San Jacinto Community College Top Questions

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

Kristine

APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIPS! Even though there's going to be essays at least try to apply! As for your major, plan out what requirements are needed, and what classes you will be taking. It's important that you take the right classes, and stay away from classses that aren't required for your transfer to a bigger university in the later year. Another advice is to not procrastinate, and to start getting into a routine habit of beginning things right away instead of doing it last minute. If you spend more time on your work your grade will reflect the amount of effort, and it will also show your professor how much you care for your education.

jarrod

Specifically about college transition I would tell myself to enroll and try to take college courses while I could. Graduating with credits is a huge advantage compared to starting fresh and not being used to the workload. A lot of college students have this issue that I have come across and that is stressing and not getting enough sleep. I would let myself know it is ok to have fun and don't think it's a bad thing to go out and breathe a little bit. The last thing you want is to have a breakdown or have an overload and where I can't perform. The flip side of that is giving yourself enough rest. I know how I am and I wake up early in the morning and forget to go to bed at a decent time; so getting enough sleep at night would be something I would tell myself. The brain works so much better!

Luis

College was a major wake up call for me. When I was in high school, the courses were fairly easy. However, that completely changed when I started college. If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior, I would tell myself that I need to study a lot more. I would tell myself that I should have taken a physics course so that I would not have much difficulty with Physics 2425 and Physics 2426. I would also tell myself to become a lttile more open minded when it came to speaking with others. I would have been able able to ask for help when I really needed it. Overall I would like to tell myself to not give up when the road gets tough and ask for help when I did not know how to solve something.

Kendra

If I could talk to myself as a high school senior I would tell myself how to balance everything. If I wasn't being lazy, I was working way to hard and no matter what I was stressing myself out. I would tell myself to care, but not kill myself over every test, lab, or homework assignment; to not procrastinate like my friends did; to sleep more and take better care of mself. I had a bad habit of just allowing myself to run on autopilot and it took awhile for me to remind myself that I will have a lifetime of things I can put on autpilot, senior year isn't one of them. That is the year you make your biggest memories not the year to overwork yourself.

Nina

When I was a senior, I made every mistake. I went to a wonderful school, and had opportunities. That is 18 long, arduous years ago. Now 35 years old, I have since learned a wealth of life lessons. The obvious lesson is that out in the big bad world, life beats you up and you need a degree to open doors to happiness. My advice to myself would be to have focused on what I was doing at that time, and not have waited until later in life when it is more difficult. If too much time passes, you can find yourself in a situation such as me, where you are mother of a toddler working a commission job. I would have told myself how precarious that is, and how I would always wonder where the next commission would come from. Also that the smarter route would be to do it at 18, living at home sans bills. Additionally that it in the end, it will still be OK though because at 35, I am an even better student, with a 3.9 GPA. Honestly, at 18, would I have even listened to my older self? Who knows!

Rebecca

There is nothing I could tell myself. I know that I am in my fourth year at a community college by the first two years helped my find who I am I would not have found that out without maturing by discovering what makes me who I am. No amount of explanation to a younger me who have made since at that time.

Brandon

I would tell myself to concentrate a little more. I was young and naive my senior year of high school. All I wanted to do was to relax with all my friends who I would never get to see again. Little did I know I would make new friends at new places. I did take my academic career easy my senior year. I would mention that working harder, putting in the extra twenty minutes of studying for that spanish exam would as a result, pay off tremendously. I would also have beat myself up senseless. Going from elementary school to junior high was great. Everybody was friendly and it didn't matter whether you had glasses or not. But in high school, it seemed that if you didn't play sports or listen to a certain kind of music, you were considered an outcast. I myself lost a few great friends I would do anything to have back, all because of superficial purposes. I would have told myself to go against the grain and forget about what everyone else thinks because you will never see more than 90{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of them again. 5

Sylvia

If I could go back and advise myself I would emphasize on "no breaks". Senior year is the time for decision making, what do I want to be in the future? Set goals and push yourself to make them reality. Register for college before you graduate and do not waste any time. It is extremely hard to get back in the routine once you have a family and commitments to more people than just yourself. Don't take the easy way out with shorter programs. Now is the time to complete your goals.

Giovanna

My advice to myself if I was to go back in time would have to be to focus more on my studies. To be aware of the blessing in it self to be able to have an education. Mainly to take my time in finding what would be best for me as an individual in the form of career choices. To not be scared or shy to ask questions when it came to my future. Also to never live easily through comfort but to challenge myself mentally, so that I could someday be immensely grateful of the mental strength received and walk proudly as I am called at graduation.

Joanilys

If i could back in time and give myself one advice for my college career would be learning to mange my time. Time mangement has been one of the most difficult things i have struggle with so far. Keeping your social life and school work away from each other is a strong key point in being a successful student. Having a planner or a to do journal would be helpful with keeping your self on track and reminding yourself of what you have to accomplish before you can continue with your social life.

Elisa

Keep doing what you're doing; you're on the right track. Don't try to do too much like you did this year, you'll learn from that anyways, just like I did. Also don't stress too much about your four AP exams, your time is better spent studying, apparently most colleges don't even accept two AP credits for the same course subject (English Composition and English Literature) even if they are both fives. You didn't get two fives, that was just to emphasize my point. Enjoy being in Anime, Earth and Math club, college clubs aren't like high school clubs. Minus the clubs, college is almost exactly the same as what you're doing this year so you don't have to worry too much about transitioning, the work load and adjusting in general.

Kayla

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a high school senior, knowing what I now know about college life and making the transition, I would give myself three advices. One, Apply for more scholarships because every penny is going to count when one book alone can cost hundreds. Two, do not procrastinate because deadlines will slip by so fast and you will miss them. Last, relax because as long as I really want to be in college, I will make it.

James

I would tell myself to think long and hard about what I want to study, focuse on school work, and study, study, study.

Tania

If I could go back in time! I say that to myself quite often. I would have taken dual credit courses in high school to advance in my college basics. That would have really helped in getting to know the college and how their courses work. I would have also made sure I would have taken atleast 12 hours each semester, no breaks! After high school the first things seniors want to do is take a break from school, but that is a big mistake. You begin to get lazy and once you start to college you take less hours because you don't want the pressure of doing more school work. If I would have done it back then I would have been completed by now. You never know what life will bring so take advantage of going to school when you have the time. You have to really push yourself to accomplish what you dream. It just would have been easier for me as a single jobless senior, than as a married mother with a full time job.

Tracey

Looking back to previous experiences, I would definately like to have changed my procrastination in high school. Although I was intelligent and turned in my assignments with flying colors, most of the time, I would wait until the last minute to get it done. At the time, I felt as if studying or getting assignments done ahead of time did nothing to keep the information in my head, therefore, my only option was to do it a couple days before the due date. As a result, I ended up pressuring myself into doing well which I thought would encourage me more into doing my best but in the end, my full potential was not seen in my eyes. Even though I graduated in the top 10{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} with a 3.98 GPA, I always wonder what my standing would have been if I put in all my effort in everything I did. Yes, I was smart, but college allowed me to realize that I am way better than being a lazy slacker.

Rachael

Decide what you want to do with your life before you start your freshman semester. It will make choosing classes and everything else so much easier, but don't be forced to major in something you don't want to do because you'll be miserable in the classes.

Lauren

If i could tell myself one thing when i was a high senior, it would be to go to a university. I started out at a community college and even though i do love it there, i always wonder how awkard it will be when i transfer. Since most kids in my high school already went away to college i feel some what left behind. Even in a year when i do transfer to a university, most of the kids my age already had to go through the change i was doing at the moment two years ago.

Kelli

If I were able to talk to myself in high school again, I would tell myself not to listen to the counselor that told me my test scores were too low and to not even consider going to college. With her telling me that, it crushed my dreams of going to college. Then 6 years later I started going to college to better myself. No one ever said school was going to be easy, but if I would have went against the counselor's remarks I would not have given up in school. Because of her telling me that, I just stopped caring. My test grades slipped. I never attempted the SAT, because in the back of my mind, were the little words, I'm not good enough. Well I showed her, I am now in college, and pursuing my career! I will graduate college if it's the last thing I do.

Taylor

If I could go back in time, I would let myself know that responsibility was more important than anything. I would tell myself to take more responsibility in everything that I participated in. For example, I would work hard in everything (schoolwork) as hard as I did in tennis. I accepted a major role in tennis when I was a senior, but I should have applied myself in other aspects of my life and schoolwork.

Melanie

Where would the world be without second chances? Whenever a mistake is made, there is often an opportunity to right it. Sometimes though, there isn't the chance for a redo, more often than not, you have to live with your decisions and move on. If I could go back to my senior year with the information and experiences I have now, I would tell myself that it's okay to not have all the answers all at once. I would let myself know that even though you're not sure what you want to do with your life it doesn't mean the world is going to pass you by. You can take time to think about things and just slow down. Even though everything is going to feel like it's coming at you at once, it's okay to just take a breath. Unfortunately, this isn't possible, there is no redo. All I can do is take that advice and make sure to apply it to my life now. Hopefully I'll be able to look back in two years and know that I won't need a do-over.

Josh

The best advice i would give myself is to save every penny i earn. Focus on what I really want and what i am going to need. I would also tell myself to prepare for the future sooner because it gets tough and their are a number of things that can go wrong along the way. Again i would say, SAVE, SAVE, SAVE YOUR MONEY!!!!!

Travis

Assuming i had a time machine i would be a very happy person for other purposes, considering forshadowing college transitions I would tell myself not to get in any financial contracts, from car payments to cell phone payments. Falling into these contracts lessens your college choice mobilty and decreases your finiancial budget for college, something that is never a good choice. Along with this I would tell myself to fill out every possible scolarship and financial aid application in site, this will increase the oportunity for a free ride through your first years of college. Along with planning for a less stressfull financial college future I would tell myself that attending a less prestigious community college will not lessen my opportunity for a successfull future, it might be a smart choice in an outstanding financial strategy for completeting the first years of college. And last i would tell myself to have fun and enjoy myself as a college student because it is going to be the best years of my life.

Nisi

If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a senior, I would tell myself to take more math classes and to take AP classes. I would tell myself to apply for many scholarships and to not miss any deadlines for college applications. If I could go back and talk to myself as a high school senior I would tell myself to dump that loser I was dating because he will cause you to lose focus on school. If I could go back in time and talk to myself as a highschool senior I would tell myself to join more clubs and learn to be a part of a group, instead of being a loner. Unfortunately I cannot go back, so I will finish my education and pass my knowledge to my children so they can have a great college experience which will then lead to a good life for them.

Amanda

GO TO COLLEGE!!! I took about a three year break from school, and I regret it now. That is the worst thing that I could have possibly ever done. I could have an amazing career right, but instead I am having to work two jobs to pay the bills.

Audrey

Definately try harder, give it your ALL and don't be scared of change. Life is a risk itself and to succedd you must do anything and evrything it takes. Start the procces as soon as possible it's never to early don't waste any time and do NOT procastinate. Ask everyone and anyone as many question as you can think of don't be hesitant to look dumb because "the only dumb question is that that is not asked." You are capable of doing anything, all you have to do is set your goals, follow them and conquer them.

Brandi

Pick a degree and stick with it. Once you get a job making good money you can always go back and get a different degree. Also, apply for more scholarships while in high school.

Susan

Whatever you choose to do in life, do it well and never give up. Those who doubt you only wish they were in your shoes doing what you love. Mistakes will be made, but they come as a form of a life lesson not to be ignored, but to be learned from. Most importantly, if it can be taught, it can be learned.

Chase

To listen to my Dad. He always told me to put forth, what I expected in return. I would tell myself to always go to class and procrastinate as least as possible. These three things alone, almost cost me my first semester of college. My parents have invested alot of time and money in me, and in reality, I only have a short time of school left but these decisions will reflect on my entire future.

Ivan

If i could go back and give myself advice as a high school senior i would definately tell myself to plan in advance my entrance to college to choose carefully and gather information about what college i would like to attend and start thinking about what i want as a career and future. College is will require way more focus and time so be ready and remember that it will all pay off in the end.