<p>But then again, don’t admissions officers compare your essays to the essays of other applicants?</p>
<p>My procrastination strategy:
Write the whole thing early
But don’t edit or even look at it again till a day or two before.</p>
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<p>Sure, but the writing quality of the average HYPSM applicant is presumably a lot better than the writing quality of the average person at my rural unheard-of high school (especially since a lot of the HYPSM applicants spend a lot of time on their essays and have other people edit them to death). Just because I’m a good writer in the latter group doesn’t mean I’m a good writer in the former group.</p>
<p>I really disagree with the poster who said “try to be popular”.
Keep in mind that these 4 years go by fast and after you graduate you won’t see many of your classmates ever again. Definitely make friends, that’s always a good idea. But don’t go out of your way to be “popular”. If you end up being popular that’s fine but don’t be one of those people who’s obsessed with their reputation and fitting in with the popular kids. It’s not worth it. Find a good group of friends that you like and don’t worry about being the most popular kid in school. Would it be great to be homecoming queen? Of course. But it’s not worth bending over backwards to impress the popular kids in an attempt to become popular and win that title.</p>
<p>This is a repost, but no one answered my question:</p>
<p>I noticed that I have trouble getting used to the teachers and how they work at the beginning of each semester. I think it’s because 1st semester and 2nd semester are right after major breaks (summer and winter). I usually get A-'s the first/third quarter, but then I bring them up to mostly A+'s and some A’s by the end of the semester. Obviously this is really stressful having to bring my grades up, so how can I not suck at the beginning of the year?</p>
<p>Thanks~</p>
<p>Well, work hard in the summer and winter break, I guess, which is what you’re doing because you’re studying for the SAT I and SAT Bio, so I think you should be good to go.</p>
<p>@yakisoba from what I’m understanding, you’re having trouble bringing yourself back into the school mindset be it with studying, doing homework, etc after major mental breaks (I can’t determine if there are increased academic demands after such breaks but in my school, before/after winter break there’s a HUGE increase in work demands since we’re having to recap, get grades in, etc)
I’m getting distracted here but what id advise is to get yourself back into the school mindset. </p>
<p>How so? On the last week or last couple of days of vacation, try to prepare yourself from the work demands by keeping track of due dates and keep a schedule so then you can have your day in review and you can feel less overwhelmed, if you’re starting a new school year look through your teachers past syllabus (if possible) to get an overview of what to expect. If you’re going to calculus for example, try to review functions, partial fraction decomp, etc. if its French, verbs. If its a new class that you have ZERO prior experience with, ask an upperclassman who’s taken the class before so you can understand what to expect. Jot down goals and lessons learned from past school years in order to isolate the issues you had with them. I’m actually in the process of doing this and with classes that are heavy on note taking before class, I’ve found that I haven’t been able to pass the A- hurdle since I’ve had a habit of turning note taking assignments/daily grades in a bit late.</p>
<p>Sure it seems like overkill but you’ll have to put in more effort in these crucial holiday transitions since your having to re-grasp the framework of your classes.</p>
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This entire forum is for the purpose of discussing high school issues. There is no need for a “catch-all” thread.</p>
<p>Chedva
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