Listen, I feel your pain. Coming back from winter break, I've been sluggish, tired, and quite frankly, rather unmotivated to confront the 17-credit workload. Add the gray and windy sleety weather, and here I am, neglecting all my goals and resolutions about eating properly and getting enough sleep and staying ahead of my assignments and going to the gym.
BUT I'm only half done with the year, and so are you! I know around this time of year, all you seniors out there are probably feeling the pull of senioritis. Don't give up yet, though. I talked with some of my fellow first year friends the other day and we came up with some advice to combat second-semester senioritis:
1. Do something you've never done before—after all, it's your last year in high school, and you won't get another chance to redo it. So...make the experience as fun and exciting as you can!
Last year I decided to audition for the school musical. Before that, let me tell you something about myself: I am timid, I get terrible stage fright, and I never imagined myself deliberately choosing to get onstage. I dabbled a little in drama when I was a kid, and it was okay because when you're a kid, you can be ridiculous up there and everyone will only “Aww” and “How cute” at you. As a senior, I wanted to take a second whack at musicals and acting. Not that I wanted to play the lead or anything...I just wanted to be part of something I'd only ever seen from the pitt and from the audience in the past five years. Looking back, being in AIDA was probably one of the most fun and exhilarating, albeit physically and mentally exhausting, extracurriculars in which I'd ever participated. It helped me with time management. As my friend aptly put it, “It saps up all other time so that you absolutely have to work during the precious time you have left.” SO TRUE. I probably got a little better at singing/dancing/acting too. :)
2. Second semester of senior year is still school—Academics still appear on your high school transcript until you've graduated. (Yes, you all knew I was going to talk about schoolwork). Those colleges you've applied to will definitely receive and examine your transcript(s), both the midterm (if you had to send one) and the final. Especially the final. I've heard stories about students who had their acceptances rescinded because their grades dropped the second semester of senior year. DON'T LET THAT HAPPEN. Can't be bothered to stay on top of studying and academics? At many universities, you can get out of weeder classes with AP/IB credit, so it would be in your best interests to get 4s and 5s on your APs and 6s and 7s on your IB exams. At a lot of schools, AP/IB credit puts you ahead and allows you to choose your classes earlier (based on number of completed credits). Not to mention, more credits coming in gives you more leeway in the next few years, say, if you wanted to take Theater Appreciation or give Elementary German a try. You could also consider applying to British universities because they give conditional offers that are dependent on public exam scores.
A Note to Juniors: Plan to take fewer but more difficult APs your senior year. That way, you can challenge yourself academically (universities like to see that you are pushing yourself to do well in harder courses) but at the same time you won't be floundering under the heavy workload. Also, plan to start looking at applications in the coming summer and get a head start on writing those essays.
Overall, as one friend put it, “Think of college as high school-phase two; it's not that different academically (for the most part).”
3. Finish strong—My dad said this phrase so many times in the last year that I couldn't count them all. Last year was my final year of high school, my final year in Shanghai, and my final year at home. After I graduated, I was sure things would change—I'd be in university, on the opposite side of the world, and living away from my family. I really took these two words to heart and remained as hardworking, responsible, steadfast, and persistent as I was the rest of my life. Honestly, I don't think I really got senioritis (except for those few months when we were supposed to be filling out our applications...oops). Do as well as you can, and give nothing less than your best. That way, you'll have no regrets when your high school experience is all over.
4. Encourage each other! It definitely helps to have a buddy who nudges you when you're instant messaging when you're supposed to be studying for that US History quiz or sits next to you and joins in when you try to tackle that calc problem out loud or on the board. My friends kept me grounded and focused, and just knowing that someone cares was enough to turn the grayest rainy day just a little brighter. (Thanks guys, you're awesome!)
Keep up the good work, and let's finish the year stronger than before!
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