Every senior has felt the tantalizing effects of senioritis. Like a plague, this insidious phenomenon causes seniors, who were toiling to meet college application deadlines and poring over essays just a few months ago, to have trouble finding the motivation to complete basic assignments.
Many seniors have the mindset that because their applications have been submitted or they have already received an early decision acceptance, schoolwork can be set on the back burner. However, failure to complete assignments can put seniors at risk of having their acceptances rescinded from those same schools. Colleges are still notified of grades at the end of the year and if they notice an alarming decline in your academics, you can say goodbye to that acceptance!
Of course, it is completely understandable if you procrastinate once in a while—you’re a senior after all and you deserve the break, especially with everything that has been going on this year! It is equally important to maintain your GPA though, and there are a couple of ways you can do this all while setting time aside for yourself.
Before every great accomplishment comes a solid plan. Get yourself some paper or an agenda and set out some attainable academic goals for yourself. What GPA do you want to maintain for the rest of the year? Are there any important assignments you have to finish? Write down any glaring deadlines you need to meet. You can also set personal goals for yourself—they don’t all have to be for academic purposes. For example, you can write down some of the responsibilities you need to fulfill as the officer of a club. What steps do you need to take to make sure your club is on the right track for next year? Do you need to train any new officers or perhaps conduct interviews for higher positions? Make a note of this.
The next tip involves staying on track with your plans. When writing out your daily to-do list, make sure you factor in time that you need to take for your interests. It’s also best to keep these activities towards the end of the day so you can stay motivated to finish your other important work as early as possible. The end of your day should be for relaxing and winding down. You can bake, watch a new TV show, start a painting project, or look for internships or job opportunities for the upcoming summer.
Next, it is important to surround yourself with people that encourage you to finish strong. Due to social distancing precautions, it is not physically possible to do this, but you can always use FaceTime or Zoom for study sessions. In our day and age, it can be hard not to give into watching Netflix for the rest of the day or spending countless hours scrolling on TikTok. However, senioritis is like a disease. It may seem like everyone around you is having a blast and hanging out, but you must try to not get “infected.” Be the student who continues to work hard because it can take you far in life and will better prepare you for what will happen post-graduation.
While all the tips we’ve gone over so far can really apply to any high school student, one that is specific to seniors is to start exploring the colleges that you’ve been admitted to. Since a lot of us don’t have the means to go visit each campus and because a lot of them are currently closed, spend as much time as you can doing research about the campuses you have been admitted to. Look into virtual tours, which are the closest things you can get to an actual campus tour and the many other resources colleges have put up on their websites. This will help make your commitment decision easier, and you will be happy knowing that the school you have chosen is the right fit for you.
Last but not least, it is important to study smart. Seniors taking challenging courses still have AP exams to study for and for seniors who do not, finals are right around the corner. Since AP exams are going to be administered differently this year due to COVID-19, it is all the more important to start reviewing for them earlier. The same applies to finals. Distance learning has caused a lot of seniors to feel confused about their coursework and lost when it comes to understanding how some of the AP exam formats will work. This is why you must start reaching out to your peers ahead of time, and set blocks of time over the weekends, on Wednesdays, or after school to prepare for them.
Overall, senioritis is a serious problem that can leave a lot of students feeling unmotivated and guilty for procrastinating on their work. Realize that this is completely normal, and it is important to accept yourself for wanting to enjoy the little time you have remaining to make your high school journey a memorable one. At the same time, it is important to maintain a steady work-life balance, and that balance will only come with preparedness and an open mindset. Working hard when it can be so easy to just sit back and do nothing will be a very useful skill to have under your belt as you head into a completely new environment after high school.