Navigating Senior Year
By Sofie D.
Navigating senior year can be tough. It requires maintaining a balance between your academic performance, social life, and preparing for the future. This includes applying for FAFSA, college, scholarships and more. The best advice I can give is prioritizing time management. I love spending time just relaxing in my bed, napping and having friends over but I know that if I want to pursue a career in psychiatry and go to UCSD, I have to put my academics first.
Time Management
I manage my time by trying to fit what I can into school hours so that I still feel like I can relax more at home. For example, when I finish material early in class I begin to work on classwork from another class that I need to get done since I’m already in a productive mindset. I also prioritize the assignments that have the most impact on my grades like tests and projects over things like homework or classwork. Homework can be tiring, but I want to be successful and happy and I know what I want for my future, so I try to manage my time so that I can prioritize different projects and give myself time to relax . This means that during class I actually need to lock in and focus. That way I'm not taking unfinished work home or having to study outside of school for tests or quizzes.
Self Care
I also try to make as much time for myself as I can by doing activities I love to keep myself happy during the stressful times of senior year. By doing this I feel like I can focus on myself and have a good time while still preparing for my future and working hard. I also highly recommend making time to complete your college applications and FAFSA as soon as it opens, to avoid stressing as the deadline comes up and you have everything already out of the way.
TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!!!
Don't Procrastinate!
It's very important not to leave things until the last minute especially for senior year because you DO NOT want to miss a deadline and then not be able to do anything about it. I struggle with procrastinating and this year I had to set deadlines for myself before the actual deadlines would come up otherwise I would wait until the last minute and then feel overwhelmed. It's also good to do things ahead of time because then you have more time to form the best personal statement or PIQ’s that you can, by revising them and having others revise them as well. Rushed essays won't be nearly as good as revised and final edits. College essays are serious and help determine how your life will play out.