Dear Mr. or Ms. Untraditional, Welcome to college. I am a freshman in the year 2013.

I just barely graduated from high school and I no! it !ould be easy to !rite to a freshman !ho also !ill ha"e just graduated# $o!e"er, I ha"e decided that I !ould rather !rite to you. I no! that college !ill be one of your greatest challenges in life, es%ecially !hen returning after an e&tended %eriod a!ay. 'ruth be told, I almost made the mista e of not ta ing classes this semester. I no! that it is hard to come bac after that !hich is !hy I co mend you for returning to build on your education. 'here are a lot of %ieces of ad"ice I could gi"e# ho!e"er, I !ould li e to address the most im%ortant for you here. 'here are many things that you !ill e"entually learn here( about !riting, reading, math, studying, etc. )ut if you don*t learn certain e&ternal things first, then college !ill be incredibly difficult. 'hat+s the reason I too ,ornerstones for ,ommunity ,ollege, e"en though I !ill mo"e on to a Uni"ersity. -o, my first %iece of ad"ice. 'a e a class, course, or seminar that !ill e&%lain the basics of ho! college !ill !or . I did that, and I no! I !ill be better off ne&t semester and throughout college, because of it. /ne of the biggest lessons I learned in this class is that( if you don*t no! your institution, then you lose out on many o%%ortunities and resources.

0fter you*"e made the decision to return to an institution, ne&t you !ill need to ta e a fe! moments to reflect on your life. What do you !ant your academic, %ersonal, and financial life to loo life. /nce you*"e %ictured !hat you !ant life to become, it is im%erati"e that you create goals to get you there. 'hen, don*t sto% for anything# ee% going until you*re there and are able to reminisce about the journey that got you there. 1no!ing your college2Uni"ersity and setting goals are all !ell, good# but, in order to follo! through on all of these things you must disco"er and !ield a learning style that !ill get you to succeed. 0long !ith this, you need to decide !hich note3ta ing style is best for you and become comfortable in using this at any time. 4astly, note3ta ing is no good !ithout %atience and listening. If you listen and focus you are li ely to sa"e yourself a great deal of heart ache. 5o!, there is one other thing for you to !atch out for in college. It*s easy to go into a college !ith high ho%es and a foggy eu%horia of a second chance. $eed my !arning# finances could get the best of you. 'he best thing you could do is ta e a seminar on financial literacy# or, to contact your ad"iser and as that %erson to e&%lain grants and loans. 0las, many students graduate college ne"er thin ing t!ice to use grants and are in a hefty amount of debt6 7lease don*t end u% being this graduate. 0lso, e"ery little cost does add u%, so don*t ma e any im%ulse buys# if you can.

Well, that is all the ad"ice I ha"e for you. It !as my %leasure# than you for your time, )ree8ell Miller

Breezell's E-Portfolio:
htt%(22bree8ellmillerse%ortfolio.!eebly.com