Phew! The first semester of the most grueling year in high school is officially over!
I leave it with words of wisdom to young sophomores and tips for weary second semester juniors.
Seniors always told me their junior year horror stories with a shudder… and rightfully so! Everyone knows why junior year grades are so important. No matter which college you go to, an Ivy League or state college or somewhere in between, your junior year grades are where admission officers zero in on first. They are a big deciding factor, in addition to your standardized test scores, extracurriculars, and essays. And most terrifyingly: from what I’ve seen, this year is when the “best students” from sophomore year get burnt out. Ambitions of going to UCLA could be obliterated in your junior year; it all depends on your preparation and focus.
Why is junior year so hard?
- more advanced classes: AP, IB, HP (at least, you SHOULD be taking harder classes if you want to stay competitive for college admissions)
- more extracurricular activities
It’s difficult to find a balance – there are only 24 hours in a day! The solution?
Solution: get off the computer, stay focused, and PRIORITIZE! If you don’t, you’re sure to struggle.
I’ll give you a personal example:
In my sophomore year, I took one AP: European History. That was a good tester course for me, to see how I would measure up to the AP exam and a difficult course with many seniors in my class. I did great last year, but entering my junior year, I had 4 AP’s instead of one, in addition to 2 Honors classes. You do the math! That’s 4 times the work!
First quarter is tennis season, so that only added to my list of responsibilities. I had made Varsity this year, so the practices and the games were even longer. In short, I had more homework, but less time in which to do it. A few times during the first months, I’d come home from away games around 7:30PM and be so exhausted that I would fall asleep without touching my homework. Of course, I would wake up at 4:30AM to get everything done, but it definitely took a toll on my health. I was so tired throughout the day. I maintained my grades, but I definitely wasn’t feeling physically well.
I realized then that I needed to prioritize and stop wasting time on Facebook! I loved tennis but I needed to keep up my grades. In order to do what I loved, I had to start organizing my life. Every person is different, but I used a to-do notepad to organize myself. I would organize my tasks for the day, with their times, according to difficulty. For example, I would do my AP US History homework from 6:30pm to 7:30pm, since it was the hardest. Math was my easiest subject, so I did that last. This really worked for me because I work best with timelines, and I love the satisfaction of crossing a task off after completing it.
Even though I got through my first semester with straight A’s, it really was a battle. At least now I know what to do to be even stronger second semester.
Things to do during First Semester:
- keep up your grades
- get cozy with your counselor and teachers – they’ll be the ones writing you letters of rec in less than a year
- figure out which extracurriculars you really care about, and stick with them
- start college-searching
- attend some college seminars – go to the university’s website and click on their college tour schedules
- don’t get burned out! there’s still a semester to go!
Things to “look forward to” in Second Semester:
- AP Exams
- SAT II Subject Test Exams (and SAT I reasoning if you haven’t taken it yet)
- second semester finals
- applying to summer programs
It’s an uphill battle until summer. Words of advice: stay confident, stay motivated. Even if you messed up your GPA in first semester, remember that colleges like progression and improvement! If you did badly, you can only get better from here. Find some emotional support in your friends, family, or counselor. This is crunch time!
Filed under: College Admissions, Extracurricular Activities, High School Life
