The Home Stretch: How I Plan to Avoid Senioritis

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It is now winter break, which means that the first semester of the school year is just about over. Numerous college acceptances have been sent out, breaths of relief have been released, and many students are now ready to coast through the second semester until graduation. Admittedly, it’s hard not to get in a relaxed mindset after being accepted to college; you worked your hardest to get the GPA and test scores that you wanted, and you deserve a bit of loosening up, right? The fact of the matter is that it’s one thing to ease up on yourself now that you’ve crossed a major bridge and another thing to fall into a slump where you begin to slack off in your academics. The latter is a prospect that should make you uneasy. It definitely makes me uncomfortable, so here are the ways I plan to avoid senioritis and finish out my senior year with a bang!

Making Small Goals for Myself

In order to keep myself from losing motivation throughout the rest of my senior year, I have started making reachable goals that I can accomplish and feel proud of. For example, I am now aspiring to make a high A in my AP Probability and Statistics course instead of the lower-range A that I usually get. It’s nothing major, but it gives me something to work towards that will make me feel happy in the end. By creating these little objectives, I can ensure that I will not lose interest in my classes and will continue to try my very hardest.

Staying Organized

Organization is a huge part of my life that keeps me driven all the way up until the finish line. In school, I stay organized by using a nice eye-catching planner and colorful pens to make sure I remember all of my assignments. Before I used a planner I felt like I was stumbling through my academics, but now it’s smooth sailing and I am always eager to cross off every item that I write down. Even now, during break, I use my planner to plan out my schedule for each day so that I can stay productive while I’m not in school and keep up with scholarship deadlines. It keeps both my mind and my goals in check, and I cannot recommend to you enough that you should get a planner as a first step to being organized and staying motivated!

A messy backpack, locker, or desk can also lead to a decrease in motivation, for as crumpled papers pile up you’ll continue to procrastinate in cleaning and have a disorganized mind as a result. By keeping everything in order, from assignments to permission forms, you will be on the top of your game when it comes to all aspects of your life!

Remembering That Not Everything is Final

I might be a bit paranoid, but even the slightest prospect of having my college acceptances revoked is enough to scare me into doing the best that I can. Senioritis hits some students that hard, though, and they can be threatened if their grades slip past a certain point. In general, just knowing that my guidance counselor has to send mid-year and final reports on my grades to colleges, forces me to snap out of any state of stagnation I am in and keeps me running with my eyes on the prize. It’s important to remember that colleges don’t just accept you and forget about you until your enroll, and instead continue to monitor your grades and make sure that you don’t slip up.

Thinking About the Future

Now that I’ve reached the home stretch of my high school career, I’ve been putting a lot of thought into the future. I think about how hard I’ve worked to get to this point and how I don’t want to diminish that by slacking off now. Furthermore, I don’t want to set a precedent for my freshman year of college, which I am now counting down the days to in pure excitement. If I don’t put in my best effort now, who knows what I’ll be like when I start college next year? You do not want to go into college feeling like you can’t try your hardest, so I recommend keeping your future in mind as you finish up your senior year. A strong conclusion to it will practically guarantee a strong beginning to the next chapter in your life, and if you invent your best self now, you’ll definitely shine bright later in your higher education.

I plan to follow through with all of these points so that I don’t become a victim of senioritis, and I know that you can too! It may seem tiring to trudge through your responsibilities when all you want to do is coast until graduation, but your last semester in high school is just as important as the previous ones. It’s now or never; you only get one shot at having a great senior year, so make sure that you make it the best that you can!

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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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Four Steps to Conquer Senioritis this Year

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Senior year is an exciting year. High school is almost over, summer vacation follows, and College is right around the corner. But with senior year comes senioritis which means procrastination, goofing off, or skipping class, but don’t succumb to the temptation. It’s possible to keep your grades and still have fun your senior year. Here are four ways to avoid senioritis and finish strong.

  1. Fulfill Both Graduation and Admissions Requirements.

With college applications opening up for the fall semester, it becomes difficult to balance school work, applications, and jobs or extracurricular activities. Because of that, students’ grades tend to drop. Some schools require that certain classes are needed to graduate, so make sure that you attend all your classes and keep your grades up in order to secure your graduation. Keeping your grades up also helps you when you need to fulfill your admission requirements and earn scholarships. When you apply to college and are accepted before the school year ends, many colleges will require to maintain your grades to stay a student at that school or to keep a scholarship that you may have earned.  Once accepted, students fail to realize that their final transcripts can still impact their college admissions. Not keeping your grades up can cost you financial aid and scholarships at your prospective school.

  1. Stay Organized

Managing your time between school, work or activities, and friends can be demanding as senior. Students tend to lose focus on their studies and concentrate more on friends and activities. Keeping a daily planner with homework and tasks that you need or would like to complete not only inclines you to complete the task but staying on top of your task means that you won’t fall behind on things that need to be done. Scheduling free time is also a way for you to get motivated to finish the more difficult tasks so you can have time to relax with your friends.

  1. Stay Healthy

A common symptom of senioritis is feeling sluggish and unhealthy in the morning which leads to a student skipping class or school. If they choose to go to school, they drag themselves to class and won’t be able to stay focused in class.  Exercising and eating enough protein and vegetables will help get rid of that sluggish feeling. Staying or getting healthy is a way to feel refreshed and motivated to go school.

  1. Set Attainable Goals

Setting goals that you know you can keep is a way for you the get a sense of accomplishment during the stressful times of senior year. Setting goals that are almost impossible to accomplish only add more stress which isn’t healthy. Setting goals teach a student to judge the important things when faced with multiple problems. Getting things done on your own will help in college because it creates a sense of independence that when they enter college, there won’t be any parents making sure that they get their tasks completed.

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.

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT COLLEGE ADMISSIONS? CHECK OUT THE YGITW BOOK HERE!
LOOKING FOR A HIGH SCHOOL OR COLLEGE INTERNSHIP? APPLY HERE!