Yale University Top Questions

You should be open-minded: try new cuisines, meet new people, explore more opportunities. You will learn that the things you were good at in high school may not be the things you are truly talented at in life. You will have many ups and downs as you struggle to find what you are passionate about when it comes to academics or your career. But it is important to remember that you are not defined by your grades or sorority. College will eventually end, and you will have to leave campus someday to take on the world. You will be defined by what you choose to take away from your college experience and to bring out into the world. In final words, take care of yourself--college will eventually end, but you and your life continues. Remember that through all the tough assignments or pressures to drink, and you will do just fine.

As a high school senior, there's an inherent "us-vs-them" mentality that surfaces when you regard the adults in your life. Your teachers are assigning meaningless work; they're holding you back and wasting your time. Your parents don't understand; you're a responsible adult and they're treating you like a child. This frustration is at the forefront of your thoughts. At an age when you are, in fact, very mature and you're thirsting to live on your own, I would advise my high school self to take a step back and get acquainted with the adults in her life as people instead of imposing authority figures. If you open your heart to your teachers, family members, and mentors, you'll find that while they grew up in a very different time, they truly are empathetic to the restlessness and confusion you're feeling. Adults in these roles chose to work with students and children because they were eager to provide support and share they're life experiences. Listen to them.

Before I go into advice, I need to say that I am very happy with the choice that I made to come to Yale. I am very happy that I came to a place where I had academic freedom and could learn a lot from my professors and my peers. I love living in a place that has so much history associated with it. And now onto advice to my high school self. I would tell myself not to stress out too much. I would also tell myself not to be too excited to live away from home because you will miss it for sure. I thought that I would not be homesick, but the first few weeks (and even now) I experienced homesickness. I would tell myself to soak up as much experiences I could in high school because it will be missed. Also, I would tell myself to be so excited for what is going to come in the future.

Give yourself time to investigate the school you are interested in, and choose the school that is your gut decision. Do not choose a school only for the name, or your friends.

Definitely do a preorientation program! It's a great way to get a feel for the school and your classmates before you are thrown into the craziness that is the first couple of weeks of school. You'll make friends that will last a lifetime and make memories that will last even longer than that. It's also great to be able to come to campus already knowing a group of people. You feel less lost. Also, make sure you explore when you first start picking classes. Take a variety of courses in different departments and see what really sticks. Even if you don't become an art history major, knowing about Renaissance art is a wonderful skill to have! Also, make sure to interact with professors outside of class! Professors love to meet students for coffee - don't be scared that you are a freshman! Most of all, enjoy the time you have with your classmates. 4 years go by before you know it!

Hey! Continue to work on your relationship with God. Make sure to listen and understand other people's experiences of God and learn from their traditions and rituals. Make sure to imprint in your mind the gospel words, "don't be afraid." Fear will cause stagnation and you will waste time denying you are afraid but actually avoiding the insecurities and uncomfortable feelings the “unknown” brings. Embrace your sexuality, give it up wisely, and enjoy the feeling of being in love, the people who offer it emotionally and physically, and ignore the guilt other people will force upon you. But, most importantly, be compassionate with yourself. Continue with your academic goals but remember to enjoy your journey. This means don't trying to control people, events in your life, and deny yourself to take the time to improve your physical appearance, maintain your health, and buy yourself something nice. Make sure to go to games, parties, date a lot of people, and travel. Hey! Don’t seek anyone’s approval or acceptance of who you are! You are God’s creation and it’s the only justification you need. Knowing you, you will yes me to death.

Captain of two Varsity teams, Homecoming Princess, and Class President. You must be so proud of yourself. So far, you’ve had the high school career people dream of, a career that dozens of teen movies perpetually mirror to chronicle the “Popular Girl”. But you’re unhappy. You're unsatisfied. You feel something is missing, but you don’t know what. You’re right. Between all of those afterschool meetings and basketball practices, you missed out on you. You did what was expected of you, not what you necessarily wanted to do. Be different this year. Take every idea or interest you’ve ever had and attack it. Try everything until you’ve found something you love. In college, you'll meet people with hobbies they adore and sincere memories to tell. They’ll be more in love with their talents than you’ll ever be with a basketball, all because it was their choice. They did what made them happy, unaffected by others. Senior year, live like them. Don’t act out another teen movie. Write a new script that pleases you and don’t worry. You can erase, cross out, and add as much as you want.

If I could impart one piece of wisdom to incoming college freshman it would be this: far more important than your achievements in school and in life, is learning to welcome failure. Failure means you’ve taken a risk. Failure means you’ve stepped outside you’re comfort zone. If you’re open to its lessons, failure means you are learning, growing, and transforming. College is the perfect opportunity to learn to leap into the unknown. Don’t settle. Refuse to make excuses for yourself. Join the clubs that you have no business being a part of. Take that class with the teacher you’ve heard amazing things about, but that you’re sure you’ll do badly in. Make friends with the person who seems to have least in common with you. Go on the adventure. Don’t just take the French class, find the closest French restaurant and go speak to the chef. Pushing your self-imposed boundaries is the key to self-realization. It’s not something to be taken lightly, or to be put off for when it’s convenient. Fail now. Fail harder. If you do, chances are the rest will take care of itself.

Crisol, you’re going to college, right? Check this out, here are a few pointers in addition to applying for colleges. First, make sure to get involved and ask questions in your high school’s career center. As well as providing information for future careers, the career center also offers scholarship opportunities, helps with college applications, internship opportunities and answers any other questions you may have. Second, I know you need the financial help and there are many different types of scholarships available to help pay for your tuition, books, supplies and living expenses. Next, always ask questions. Asking questions is an amazing way to gain knowledge of your surroundings, activities that are offered on campus and great way to network. Questions open doors to answers. And the faculty and staff who work on campus are happy to help a college student, if you’re kind and polite. Finally, believe in yourself. This is the most important advice I can give you because when you believe in yourself you surpass limits and overcome challenges far more better than you could imagine.

I would tell myself to take advantage of all of the resources that the school has to give. Although it is important to keep up with others, I need to focus on myself and my well-being. Choose activities that you love to do--time is scarce so if you don't love the activity then there is no reason for you to be doing it.