Senior Year Stress

"We think senior year is the most important, and we don't want to see any slacking off." -- Phillip Ballinger, Director of Undergraduate Admissions, University of Washington

Slacking off was actually what my friends and I intended to do our senior year until we got the scheduling sheets. Those have brought more stress than any homework assignment I have ever been given. Why, you ask? Because they are one of the many steps that guide us to our futures, senior year is like the first major leap that is being taken and for many people, myself included, it is frightening to think about. There is one more year of high school, of childhood, and then we enter the adult world. Planning well, though, can help you reduce the stress and help you stay on track for the life ahead of you.

For senior year, one should pick classes that they not only enjoy, but want to use to further their education. If you like art and think you are going to be some sort of artist when you grow up, then take a drawing or ceramics class. If you enjoy math and science and want to do something like engineering when you get older, take physics. There are dozens of choices for everyone, all you have to do is pick a few.

You may think, what do I do if my load is full with hard classes and there's one other class that I really want to take? Think about it, which classes do you really need to take out of the difficult ones. If you are never going to do anything science related in life, don't take AP Physics. Replace the hard class that you don't need with the fun one that you want to take. Senior year is about choices, and you're going to make some hard ones, but if you choose what you want to do and not what everyone is pressuring you to do, then everything will work out for the better.

I have already had to plan my schedule and make these decisions, so I know how tough it can be. Trust me, though, everything will fall into place. And if it doesn't, then go talk to a teacher or your counselor, because they can help you make those tough decisions.