a challenge, but it's also do-able. The best way to do well is to organize your time. This way you aren't overwhelmed when the projects start rolling in at once. Along with this new sense of calm, meet new people and try to make friends right away. It's always good to have a support system at home, but it's nice to have someone at hand to talk to if need be. Another thing, STUDY. Don't go into this thinking that it's just a high school you live at. It's not. Teahcers really do expect you to have the assignments entirely done and on time. Crazy right? Well believe it, kid. Oh, and one more thing, have fun. It's true when people say that some of your best memories will be made in college.

I felt like some kind of plotting evil genius not only during my senior year in high school, but honestly, thought my high school career. I was Dr. Evil in Austin Powers. I had the vivid imagination, ultimately spent too much time on that vision and little to no time on putting it into action through ideas. I subsequently breezed through high school. Now, finishing up community college nearly two years later, soon to be enrolling in a four year college next spring, I finally came to the realization of the concept of time. Your world speeds up at an alarming rate after high school, arguably the slowest period of your life, where I had dreamed of eventually being able to move away and live the college life. Now, two years later it's about to become reality. I've progressed very little in two years in terms of creating a gameplan for the long term. I do have some serious ideas, but I would have told myself two years ago that you need to stop being a dreamer and being more of somebody creating ideas, because time will keep moving. Also, I don't want to rule the world.

I would tell myself to prepare for the future while I am young by learning good habits. Procastination has to be the reason I struggle with school so I would fix the problem early rather than late. Becoming more active in all the activities at school would make school more exciting rather than making it a chore. Waking up early to eat a balanced breakfast every day will help me learn better and become more healthy. I would then tell myself to be a social butterfly and not be so afraid to talk to people because they are just like me. Engaging in classroom discussions and going above and beyond on every assignment would be a habit. Staying after school to particiapate in the spanish clubs is something I wish I could have taken advantage of. I believe learning about different ethnic backgrounds makes a person more diverse and open minded. Taking advantage of the opprotunity to travel with the school to different countries would have been ideal. Ultimately high school was a short part of my life where I learned a lot about myself. College is where I overcame my fears and bad habits and became a better student.

Dear senior Phoebe, Congratulations, you are almost done with high school! As your high school life begins to end and college looms in the distance, I know that you must be getting nervous. Don't worry--that is totally normal! However, to make it a little easier, I'll give you a few tips to remember as you begin your college experience next year. First of all, before you enter college, think about who you will want to be. You'll be in a new place with new people and new opportunities, which means you can erase all your past mistakes and preconceptions and start with a blank canvas. Who do you want to be? You have the power to reshape your identity. Take advantage of that. Forge ahead with courage. Meet as many people as possible. Join a group simply because it sounds interesting to you. If you make mistakes, pick yourself back up and try again. These tips will get you started on the right path as you enter college, but the rest you will have to figure out on your own. I know you can do it. Good luck! Sincerely, College Phoebe

Looking back on my senior year I see my teachers pushing me just enough to finish strong to the end. While I didn’t catch “senioritis”, I continued to foster the mindset of “I'm done with school”. So much of what I did in high school was for the sake of getting into college. “Oh this will look good on my transcript” predominated my thinking for many of the activities I was involved with. I hardly ever took the time to enjoy things just for the sake of doing them, to explore what my passions were. I saw the fruits of this when I arrived on campus to find so many clubs and organizations vying for my attention, though none caught my eye. I hadn’t a clue as to my interests. “I have no reason to participate in anything, I’ve already got into college”, filled my thinking. I spent so much of my freshmen year, just figuring out who I was and what I wanted in life. If I were to do high school again, I’d take the time to discover the things in life that bring me joy, to be involved because I actually care.

If I were to go back in time, I would stress how important it is to look for scholarships early on. I have spent the past two years at my local community college, which has helped me save a lot of money, but now I am transferring to a four-year university and the cost is much higher. Considering that I have to pay for all of my college out of my own pocket, I would explain to myself that I really needed to be applying to at least one scholarship every day. If I had been applying to one scholarship every day since my senior year, I wouldn't currently be working five part-time jobs and searching for scholarships every day while still going to school as a full-time student. If I could convince myself how important scholarships really are, I think that I would be in a much better place right now.

I would tell myself to take as many college classes as I could in high school to further up the college process. Not only does it count as college credit, but it also counts for high school credits to graduate. I would also tell myself to not stress out about the whole college experience. It is a little scary in the beginning, but you get the hang of things pretty quickly and it isn't worth all the worry that people sometimes have. I would tell myself to set goals and have dreams and to reach for the sky until you reach those goals and dreams. You are the only one that holds yourself back or pushes yourself forward so you might as well make it count and reach for the stars!

Before you take the huge and humbling leap from the top of the food chain to being a small fish in a big pond, let me share two pieces of advice with you. First, to repeat exactly what you've heard from your grandparents, aunts, neighbors, and teachers, college is an incredibly formative time of your life. You know this, but be careful not to view these next four years as the most decisive and concluding seal on who you are. There is an abudance of growth, change, breaking, and renewing in the years after college, just as the years leading up to this point have contained. You will succeed, be challenged, make mistakes, and heal in very significant ways in the next few years, but don't forget that your journey is bigger than the immediate present! Second, know that some of the friends you make in college will be lifelong, and some will be only for a time. It's important to be able to hold both with open hands. When you are able to do that, you affirm the value and uniqueness of the relationship as well as the person and their specific journey. Enjoy every moment!