With college applications piling up and the school workload intensifying, students are stressed out. Essays, tests, and reading are essential for a high school student to complete. However, some students have been putting their work in classes on hold while they concentrate on “more important” tasks like college. Balancing high school essays and college essays is like living a double life. Seniors across campus have reported how this period of time is difficult to manage.
Senior Nogah Lustig is having a hard time focusing on both college work and school work and has been having to take time out of class to visit the College and Career Center. Lustig said, “I need to spend a lot of time on those essays to refine them. You have to take time out of class to go to the College and Career Center.”
Lustig shared that she feels like she is only excelling in school when she puts her college work to the side. “When I’ve been putting college on the back burner, like I was putting off college, like essays and stuff in order to focus on class work. I’ve been doing good in tests. I’ve been doing good at class work. But as a result of that, I have been really struggling to get in drafts and I haven’t completed my supplementals yet.”
Lustig is not alone. In fact, many students are feeling the same pressure. Senior Aaron Wang shared his experiences so far with trying to manage both school and college assignments. Wang said, “In both ways my work is declining, because I am focusing on one over the other in terms of college and school work.”
Wang’s thoughts seem to be a common theme throughout the student body. While feeling the stress of college applications and grades Senior Meher Gupta received some advice from someone who contributes to her work load. Gupta said, “My private college counselor wants me to balance both of them, because he says I need to keep my grades up simultaneously while also filling out college applications. But because of time constraints with juggling both, one of them has to take a back seat and, currently, it’s my grades.” While her college counselor did try and give some words of wisdom, it is easier said than done to manage both at the same time.
Some students also feel that the load of teachers’ assignments is overwhelming which makes it difficult to find time to make up for missing work. Lustig said “If I am missing stuff and need to go to Academy, that’s even harder, because now all of the Academies are either taken up by people tagging you, or you have to go to that class to finish what you couldn’t finish.” This can be frustrating, but Wang also shared that the content of the homework can play a big role in keeping students motivated and willing to work hard. Wang said, “I think teachers should not make school work too hard because we can’t handle college applications and school work at the same time.”
Canvas and the Common App are two different tabs with one agenda. Both asking us to summarize a story whether it is summarizing a chapter of 1984 for English, or summarizing a chapter of our life that has changed us. Deadlines are coming up, but in reality, this difficult time period is just a pathway to success. While it may not feel like that right now, the most satisfying thing is about to come. The “submit” button is ready to blow up your screen with confetti. But, it’s okay to take a breath. You never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory. Reminder: in 10 years from now, you will look back at these moments of crisis and wonder why you have put so much pressure on yourself. Start living your life, and not just surviving it.
