<p>Wow, first post in a while. :)</p>
<p>Did you feel prepared after taking all of those AP classes?
In retrospect, I would say taking those AP classes in High School did help me to some degree comprehend what College work load would be like. The teacher that benefited me the most was my AP Biology and Environment Science teacher(Same teacher). His classes were hardcore. We had to take at least three pages, front and back, of note every single day! However, most of the time, I slept through due to lack of sleep. So instead of studying my notes, I relied on reading the selected chapters before the day of the exam. That habit continues to college. That’s procrastination!</p>
<p>Is your GPA drastically different from what it was in high school?</p>
<p>Well, based on my current GPA, it is definitely higher than what I got in High School. I remember when I graduated, I had unweighted GPA of 3.5. Now if I do well on the finals, I would say I have 4.0 GPA after the semester ends. </p>
<p>Are you still working at the same pace?</p>
<p>Hmm, that’s a good question. For the most part, I would say yes. Since I don’t have as much as homework as I had in high school, I spent very little time on that except couple essays I had to write. So that took some reliefs off from me. However, I still procrastinate as always. Again, bad habit. :)</p>
<p>Are you still highly involved in ECs?</p>
<p>Currently, I don’t involved in any ECs which we should call cocurricular activities instead of extracurricular. 
Well quite frankly, I didn’t involved much in those since I was in high school anyway. That’s due to lack of confidence in social skills. It is not that I don’t have those, just my language issues. I am fairly good at writing; however, when it comes to speaking, I am quite incompetent. So I hope to change that during the Summer by doing improving my English, mostly the speaking part. :)</p>
<p>What things have changed between high school and college?</p>
<p>Well, I have my own car and cell phone right now, which I didn’t in high school. In term of sleep, I have more of that right now. I don’t have to stay up late that frequently as I did in high school, which is a very good thing. Furthermore, I have started to acknowledge my personal shortcomings. I remember in high school, I thought I was the smartest person in my class. I always told myself, I could do so much better than my classmates if I want to. Now, I noticed that I am not the smartest person in my class. There are people out there who perform better than me in any aspects. If I want to become their equal, I need to try twice or thrice as hard as they are. Also, I finally acknowledged that I need to be more active rather than passive as I was in high school. I need to make things happen rather than letting things come to me. </p>
<p>Is college as difficult as you thought it would be?</p>
<p>Honestly, College is easier than what I though it would be. I am taking 16 hours of credits right now, which was no sweat for me. Next semester, I plan to take 22 credits to see how that goes. Part of the reason is that I want to change my majors, so I need to take Accounting classes to see if I like it or not. </p>
<p>What are some surprises?
Hmm, getting into a freaking accident sure counts as a surprise for me. Shortly after I got my driver license, I had to go the school for Freshmen Orientation. Since I didn’t know the route, I had to get my sister to lead for me. My sister and I were driving separate cars; she was leading the way. While in a interception, I made a turn for yellow, which resulted in a collision with another vehicle. I made that mistake because my sister has already made a turn, and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to catch her. So that ruined my first Semester as my parents didn’t allow me to drive. Therefore, I could only took one class since my sister was reluctant to take me to school with her car. </p>
<p>Also, I found it to be surprising that people were failing some courses. I thought since you pay to get education, you would work hard to get your money worth by getting good grade. However, I found not many people believe that in my College. I was surprised on some people in my class could fail such easy exams. </p>
<p>One more thing. I was surprised by the sheer numbers of clubs in my school. I remember back when I was in high school, I wrote a paper about promoting more clubs. Now, that wouldn’t be a problem in College. There are a lot more options than before. It is just up to me on deciding which one to join. :)</p>
<p>Note how much of an overachiever you were in high school and where you are now.</p>
<p>Technically, I wasn’t much of an overachiever in High School. When I first moved to North Carolina , I honestly didn’t know what Honor classes were. My old High School in New York put me in the lowest Math course, which totally ****ed me off. All I wanted back then was transferring to the regular Math classes. I was put into a block class in which the whole class took the same courses through the year. Back then, I didn’t know anything about Honors. However, I was still trying my best to get all “A” in my class except my English class which I got 80. When a counselor looked at my grade, he thought I was the smartest kid in that class. :)</p>
<p>Luckily, after I moved to North Carolina, I finally knew about Honors and APs. Damn, I was very excited. I started to plan how I can get into Calculus after the first semester ended. Again, I dominated even those Honors and APs until second semester of my Junior year. I remember back then I actually thought about studying a dictionary to improve my vocabulary. However, after I got through couple pages, I noticed how boring it was. So I quited. Beginning second semester of my Junior year, I began to slack off, mainly due to a new found addiction to an online game. I started to sleep in my class, not doing any homework. Even more, I began to skip classes to avoid taking tests. I remember one day, I had three tests to make. My teacher always joked that he won’t be seeing me on the test day and had me covered. :)</p>
<p>I regained my ambition in the second semester of my Senior year, where I had to study for five AP exams including AP History that I had to study on my own. I started to work my butt off like I did in my Freshmen and Sophomore year. Since my school was new, I think I was the first one to even think about self studying after I knew I could do that. </p>
<p>Now in College, I am aiming high for my career. I want to be the valedictorian of my class or at least ranked top 1 %. I want to join as many clubs as I can. I want to be actively socializing with my instructors, hoping that knowing them better would land me some good recommendations in the future. I want to walk tall, knowing that I am better than others in my class instead of other way around. I want to do something that will get the whole campus noticing my presence. I am a high achiever right now. :)</p>