Junior and senior year are known to be the most stressful years in high school. They are full of taking the most challenging classes, SAT and ACT’s, touring and researching colleges, sports and possibly a job! It is true that junior year is crucial for your college future, and the solution to avoiding all the stress of senior year is to avoid procrastination.
If you want to be prepared for college it is helpful to pick a top three. Everyone has their dream school, but you also need to have backups. Senior year is when everything that you learned during junior year is put into motion. All of a sudden you should have taken your ACT and SAT’s months ago, you should know more about the colleges and applications, and you should know what you want to do. It sounds extremely stressful but there is plenty you can do to be prepared.
You can easily schedule your ACT (actstudent.org) and SAT’s (collegeboard.com), and can take them as many times as you want! Our school is very helpful with this, as they have study periods for Math and English. During these two periods, Ms. Childers and Ms. Nichol give a rundown of what to expect on the test and give many helpful tips to try to make the morning a little easier.
It is extremely important not to procrastinate on college applications senior year. You don’t have to be set on where you want to go, but it is helpful to make a list. Research colleges you could be interested in and find out about their deadlines. ‘Deadlines’ is a word you will hear a lot senior year. They aren’t scary as long as you are aware and ready. It is a huge relief getting your applications submitted as soon as possible.
A lot of schools have options when applying, like early decision and early action. It is important to learn about these options and figure out which one is best for you. These dates are very important because if you miss them, you miss out on that option. Early decision is a binding agreement, which you will find out earlier if you have gotten accepted, and if you have you are committed to go there. Early action is not binding, you do not find out as early as early decision, but earlier than regular admission and you don’t have to go there if you get accepted.
These two options during the application process are definitely important to think about because they show determination, especially for very popular colleges who get a lot of applicants. Throughout your senior year, colleges will often ask to see your semester grades, so it is very important that you continue to try your best in school. Keeping up with your school work is important because you don’t want to fall behind while you’re trying to balance all your other priorities.
Your teachers are trying to get you prepared for college and the future so it is important to take the classes and assignments seriously. During high school you have to make many important decisions that will affect your future. That tends to scare students and stress them out a lot. As long as you are informed about your options and deadlines and stay focused, you can have a very smooth sailing year!
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