Letter to Your High School Self
Over the past year, we’ve asked 500+ public high school students across the San Francisco Bay Area to tell us what questions they have about college and whether they have someone in their life who can answer those questions.
Students have asked all sorts of questions (keep reading to see a partial list), but they consistently report a lack of mentors to answer their college questions.
At BetterGrads, we plan to change that. We believe every high school student in the U.S. should have access to excellent college advising and preparation resources, regardless of their background or the resources at their school. (For more on how we’re working toward this, check out our eMentoring network).
Last month we came across an awesome NPR podcast that inspired us in a big way. The program featured adult women writing letters to their younger selves, offering advice, stories and, perhaps most importantly, perspective. A 22 year old blogger named Cassie Boorn originated the series with a humble request for advice from her slightly older peers. Her idea caught on like wildfire.
We had a conference call with our awesome team, and came up with an idea: how cool would it be to have recent college grads + young professionals + people of all ages share their wisdom by writing a letter to their high school self?
And Letter to Your High School Self was born.
We’ve taken a cue from Cassie: we are asking you to share your wisdom and tell your stories to all of the high school students out there who are walking around in need of guidance for their potential college education.
We’re asking you to write a letter to your high school self. Share the things you questioned about college that eventually were answered. Share your wisdom and advice. Give some guidance to the next generation in regards to college.
There are 4 ways to submit your letter:
- Submit your letter through our submission form
- Link to your letter in the comments
- Share your letter in the comments
- Email your letter to submissions [at] bettergrads [dot] org and we will publish it.
Note: This special series will run for a month, so you have time to write. Also, feel free to write to your high school self at any grade level you choose!
Here are a few of the questions high school students asked us, feel free to address any of these in your letter:
- How do you survive?
- Is it hard?
- What’s the purpose of college?
- Where do I get the money?
- What do graduates remember loving about it?
- What should I look for in a college?
- Is it worth it?
© image by Nick Schwartz
