Senior year can feel like one of the most stressful times in a student’s life. For seniors, juggling school work, college applications, social relationships, jobs, extracurricular activities, and family responsibilities can be a near-impossible task. Here are five things that you can do to survive your senior year:
- Stay on Top of College Applications
Getting started on college essays early is never a bad thing. Plenty of colleges will release their essay topics starting in the summer before your senior year, so writing a few essays before school starts takes you miles ahead of the college application workload.
Prioritize your college application list. Loyola alumni Adrian Martinez 22’ says, “You have to stay focused… The college process takes up lots of time and energy, if you have most if not all of your college list or even the application done by Christmas it makes a huge difference in your stress levels throughout the rest of the year.”
- Have Fun
This is your last year of high school! There are a plethora of pressures on your shoulders in senior year, but one of the best things you can do to combat this pressure is to have fun.
Hang out with your friends as much as you can. This is the last year your friend group will be in the same place, so take advantage of it. Plan plenty of hangouts, study sessions, or fun activities to make the most of the time you have left with your friends.
- Take Care of Your Mental Health
With the sufficient stress of senior year, you must take care of your mental health as well.
Things like losing sleep, panic attacks, anxiety, or just having really bad days are common when dealing with stress. If this is something you experience throughout the year, make sure you have a support system or someone to talk to.
- Keep Your Grades Up
This may seem obvious, but letting your grades slip senior year can be easy at times. With college decisions looming, senior year is not the time to slack off.
Loyola College Counselor, Mrs. Dutmers says, “It’s important to keep up one’s grades during senior year, as all admissions decisions (acceptances) are considered conditional based on a student earning the same grades throughout senior year as they were admitted with earlier in the fall.”
If you are struggling in a class or just need some helpful advice, you shouldn’t hesitate to reach out to teachers, counselors, or other staff members to help you. They’ll be more than happy to help in any way possible throughout the school year.
- Stay Away from “Senioritis”
Having low morale is normal towards the end of the school year, but don’t let it stop you from trying to push through the year.
Senioritis is a very real thing for most seniors. Considering senior year grades have a significant impact on college decisions, not doing school work because of senioritis is not the best way to go about the year.
Try to keep in touch with your feelings and emotions while also acknowledging the last months of high school are still very important. Don’t give in to the temptation to not study for that important test or to not do that one homework assignment.
