Hello, juniors!
This is it. The year that defines our entire high school career has arrived–or in my case, will arrive in exactly six days. I’m nervous–Like many here on CC, but I’ve been preparing for this moment since the seventh grade.
There are so many questions: what if our SAT isn’t to par? What happens when we don’t make the varsity sports team this year? How do we console ourselves when we fail a test that we studied so hard for? And, of course, what do we do if our dream school rejects us? Junior year determines the rest of our lives…we know it’s unthinkable to blow it off.
In this thread, I’m asking all incoming juniors to share their goals, hopes, and dreams. Let’s make a list of why we’re going to work so hard this year, why we will decline party invitations to study, why we will miss football games to practice violin, and why we will put everything on the line in the next 180 days. Trust me, you’re going to need this motivation in the weeks ahead!
I’ll start with mine:
I want to make my family members and friends who’ve supported me for so long proud, and I especially want to show the two kids I babysit that being a bit of an outcast for studying 24/7 (haha) is okay–that it’s possible to reach your dreams. I hope to get into a good university without too much debt (god willing…haha, yeah probably not going to happen) and study hard enough to go to a decent med school. I aspire to travel one day and to help children without the means to help themselves. If I work hard enough, I can change their lives as well as mine 
Thanks for listening, and please share!! We all need a little something to help us get through this year.
(I won’t limit it to juniors either–any age can share their dreams! Go for it)
You don’t need to decline party invites, miss football games (if you want to go to them) or be a social outcast because you’re studying all the time to attend a good school. And you definitely do not need to study 24/7. Please do not sacrifice your youth because you feel colleges want you to.
@MissSuzyQ Sorry, I didn’t mean this post to be taken that way. Personally, in order to stay on track with studying, I do deny some invitations to events, which i think is reasonable in certain situations. I’m not advocating for everyone to study like crazy, and I certainly don’t want to crush anyone’s dreams–that’s what this post is supposed to be about, just inspiration and motivation to work hard in order to achieve a goal. Thank you for your concern though!
I agree. I think it’s possible to balance social life with academic but I do make sacrifices for social events often in order to stay on top of my work.
Maybe it’s different because I have no social events in my life. :'D
I’m a sophmore and am doubling up in math and science this year and have 2 APs (Physics I and World). On top of that, I’m pushing hard this year in horseback riding because it looks like we are going to move up a level this year and attend some bigger shows. In addition, I want to start volunteering a couple hours a week and start job shadowing too, but the shadowing will likely start later in the year.
I too want to go to med school and every time I have to sit through a lecture on ancient civilizations or passé composé (for the millionth time), I have to remember that it will all be worth it once I am in med school and get to learn what I love and then become a doctor and live out my dream every single day.
Junior year does not determine the rest of your life. That is the worst thing I’ve read on college confidential.
If you mess up junior year, fail a couple tests because you went to a couple more parties, so be it. It is better to be a social not-perfect-grades kid than a person who declines many invites to study for tests and has a very small social life.
In the end, connections trump any grade you will achieve.
As an incoming senior, I’m hoping to make it through all my college apps and last SAT test in one piece!
I also don’t want to get too stressed out.
Side note: I noticed people commenting on the whole declining social events for studying. Just stay true to yourself. If you are social and extroverted and like going out, fine. But there is nothing wrong with someone who feels more at ease with studying instead. Just do what you feel most comfortable doing because you are the best judge of your own feelings. Also, something that happened to me when I started my junior year was that I became so overwhelmed because I had all these expectations and stress. If I can offer any piece of advice, just treat this year like any other year in high school. Don’t play it up to be super, super important but don’t play it down like it doesn’t mean anything either.