If I Knew Then What I Know Now by Halley

If I Knew Then What I Know Now by Halley - April 2016 Scholarship Essay

If I could give advice to the freshmen of this upcoming school year, I would tell them what I would have told myself. I would have four suggestions for them. Spend more than the recommended time studying, do not procrastinate, the internet is evil, and have someone to hold one accountable.

The teachers will tell one that it takes two to four hours of studying for every class hour to get a good grade. I admit, this is a lie. One needs to do more than that to get good grades in the class. I have done the recommended amount of study time and still barely passed the class. I also admit that I failed a class from that amount of time being inappropriate for the class. Study around six hours, the minimum for the different categories, that way the knowledge will sink in. In saying that though, do not do it all at once, give one's self some breaks in ones studying so that you do not get overwhelmed. Failing to study enough leads me to my next topic, do not procrastinate.

Do not procrastinate on anything! Procrastination was my downfall in high school and almost cost me an excellent scholarship. Procrastination hurts, it makes one think one still has plenty of time on an assignment or paper is due; then it is due the next day. This hurt me all throughout my studies and gave me a poor grade on a paper that was highly critical. Procrastination can become the death of one's college career. Procrastination is part of my next set of "words of wisdom," the internet is evil.

The internet is evil; this is true. One moment one will think that one will just look up an item for a paper. Next thing one will know... one will be on Facebook checking statuses for a few hours. The internet is good when it is not a distraction to studies, but who can resist the temptation to update one's status just once then log off? It is harder than it sounds. One must be ever vigilant to make sure one gets the important things done first. Also, there are better tools out there than Wikipedia or Google, do not use them. Exhaust all of one's resources before resorting to the utilization of the internet. There are books and academic journals that are a lot better than the web regarding their reliability and accuracy of information. The temptation of having the internet at one's fingertips leads me to my last piece of advice, have someone to hold one accountable.

Have someone hold one accountable; this will help a great deal. If one knows someone else will be checking in on one to make sure one is doing as they should; it is harder to procrastinate or let the internet take over as it will make one wonder when the person checks in and have one make sure that what they need to do is done. Having that knowledge, that someone will check up on one at any time, makes one a little anxious and make sure that they have everything done.

Those are my four pieces of advice to any and all freshmen coming into college. Spend more than the recommended hours studying; it will help immensely. Do not procrastinate as it can cause the death of one's GPA, grades, and scholarships. The internet is evil; make sure one has exhausted all other resources before going to it. Have an accountability partner to make sure one does not slack off on one's work.