Experiencing all of your “lasts,” getting ready to graduate, saying goodbye to old friends; all of these things come with being a senior. Everyone tells you about how sad being a senior is and to “enjoy it while you can,” but what they don’t tell you are the stressful parts: applying to colleges, taking the SAT/ACT to raise your score those last few points, choosing your future school, applying for endless amounts of scholarships –all while trying to keep up grades. As a senior this year I can tell you that none of these things are an easy feat, but I can give you a few pointers that people wish they had known as underclassmen.
One thing that many people don’t realize until it’s too late is that every year of high school matters in the long run. This message is especially true for freshmen and sophomores who don’t think these years are significant in the eventual college search. You think you can just slide by with a passing grade. What most don’t realize is that these years matter maybe more than your last two. I have learned that the freshman year is the defining moment for your high school GPA. Granted, you need do well your other years of high school as well, but freshman year determines your initial GPA. If you start off with bad grades, then you will have a low GPA. Looking around at other seniors struggling to get their grades up to get into their top school, I have seen that even spending the rest of high school trying to pull your GPA up may not be enough to recover from one bad year.
“Freshman year I didn’t really pay good attention to my grades or GPA. I didn’t care; I just did what I had to do to get by. But as the years went on, with focusing more on my grades and applying to colleges, I realized that it’s a really big deal to do well in school because your grades determine how successful you are going to be later on in life. If I had the chance to go back and do better my freshman and sophomore years I would,” says senior Jessica Griffith.
“Your GPA that’s used to apply to college is based on 9th, 10th, and 11th grades. GPA is only calculated in June, so the GPA you have at the end of your junior year is what is sent to colleges. It is so important to do well in school your first few years of high school because by the time you’re a senior, it may be too late,” says Guidance Counselor Renee Sullivan.
Not only must you do well in school, but it is also important to challenge yourself academically. You should not just take the easy classes that require less work; colleges want to see you challenge yourself with Honors or AP classes. The guidance department is asked by colleges whether or not you took these harder classes. These classes will increase your chances of being accepted into your school of choice, while also raising your GPA. Each class is weighted differently according to the difficulty of the class; CP classes provide the lowest GPAs, Honors classes provide a nice medium, and AP classes provide the highest.
“Balancing good grades with everything else is definitely not easy, but I am so glad that I started maintaining my grades since the beginning. Now, I am able to apply to competitive schools with the knowledge that I have a good shot at getting in, and, moving forward, that’s a true blessing,” says Connor Haycox, whose class rank is one in the senior class. Connor not only maintained his grades all throughout high school, but did so while taking upper level, challenging classes.
I wanted to discuss the importance of good grades your first few years of high school, but please do not take that to mean that you can slack off your senior year. “Although, we may send off your GPA at the end of your junior year colleges still require us to send your senior midterm and final grades as well to make sure you don’t slack off after being accepted. Also, final GPA determines what scholarships you may receive,” says Guidance Counselor Renee Sullivan.
I sincerely hope all of you underclassmen take this advice to heart and apply yourself to really doing well in school. I have really stressed grades and GPA, but don’t forget that high school is also a time of fun. Being young only lasts so long, so go out with your friends and have a good time, but don’t downplay your grades and forget why you go to school every day. School and a social life may be hard, but believe me it is possible. You just have to learn how to keep a healthy balance of the two.