Questions from the Third Annual Senior / Alumni Summit

1. Questions from the Third Annual Senior / Alumni Summit Feraco SFHP / Myth to Sci-Fi 20 December 2011

2. High School • What was the most valuable academic lesson you learned from high school? What was the most valuable life lesson? • Any tips for avoiding complete senioritis during second semester, or for not getting lazy with your extracurricular activities? • What’s your best memory from your final semester, other than graduating? • What do you miss most about AHS? • Is the first year of college more fun than your last year here? • Is there more or less competition than at AHS? • Do you think you have an advantage over other students at your college because you went to Arcadia High?

3. Acceptance and Leaving Home • Did you have a hard time waiting for admission decisions to come? Are you happy that you chose the school you did? • Does the small envelope automatically mean you’re rejected? Did you ever get acceptance letters in small envelopes? • To those who were accepted to multiple schools: how did you end up choosing which college to attend? Which of those schools’ qualities mattered? What’s your best advice for those who will make that decision? • After you graduated, did you feel ready for college? If you could have taken a year off, what would you be doing?

4. Acceptance and Leaving Home • What was it like to say goodbye to your parents? Is there anything you’re supposed to say? • Do you miss anything specific about home? How do you deal with homesickness? • What was the scariest part about entering college? What was the hardest part of transitioning from senior year to becoming a freshman yet again? • Did any of you choose a college near your home just to be near your family? • What is something that you wish somebody told you before you went to college that you’ve had to learn the hard way?

5. People • What should we expect our professors to be like? Are they intelligent, approachable, etc.? How easy is it to contact them? • How often do you keep in touch with your high school buddies? Have you had time to visit any of them? • How have your friendships changed ever since you guys have gotten to college? • How are the people you’ve met in college different from the ones you knew in high school? • How often do you call home? • Do you get to visit your family and friends during short breaks?

6. Community College • What are the pros and cons of staying home? What about the pros and cons of moving out, other than independence and being away from family? • If I want to go to a community college but move out of my parents’ home, do you think going to a community college outside of my city is a good idea? • What made you decide to choose a community college over a university or private college? If picking between a “lower tier” UC and PCC, which would you attend? • What are some differences/similarities between AHS and community college? • How do you deal with your friends going to a university or private while you stay near home? • How are the professors compared to high school teachers?

7. Academics • How do you get classes? Is it as easy as it was here? • What are courses like for freshmen? Are you already fulfilling major requirements, or can only upperclassmen get into those classes? How are your grades determined? • On average, how many hours do you spend self-studying per day? • How does “college stress” compare to “high school stress”? • Do you feel that the workload is much heavier than senior year?

8. Academics • Do you feel as if some of the classes at your college are much easier than the AP/Honors classes taught at Arcadia High? • Are professors open to creativity or experimentation in your writing, or do they require you to do things conventionally? • Should I buy a laptop before I go to college? Would it be easier to bring a computer to class, or just paper and a pencil? How many notes do we have to take during lectures? • How many of your classes are just lectures, and how many of them let you do other stuff?

9. Academics • Are you happy with the major you chose? • Have you decided what to do with your degree yet? Do you wish you applied for a different major? Is it hard to change majors if I wanted to? • If you’re undecided about your major, do you face any pressure from professors, staff, or peers to pick one quickly? • Have any of you looked at grad schools already? I want to go to med school, and was told that I can major in something else besides biology and still go as long as I fulfill the pre-med requirements. How do I take those? Do they count as electives, general eds, or something else?

10. Dorm Life • What do you recommend bringing to college? Which item’s the most important one to bring? Is there anything we shouldn’t buy? • How nice are the dorms? Do you spend a lot of time in your room, or do you go to other places on campus? • Do you like your roommate(s)? Does it feel weird to live with someone you really don’t know that well? Any tips for avoiding conflicts or making sure you have good relationships with them? • Who do you go to for help if something goes wrong?

11. Dorm Life • Is privacy an issue in the dorms? What about in your room itself? • Should you make a list of boundaries/agreed-upon rules with your roommate? • Do we really have to share bathrooms? Is it always crowded in the bathroom? Do all the girls or boys share one bathroom at the end of the hall, or do you have a suite? Basically, is it as uncomfortable/inconvenient as it sounds? • Where and how do you do laundry? • Is it hard to concentrate in your dorm room?

12. Dorm Life • What happens if you lock yourself out of your dorm room? • What do you do if your roommate wants to go to sleep but you can’t sleep? Do you leave the room? • Is there a point to joining fraternities or sororities? Do you really get hazed if you join? • Would you recommend living in a dorm, even for those students who don’t really think they should? • Do kids go home on weekends or stay in the dorms?

13. School Life • Is it difficult to make new friends? What are some ways that work? • How do you keep a relationship alive if you two can’t see each other very often – whether that be long-distance or not? • How difficult was it to adjust to cultural differences on a college campus, and how has going to college changed your perspective on diversity? • What are ten things we should make sure we do our freshman year? • What are ten things we should avoid doing our freshman year?

14. School Life • Everyone in high school talks about how the social scene is college is so much crazier than in high school. Is it really like that? How do you find a balance between fun and school? • Are there other things to do socially – events, sports, etc. – or are things pretty quiet on campus otherwise? • How’s the food at your campus, and how do meal cards work (especially at schools that have chain restaurants on campus)? Do people really gain 15 pounds during freshman year? What’s the best meal you get to eat? • Which elements of the college environment did you adjust to easily? Which elements posed a challenge? • How hard is it to balance a job, classes, and life?

15. Opportunities and Time • What is your typical weekly schedule like? • Is it better to space all your classes out through the week or take more in one day and then have more days off? • Do you find you have more time to do what you want if your classes are spread out through the week, or do you have less anyway because you have more responsibilities? • What do people spend most of their time doing? • What’s the most important thing to do in college (besides go to class)?

16. Opportunities and Time • How do your extracurricular opportunities and activities compare to the ones we have in high school? Do you still do volunteer work now that you’re in college? How do you get involved with clubs, land internships, etc.? • Assuming you’re more independent in college than you were in high school, is that independence a blessing or curse? • What are you looking forward to doing at college that you haven’t gotten to do as a freshman? • Do you have any free time to do the hobbies that you did when you were younger? • If you plan to study abroad, where and why would you go?

17. English • What kind of an impact did this class make on your life? • What was your favorite activity in the class? • Did you like first or second semester better? • If you had one word to describe the second semester of the class, would it be demanding, rewarding, or challenging? • Did you become a better person when you left class for good? • What did you learn that you still use today?

18. Final • What’s been the best aspect of college? The worst? • If you could start college again, would you make different choices – attend a different school, not move out, choose a different dorm, etc.? • How have you seen yourself grow or change since your time in high school? What were the biggest differences between your “college self” and your “high school self”? What did it feel like to start from scratch, make new friends, and live on your own? • How does post-grad life compare with your expectations?