Bismarck State College Top Questions

What should every freshman at your school know before they start?

alyce

Do not wait to go to college. The longer you wait the harder it will be to make room in your life for getting a degree. The times have changed since you were in grade school. You can no longer get a good job without a college degree. Your friends who are saying life is great without going back to school are working at dead end jobs that will not provide for them later in life. Going to college is not an option any more, it is a requirement of life. This is all part of becoming an adult. Taking responsibility for your own future, being able to get a job that will provide for you and your family and allowing you the chance to live a fruitful life. The relationships you make in college will stay with you for the remainder of your life and could very well be the people you build your future happiness with. Look at college as an opportunity not a chore because without it you face a lifetime of meaningless days, worrisome nights and few chances to improve your position in life.

Sarah

As a High School Senior I was very unsure if I even wanted to attend college. I waited until the last minute to sign up for school and therefore received no scholarships or financial aid. If given the chance I would most definitely go back and tell myself to take every opportunity in the form of learning or aid that came my way. I would tell myself to sign up early for school because I would have been able to get into almost any school of my choosing and would have gotten the best choice in classes. I also would tell myself to sign up early, because I would have had a better opportunity of receiving financial aid and scholarships. I have gained so much knowledge both scholarly and personally in the 8 months since I graduated High School. I owe this to the decision to enroll in college and continue my education. This choice will ultimately give me all the tools necessary to help myself in having a bright future.

Andrew

Mom and Dad knew what they were talking about even if I thought I was smarter than they were when I was a high school senior. They gave me the following advice and now I know why. Apply yourself to your studies and develop good study habits. You can't just "cruise" through college. It demands time with a book and required learning. Grades will follow you because they appear on transcripts that many employers look at before they hire you. Get out and join organizations and clubs. This will allow you to develop friendships, socialization skills, and to have fun. It will also get you away from home so that "homesickness" doesn't set in as bad when you get to college. Don't be shy--talk to your teachers. It's very important to relate to the teachers by conversing with them when I have questions. I realize they're human too--they make mistakes too, but they have wonderful advise if I just muster the courage to talk to them. Take a variety of subjects in high school. This might help in a decision of a future career possiblity. Yes, parents are mcuh smarter than we think.

Christine

I would tell myself to take my time and adjust. I don't know everything and that cost me a year in my college career. I tried to rush it and didn't have everything that I needed to do what I was trying to do. I would tell myself to slow down and decide what I really wanted to do. I would also tell myself that the high school counsellors were wrong, college isn't like high school. It is ten times harder, and more work. It takes hard work and dedication to complete a college degree. Not so with high school. High school takes relitively little in comparison.

Travis

Most importantly, I wish college credit courses would of been suggested to me. It would have been really nice and a lot cheaper to take classes while still in high school that would have gone towards general credits at college level courses. This would have given me more time and effort to focus on classes that are more geared towards my degree. Another major thing I would have wanted to know about, would of been advice on financial aid. I would have liked to sit down with an knowledgable advisor that would have roughly gone over the costs of college and shown me the easiest ways to go about finding financial aid for 4 years. Seek advise on ways to apply for scholarships that are geared twords the school and degree I am planning on going into. I would have also liked to have pushed myself to seek local engineers to job shadow or even start an internship early to see if it was the right career for me. The last thing I would tell myself is to have fun my senior high school year and be ready to buckle down and focus on the next chapter in my life.