Junior Year Pressures

Junior year is considered the most important and stressful year of high school.  While every year is important to a student’s education, it can’t be denied that  junior and senior year are the most important when it comes to higher education. 

During their junior year, students are preparing.  They are preparing their applications for college, they are preparing for the SATs or ACTs and preparing their transcripts.  Junior year would typically be considered the most difficult, busy, and important year because of everything you have to juggle from academics, extracurricular activities and college preparation. Students during this year will meet with their guidance counselors to start to discuss the college process. They help students narrow down their list of potential colleges, and determine which one’s are reaches, targets, and safeties. Counselors will also discuss the SATs and ACTs, and determine which one might be better for you or the schools you want to apply to.

 For the past 2 years, most colleges have made their schools test optional, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this coming year, colleges are starting to require test scores again. This can make everything seem more stressful. To add onto the list of things students need to do, students will need to start visiting colleges and going to fairs to get a feel for what they might want or like in a college. Now that is a lot to juggle for a junior.

But becoming a senior doesn’t put an end to the stress.  Senior students can still feel very anxious about the coming year. You have to gather all of the information you need to submit to your colleges. You have to meet specific deadlines to ensure you will be considered. For example, early decision and early action deadlines are November 1st, and regular decisions are due in the beginning of January.  And, once you submit, the tedious long wait begins. This can be just as stressful as the process itself. 

Once students have submitted their applications, they have to wait a few months until they get a response. During this time, students still should maintain good grades, but many feel relief and a loss of work ethic after they have received their admittance. Some students seem to lose motivation to do some of their work, or even show up at all. But even though you get into a college, it does not mean your work is done. Students may need to tour their choices if they have not decided which school to attend. Students also need to fill out a FAFSA, and apply for possible scholarships.  They also need to maintain their GPA.

Junior and Senior year are very important in your education, and it can be a very stressful time, but it can’t be denied that these two stressful years will pay off if you put in the work.