Things I Have Learned (About Junior/Senior Year)

I was going to make this a Facebook note and tag my friends who are going to be juniors and seniors next year, but I dunno if I will. So I guess I might as well post it here, since in case I want to put it on Facebook later, I'll just have to copy + paste it instead of try and write it again.

(By the way, I graduated yesterday. THAT MEANS I AM DONE WITH HIGH SCHOOL FOREVER. Yay.)

And here it is:

So I thought that I might as well help you guys out with your anxiety about junior/senior year by giving some helpful advice. =] little life lessons I learned at 2 am when I probably should have been asleep:

FOR JUNIORS:
- If your parents want to spend money to get you good scores: SAT tutors 1-on-1 seem to be more helpful than SAT classes.
- Retaking the SAT doesn't always raise your scores.
- This is the year you should start figuring out what subjects you hate so you DON'T take the hardest class possible in that area. It's not worth it. Go for the easy class. It's better.
- Staying up late doesn't help as much as you think it will. You'll end up forgetting more than you cram. Sleep instead.
- More sleep also means you will be happier. (See below.)
- Remember to have fun. Your social life/personal life will probably be a bigger deciding factor in the whole "good year/bad year" thing than however much schoolwork you have.
- Also: the more life experiences outside the classroom you have that are unique/life-changing/whatever to you, the easier time you're going to have writing that college essay, so get out of your house and do something cool.
- On that same note: it might be good to start thinking about college, or thinking about thinking about college. Don't stress about it, just think about what sort of things you want in a school.
- If you're in band: DON'T EVEN THINK about not going on that band trip. =]

FOR SENIORS:
- All those things about "having fun" in the above list apply to you to.
- The college essay isn't as bad as some people make it out to be. Just make sure you write about something that interests YOU, because then it will be more fun for the admissions people to read. Also, make sure other people edit it - namely, friends who aren't afraid to tell you what is wrong with your essay.
- Not kidding about this: spread out the work on your college apps. If you can, even try and do some stuff for the Common App during the summer. Start thinking about what you're going to write the essays about. You'll do SO much better if you don't leave it for the last moment.
- If a school you're looking at has Early Action (or rolling admission), DO IT. Even if you get in, you don't have to commit - and you get a feeling of relief that no matter what, you have a college to go to. And if you don't get in - no big loss. Plus it forces you to be on top of your college apps.
- Second semester senior year is a mindset, not necessarily a description of your classes. Keep that in mind.
- Also keep in mind that while, yes, you could get rescinded if you do really badly your second semester, you won't get rescinded if one A grade drops to a B. So don't stress about your grades, but don't slack. Just do enough so that you stay consistent with your first semester grades, but don't overkill it. Get some sleep. Have some fun.
- On that note: AP classes DO NOT stop after the AP. In some of my AP classes, I had more work during the last week of school than most other times during the whole year. So if you pick AP classes, be warned that you probably won't get much of a break.
- If you're in band: BAND TRIP. DO IT.