I remem­ber you at sev­en­teen, about to start your senior year of high school as the new stu­dent at a pri­vate, Catholic school in the Los Ange­les. The ear­lier years of high school were a chal­lenge for you – your mother being diag­nosed with breast can­cer and con­stantly feel­ing out of place within the LAUSD school sys­tem. You had too many pas­sions and too lit­tle out­lets for them. Would col­lege be the solu­tion to your feel­ing out of place? Would col­lege allow you to make up for the social and extracur­ric­u­lar expe­ri­ences you missed out on, when you came home early to pro­vide sup­port to your mother because you could not bear to be out when some­one you loved so dearly was in such tremen­dous pain?

Dear 17 year-old high school senior self, Stop being such a chump. And stop whin­ing. Senior year's about to start, and I think you should know a few things. You're going to spend this year cavort­ing like a mad­woman with a bunch of crazy Rus­sians, par­ty­ing, ditch­ing school and lament­ing about your ex boyfriend. But […]

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 of col­lege potentials.