Advice for Rising Seniors That I Wish Someone Had Given Me
I just graduated. Let me tell you, senior year is gonna SUCK no matter how you slice it. So here are some tips that I never got.
Senioritis will not hit all at once— it will be gradual and then hit hard towards the end. For me, I was pretty much just numb and lethargic through most of the year, peaked a little in April and May during studying for AP exams, and then my brain checked out so hard it felt like a ton of bricks hit me. It almost wasn’t worth it to even go to school for my last week of classes because I didn’t do shit. So be prepared for that.
Try to get some part time work if you can— if you do, split all your paychecks in half. Put away half for college, and use the other half on whatever you want. Future you will be so grateful for the college money (even if it only covers books or your meal plan), and present you can have a little fun! I’ve used my paychecks to go to a ton of concerts and have so much fun during an otherwise shitty year. Use that money to make you happy!
If you’re taking AP classes, make sure the test credits would transfer to your desired college. In my case, all my AP credits are going to transfer, but some of my other friends took a bunch of AP exams and are only getting the credits for one or two. Art schools and big-name colleges (like an ivy) are infamous for this. And if you won’t get credit for a specific class with your AP score, see if you can get credit for a free elective. if you can’t even get that, it’s almost not worth it to drop the $94 on the exam unless you plan to transfer somewhere else.
Skip class at least once, on a nice day. Go to the beach, or to the movies, or out to lunch with someone. Or even just fake sick and relax on the couch all day watching Gilmore Girls. You deserve it.
Class rank really isn’t a big deal— everyone gets the same diploma in the end. I graduated third in my class, and there were people with a lower rank than me that got into more prestigious colleges than I did. Unless you’re really gunning on making a speech at graduation, it really doesn’t matter. Once you leave high school, pretty much all your great achievements, including your rank, will be forgotten, so it’s no use hardcore stressing over it.
Forgive yourself if you start to slack off a little. “Colleges only look at your first quarter grades” is wrong, since many will require a mid-year report and pretty much wherever you go will need your final transcript, but they’re not going to rescind your acceptance or anything unless you, like, suddenly start failing multiple classes when you were doing fine. If you go from a b+ to a b-, or an a to a b, literally no one is going to care at all.
For the love of god apply to every scholarship you can find, even if you don’t qualify. And see if your school does in-house scholarships, then apply to all those too. If there are scholarships your school offers that you have to be nominated by a teacher for, find out about them and kiss ass. I won a $4,000 scholarship that I didn’t even know about because one of my teachers nominated me.
If you’re high up in your graduating class, don’t feel pressured to go to some big fancy school. Usually at my school, at least someone in the top 5 goes to Brown or another ivy. This year, the salutatorian, myself (3rd), and another friend of mine (4th) are all committed to public, state schools. The salutatorian is even going in undeclared! Don’t feel pressured to have it all together just because you did well in high school. You have just as much as right as anyone else to experiment and figure out what you like (and also not be up to your eyes in debt).
Breathe, even if it all feels too much. Just like anything else you’ve endured in your life, this too shall pass. And when you walk out of that school for the last time, or when you walk the stage, it will be like the weight of the world is taken off your shoulders. When I got home from my last day of school, I cried, not out of sadness, but out of relief, because it was finally all over.
