How to Balance School and College Applications

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If you are like any high school senior or junior, the demands from inside and outside of the classroom combined with the pressures of getting into college can leave you feeling stressed and overwhelmed. Seniors often feel that they have no way of balancing difficult academics, extracurricular, and college applications. Students should always try to start their applications in the summer in order to alleviate some of the work that comes in the fall. With essays, homework, exams, and extracurricular activities, it’s all about a balancing act in order to make the deadlines, This article will help you with how to balance because if you don’t balance, you’ll find that you may have missed something important in the end.

1. Get Organized

Getting organized is always the first step in finding balance. We have plenty of tools that can help you get organized. Start as simple as buying a planner from any office store or getting apps such as SoCal, Cal, Weekly Planner, etc;  in that has some sort of calendar to log all school assignments, application deadlines, and any important meetings or college interviews. Taking your time to organize your schedule and writing down everything you need to do will help you see what needs to get done. This schedule will allow you to get tasks done little by little. If you manage to all get papers, applications, and other assignments done before deadlines, you will be less stressed at the end the day.

2. Prioritize

When everything seems to be important, prioritizing assignments can often seem difficult. However, some assignments are more important than others. Learning to prioritize certain assignments and choosing what is most important will allow for students to not only alleviate stress but get you in bed before midnight. If you have an essay due in a week, this should have higher precedence over finishing some projects or applications that due in another month or two. Not only will you keep your grades up but you be able to work proficiently throughout the school year

3. Fight Senioritis

Don’t catch senioritis. Seniors fall victim as early as September of their senior year but when the second semester comes around, students get caught in a whirlpool. Senioritis will hurt your college admissions when you have to send in your final transcript. Students often make the mistake of waiting last minute to start on assignments and even college applications. Putting off these assignments will stress you out because these deadlines do come sooner than you think. Start your year off strong and stay motivated by keeping up with your deadlines and making sure that you do step back and take a breath.  Senior year is difficult and busy so make sure you have some fun.

I hope these tips will help you out this upcoming year. Leave a comment down below if you have any questions. And as always make sure you follow us on Instagram and Facebook.

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How I Balance My Athletics with the Demands of High School

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I still remember the feeling I has after my first gymnastics class. It was a feeling like no other. I felt a hunger to keep doing gymnastics, and that is exactly what I did, even when I entered high school. It was very apparent freshmen year that my high school experience was going to be a bit different than the typical high school experience. My schedule is something I get asked about frequently by friends. When I get ready in the morning, I have to make time out of my morning routine to stretch and loosen my muscles from the night before. Throughout my day, I’ve learned to do any homework that is due soon to knock it out of the way, so I could possibly go to bed earlier (which never happens). On my bus ride home, I usually take that time to take a nap and rest up before I head to the busiest part of my day. As soon as I get home, I do an in-depth stretch and eat for an hour and then head off to practice. Although practice ends at 9:00 p.m., I am not home until 9:30 p.m. and rush into my homework. I finish any assignments that I didn’t finish throughout the day and start studying for tests.

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For any athlete, especially someone doing a sport outside of school, balancing school work, grades, and your sport can be difficult. I know my teammates have their ways of balancing it, but my way, involves A LOT of scheduling (emphasis on “a lot”). For, any athlete doing a sport outside of school, I advise the best thing to do is either get a physical planner or either download one on the app store (I use “myHomework” to schedule my days as well as assignments) I usually start my Mondays off by planning out when I can get assignments done—maybe I can do this one during class, or this one during lunch, and maybe this assignment on my day off. Taking three AP classes doesn’t help, either. My second tip to anyone ding a sport outside of school is to make sure your week is planned. Most assignments are given at the beginning of the week so start with writing everything down, and as the week progresses, add any new assignments given. I always have to make sure I am studying and getting the materials. I always use any of my free time during school to study or do quick assignments. I even carry around my AP Biology textbook throughout the school day and pictures of pages from another textbook I may or may not need to either study or do any homework. This has to be my most important tip, for any athlete out there, use your time wisely. We are always so busy during the day at school, so at the end of the day, after a long hard day at practice, the last thing you want to do is homework. Try to get as much done throughout the day because you never know your mood after practice (coming from experience *points to self*) A lot of people tell me that I try way too hard, but I feel like if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be top of my class. I want to be top of my class so I can get into a great college. This sport relaxes me and makes me want to work hard, but at the end of the day, school should ALWAYS come first, no matter what sport you’re in.

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On top of school work, I also have to manage my progress in gymnastics. Unlike other sports, when practice ends, I still have to be working on my body. After homework is done at night, I have to work on my abs for 30 minutes and then I stretch again for 15 minutes and roll out my muscles to relax my muscles to prevent any soreness the next day. Right before I go to bed I treat any rips I may have gotten from bars and ice down my muscles if need be. Gymnastics is just one of those sports where you have to keep working on your body and strength to improve your performances. On my days off and on the rare holidays we get (Gymnastics is a year round sport which only closes due to major holidays and extreme weather), I am still at home working on my form and conditioning my body. I do this so that even on my day off, my body doesn’t slack off with me. An important part of doing any sport out of school is making sure you are improving, and the hard part is making time to do so, this is where scheduling comes in handy, but for me it’s more of a routine kind of thing, something that has to get done at a certain time each day.

With all the hard work that goes into doing gymnastics, I honestly wouldn’t change a thing. This is just the price I pay for doing something I love. Everyone should be able to do the things they love and still do well in school and life, don’t sacrifice one for another, have the whole dang pie. Ever since that first day in my beginner’s class, I have been hooked and can’t wait till I go to practice or get the opportunity to show off my skills. Gymnastics has taught me so much. There have been times when a skill seemed impossible to get, and it would take months to get, but eventually I would get it. It’s taught me to never give up and to work hard. Skills don’t come by themselves. You have put in the time and effort and get up every time you’ve fallen. If you’ve ever met a gymnast in your life, then you will truly see the passion to work hard gymnastics has given them. And to all my gymnasts out there, “Pointed feet, Pointed feet, Point them hard and win the meet” (sorry I had to make at least one reference to “Stick It” :).

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Choosing Clubs and Extracurricular Activities in High School: How Not to Do Everything

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A lot of students choose to participate in extracurriculars for a variety of reasons; whether it is to continue a childhood passion, make new friends, or uncover new interests, here are a few tips to keep in mind as you select which clubs and activities to be a part of during your high school career.

Do What You Love

When it comes time to filling out college applications, many students feel that their extracurriculars must relate to one another in order to be considered noteworthy. I identify personally with the student who has varying interests across many fields. I am involved in Future Teachers of America because I love to work with kids, Drama Club because I love to be onstage, and DECA because I love to exercise my public speaking skills through business terminology and posh professional wear. With that being said, it is okay to let your interests lead you to clubs that may have little to no correlation with each other. High school is supposed to be a time of self-discovery and exploration; do not limit yourself to a status quo. For example, if you want take a cooking class and be a part of the science club, you may later find that it opens doors for you in the field of food science.

Find a Balance & Prioritize

Take some time to carefully evaluate your daily class schedule and fix your extracurricular activities around it. Voluntary clubs and activities should not heavily interfere with your academic priorities. I, for example, am taking Honors and AP classes this year, complete with dance and Spanish electives. Because I know that I will be completing classwork and studying on a consistent basis, I have a more mindful approach in making outside commitments to time-consuming extracurricular activities. From there, I can narrow my number of extracurriculars to a few time-consuming activities that fulfill and excite me, rather than a plethora of activities that I will only wound up exerting little to no effort in. Ultimately, you should evaluate for yourself what you consider to be a want or a need, fit or unfit, in your daily schedule. Do not feel pressured to include certain extracurriculars into your regime if they add unnecessary stress. Not only will you wind up overwhelmed and unmotivated, in most cases, poor academic performance and civil participation can lead to termination from your activities.

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Quality over Quantity

If you find that you only have room fit in your schedule for one school-oriented club, be rest assured. You do not need to stretch your time over a wide range of clubs in order to be involved. It is far better to be involved in a singular activity than five. Here is why: when you are wholly devoted to one or few clubs, you have extended opportunities to connect with the club advisors and advance to higher positions/rankings within the club. As a DECA participant for three, going on four, years, I can speak truthfully that the best part of being involved DECA for so long is being able to clearly see my personal evolvement as a strategist, business intellect, and person since being a freshman in high school.

Do Not Follow Your Friends

You are taking personal time out of your day to attend to clubs and extracurriculars. If you do not feel wholly passionate about the activities of the organization, you should not feel pressured to serve additional time to it. To those with friends who may be pushy or misunderstanding of the matter, be sure to communicate with them, in whichever way necessary, that you feel your time together should be spent elsewhere.

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Create Your Own Club

Many students often forget about the opportunities to create their own clubs within the walls of their school. If you have an idea or passion that seems to generate interest among a number of students, do not hesitate to reach out to your school advisers.

Just Join!

At the end of the day, extracurricular activities are available for your benefit, not to fulfill a requirement. Always check with yourself to ensure that you are happy with whatever it is that you decide to do. You will find in high school that your mind will change constantly as you try new things and become curious about others. Allow that change to happen within you and go with it. Best of luck!

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