high school: senior year; hard or not?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

the title says it all… i would like to know your opinions on your experience with senior year. was it harder than freshman, sophomore and/or junior year? please let me know below :slight_smile:

2

Both of my DDs would say senior year has been easiest academically. Junior year is hands down the hardest. They both say by senior year the pressure is off because your GPA is basically set and they have figured out the “system” and know how to navigate, schedules, teachers, homework, peer drama.

3

For me, it’s been the most difficult. I chose to take some difficult classes, on top of having to finish college and scholarship applications. AP Chem and AP Lit are both a lot of work. I’ve had some additional atypical struggles (health stuff) that haven’t helped. Difficulty for me has increased in a linear fashion, with freshman year being the easiest and senior year being the hardest.

4

Each year presents different challenges. To a large extent the difficulty of senior year will depend on a combination of the rigor of the schedule you take and how well you manage the college application process.

5

As a parent, I’ve seen my kids and their peers have easier and harder times.

  1. It depends on your classes. Are you taking a lighter or heavier load than last year?
  2. It depends on your college list - the more colleges, the more essays, deadlines, etc. to deal with. A reach-heavy list can also be an emotional roller coaster as all the rejection letters come in. Also, some kids are able to hit their target test scores as juniors while some are anxiously retesting as seniors to get in range for their reach schools.
  3. It depends on your emotional makeup and circumstances. Some kids can't wait to get out of high school, some get all sentimental about the last football game, last theatre production, last chance to whatever. Some friend groups are all going off to state U as a pack, some friend groups are spreading out across the country.

The distractions of 2 and 3 can make it harder to focus on your classes.

6

As a current senior, I would say senior year is a lot less stressful than junior year in terms of workload. However, in terms of course difficulty and rigor, senior year, by far, has been my most difficult.