Dear Juniors,
Congratulations on making it this far! While I’m sure you’ve had to push yourself just to get here, I can’t promise it’s any easier from here. It’s not more difficult, per se — you’re probably well acquainted with the intellectual rigor of IB/AP courses and school in general. However, from English (Literature at my school) to college admissions to your other higher level courses, you will have a lot of work to juggle, probably more than you’ve ever had before. At the same time, this is your senior year — don’t forget to enjoy it before it slips away. With all that in mind, I can provide a few pointers:
I’m writing this on May 20th, 2020, so I have no idea how the coronavirus still affects you. But I will tell you this — if it’s still prevalent, and you’re still home, try to use your time productively at least a little bit. While it’s unfair to expect you not to watch a lot of TV or sleep during weird hours, you will definitely have a lot of free time. Don’t let yourself be bored — do something mindful, even if it’s not genuinely educational. Also, imagine how much this must suck for me, sitting at home when I should be at college.
Yes, your GPA does matter, and it still matters how you do in your senior year — but you should still take that with a grain of salt. While your rank will be an important part of your admissions, there are a lot of other important aspects of your life, especially now. Hindsight is 20/20, so kicking yourself for the past will not help you. If your grades are good, you should be happy. If not, well, there’s not much you can do about it now, so there’s no point in worrying.
On that note, now is the best time to focus on your college application. I’m not sure when you’re reading this letter, but trust me — leaving your essays for the last week really really doesn’t work. No matter how good you think your hastily put together writing is, it would’ve been a million times better if you had adequate time to brainstorm.
If your senior year grades are bad, you probably deserve it, even in English. Yes, your grades may go down, but get used to it — rhetorical analysis is important, and an easy A in a senior year course would probably just cement your apathy. Also, some of the lessons are genuinely interesting — if you like what you’re doing, it won’t seem like such a chore, even if you have to pretend to enjoy it.
Be open-minded — to new people, new experiences, and new ideas. It’s easy to “otherize” things you don’t like and just ignore them, but really think about something before you dismiss it. That applies to a lot of things, but it’s especially important that you don’t just dismiss what you do in class. Really try to enjoy what you have to do — you have to do it regardless of whether or not you like it, so at least make it fun.
When I said enjoy your senior year, I really meant it. As soon as you finish your college apps, you have nothing to worry about. Your extracurricular and college-related obligations are fulfilled, and your grades will only impact you if they drop significantly. Now, you can go to school with the “correct” mindset — to genuinely learn, not learn for a test or a grade. So, spend your time wisely. And in this case, wisely (maybe surprisingly) doesn’t mean with your head in a textbook. Stay after school, do stuff with your friends, go out to eat more (try sweet tea, it’s amazing), and just stop stressing. Your whole life will be full of stress — it really doesn’t get any easier from here on out — so relax while you can.
I’ve heard so many times, from so many people, to not worry about the future — “your plan will change so many times, don’t stress about what you ‘think’ will happen.” However, I never genuinely believed that until recently, when I’ve had to consider so many options about the future, in regards to colleges, majors, etc.. So, I’ll give you the most valuable piece of advice I possibly can — focus on your goals, not the path. To paraphrase the naked man in How I Met Your Mother, “as long as you do everything to achieve your goals, the path will fall into place.”
Enjoy the little things that you have left — go to homecoming and prom, maybe even some of the pep rallies. Most importantly, don’t fear the goodbyes. You’ll meet a lot of people in your life, and you’ll have friends just as good as you have now in the future too. Rather, enjoy the time you have with your friends now, and make the goodbyes short. If they’re real friends, you’ll stay in touch regardless.
If you’re ever bored with school, or upset about the fact that you still have to pass to avoid being rescinded, remember what the goal of school is. You’re not learning because every single thing you learn will actually matter in the future — you’re learning because learning how to learn is the most important thing you can learn. So, don’t just give up now — adopting poor study habits now will erase everything you’ve done in the last 4 years and make starting college that much harder. Adapting to college is difficult, so don’t make it harder than it has to be by forgetting how to learn.
If you’ve actually read this far, good job! If you just skipped here from the intro, then I don’t blame you — you probably have a lot on your plate without having to read a bunch of letters. Regardless, the lessons you learn from experience and the lessons you learn yourself are the most important.
Good luck.
Sincerely,
Arun Eswara
P.S. Enjoyed reading this? Reach out to me via email or LinkedIn — I’m always open to connect!
aruneswara@icloud.com or linkedin.com/in/aruneswara