Advice for Seniors: Managing Senior Year

The 150 winners of the 2008 NHS Scholarships were asked, What suggestions they would offer to rising seniors to help them to manage their senior year effectively. Here’s what our 2008 NHS Scholars have to say:

• Participate in as many activities and events as you can, but be careful to not spread yourself too thin. In any activity or project you pursue, participate with 110% of your ability.
• Don't procrastinate, but enjoy senior year.
• Use your time wisely but enjoy senior year it goes by so fast.
• It is very important to make time for both school and extra curricular activities because living a balanced life will help you to maintain your sanity but also to be more successful in both your free time and academic life.
• Get your work done, cherish this year, and have fun
• Map out scholarship application deadlines, and then DONT FORGET!
• Schedule your time wisely, but don't sweat the small stuff. If something doesn't happen the way you planned, don't freak out.
• Never procrastinate.
• Senior year I would take a schedule with challenging classes to push yourself academically and also it looks good on your high school transcript.
• There's no substitute for hard work. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.
• Make sure that the senior allows for the significant amounts of time required to properly apply for college and scholarships.
• Make the most of the time you have during senior year.
• Don't think that since it’s your senior year you can slack off, just keep on giving it your all because it still counts and many colleges, even once accepted still take into consideration your senior grades. Secondly don't procrastinate, apply to your colleges and scholarships as soon as possible because the more time goes by the less motivated you will become as senioritis kicks in.
• Take most rigorous courses you can
• Don’t waste time on MySpace or Facebook. Use a daily planner
• Apply for lots of scholarships and send them in early. Don't succumb to senioritis.
• Keep a list of all scholarships and deadlines that you have/want to apply for.
• Time management and priorities
• Take advantage of every opportunity you are given. Pursue opportunities to explore and never underestimate yourself
• Do stuff on time and as soon as possible
• Get to know your teachers, and don't give up just because you're almost finished.
• Apply to colleges early
• Organization is the key to success during senior year and the college admissions process. Guidance counselors have many students to work with, so anything the student can do to make their job easier will benefit both sides.
• Never be afraid to ask, you never know what could happen. That's how I got a few of my scholarships - I asked the Dean of Admissions what I should do instead of waiting for someone to tell me what to do. Also- make a time table. It's easier to see if you're off track with your college admissions process or just in school work. Then if you are, you know what to fix.
• Take a deep breath. Don't take any one moment or thing too seriously, but try your best to be involved in your own education.
• The first piece of advice I would give to incoming seniors would be to research college requirements before applying for admission early in the senior year. Another piece of advice would be to apply for scholarships early and often. Also, incoming seniors should utilize their school counselors frequently because they have information on scholarships and colleges that they need to know before applying. They should also try to get reference letters from teachers, school administrators, and community/business leaders for both college and scholarship applications. Finally, incoming seniors should apply to at least three or four colleges.
• Learn time management and organization skills - by getting a little bit of everything done everyday, you avoid the problems of all-nighters/cramming/last-minute rushing.
• Stay focused and learn how to manage your time
• Deadlines DO sneak up on you. So, don't delay something that you can do today! Also, don't slack during your senior year. Colleges like to see that you took the AP classes and pushed yourself.
• In order to manage your senior year effectively, one must stay organized and keep labeled folders for all paperwork. The senior year is filled with so much paperwork that it would be hard to keep up without this. Colleges look for well-rounded students, so I would recommend that seniors take part in many clubs, sports, and volunteer work, and make the best grades and SAT scores possible.
• Make plans and write them down
• Don't freak out. Everything works out. Don't become over involved, but don't check out completely.
• Get organized EARLY - make out timelines for yourself!
• Don't slack off your senior year.
• Overall, it is important to learn to be persistent. Even when it seems like it cannot be done, just remember, it can.
• Plan ahead and start searching college choices early
• Start planning early, make lists, and try to begin to figure out who you are, what your passions are, and how you can contribute to the world
• Do not procrastinate.
• Just keep going do a little bit each day no matter what.
• Don’t overload yourself too much; find the right balance between school, family, and activities. Take challenging classes senior year and be involved in your school
• Senior year flies by! Enjoy the time that you have. Also, take time to fill out many scholarship applications! At the time it will seem very stressful or pointless, but you won't regret it. Be sure to fill them out early so you don't have to cram for the deadline! You hard work will pay off. Finish strong until the end!
• Apply for college and scholarships early.
• Keep a planner and don't neglect daily assignments.
• Work hard
• No student should believe that their future rests on getting into a single college. Senior year should be about discovering what path you plan to take as you further your education and how to get there. That said, I would advise rising seniors to balance life between academics, extracurriculars, and work and social lives. This way, a person can become more certain as to what they are looking for in their last year of high school and their future college careers.
• Start college applications in advance.
• Apply early decision/action to finish the common application early.
• Apply Early Decision to the college of your choice and make sure to enjoy your senior year because it goes by quickly
• Set priorities and stay on a schedule
• Don't waste time on TV or Video Games, but make time for school activities and activities or clubs they want to do.
• The key to managing senior year most effectively comes long before senior year - students should start planning as juniors in order to reduce the amount of deadline-related stress. Beginning to compile college application information towards the end of junior year and starting essays over the summer allow a senior to focus on academic and extracurricular achievements during the year, as well as making the end of high school more enjoyable.
• Don't stress and start everything early
• Balance your time.
• Avoiding the senioritis symptom.
• Make sure that you start and have a rough draft of your essays during the SUMMER. It takes so much stress of you during the hectic first semester of senior year.
• Time management!
• Stay organized and don't procrastinate
• Work hard, believe in yourself, and get involved. The more you can get involved the greater you will be able to discover your identity in relationship to the world around you. Search for as many scholarships as possible and apply to where you want to go. Let your feelings guide you and research everything about the schools you are considering
• Begin early. Scholarship application and schools will hit you hard; if you have an early start, you'll get more done and learn more.
• Sleep well, eat well, and develop good time management skills.
• Time management can be tough, especially for active seniors. There is just so much to think about and so many activities to try to juggle. I myself have a weak spot in that I naively accept just about any request for assistance. For example, earlier this year, I nonchalantly accepted a request to compile and edit our high school cheerleading video. I later learned that the cheerleading videos were usually an hour and a half in length and had taken past seniors countless hours to compile. I was in the throws of a busy senior year applying to schools and for scholarships. I hadn't had enough time to even sit back, relax, and read a book in weeks. Not surprisingly, I began to panic that I would not be able to complete the video in time, but instead of worrying and trying to create endless charts of when I would find the time to make the video, I just started working. I worked during all of my free time, every little gap of the day that we usually forget about, and it was not the most fun I have ever had. I did not get enough sleep, and I certainly did not get much "me" time, but I finished the video just on time, and the cheerleading coach loved it. So, I suppose my purpose in supplying that example was to explain this point: The key to time management is hard work. Sure, you can try other little shortcuts; you can endlessly make lists to avoid forgetting things, and you can pick and choose which activities you wish to become active in, but the bottom line will always be the same. To get a lot done in limited time, you have to do a lot of work and make some sacrifices. There is no easy way around it.