My Best College Advice

Alec Taylor

University of San Francisco

Hello to everyone that is applying to one of the most life-changing experience yet! As a third-year Entrepreneurship and Innovation major at the University of San Francisco, Esther Madriz Diversity Scholar, Multi-Club President, African-American, and Gateway Educational Services College Readiness Survivor, I have a few pieces of advice that I’ve picked up over the years.

First and foremost, make sure that you finish off your classes strong. Regarding your college applications, as “Mr. Submit” (A pun on how I completed 99.9% of my Berkeley Application and forgot to hit Submit), MAKE SURE YOU SUBMIT EVERYTHING and keep notes on deadlines! When it comes to picking a college, know who you are, what you like, what you want to experience and why. For example, I know that I am a temperate person, so geography is very important to me, so I applied to schools that included the beach, mountains, and reasonable weather. As a person of color, I wanted to experience living in a progressive city with more diversity than Santa Barbara, leading me to San Francisco. Considering my career path, I reviewed the majors that I had been interested in and picked colleges that offered a variety of internship opportunities outside of the institution.

Finally, don’t be scared to pick something and don’t look back. Some of my best decisions were when I took a leap of faith and made a commitment that I wasn’t completely sure about. The silver lining is the new experiences and discoveries that you make! Don’t worry about having a perfect storybook plan, it’s okay to not know the answer and change paths! Roll with the punches and be resilient, you will stretch your boundaries and become a stronger person. College is full of new experiences, late nights, too much coffee, great talks, and mystery. Don’t be afraid to jump in, you may be surprised at what you find at the bottom! Just click SUBMIT!

Yours truly, Alec "Mr. Submit" Taylor