I'm Falling Apart.

Applying to College
1

<p>I noticed that most CCers seem to be taking, or have taken, a huge load of difficult classes. At least, more difficult than mine, so I really need to know how you guys handle it. Seriously. I've had so many emotional breakdowns in the past few months I can't even count them anymore.</p>

<p>My schedule this year does not look incredibly difficult, but without exaggeration, I have been staying up to 2 or 3 in the morning every single night for the past month. I am constantly sick. The earliest I have finished homework this year is probably 11. I have pulled a few homework all nighters. That's at least 12 hours of homework.</p>

<p>I am not procrastinating at ALL. From 2:40, when I get home, to the early hours of the morning, I am working on homework or studying for tests. I take a 15 minute break for dinner, and a half an hour to an hour break in total all night.
On weekends, I do as much as I can on Saturday and Sunday, while working on college applications and studying for SATs and practicing clarinet.</p>

<p>This is my actual schedule...
1 AP Chem
I once spent an entire night (2:40-2 AM) studying for a test. I got an 86. I usually spend at least 4 hours (a night) studying for tests and 2 hours for quizzes.
2 Gym
My guidance counselor is planning to write an semi-permanent pass to get out of it and to go to the band room and practice for college auditions.
3 Honors Physics
This class isn't very conceptually difficult. The problem is, it's a teach-yourself ordeal. We have the worst textbook in the world for teaching yourself.
4 AP English
We have written 22 essays this year so far (23 after tonight), which is 5 more than I wrote last year IN TOTAL. I usually spend about 5 hours on an essay of two pages.
5 Lunch
Food.
6 Honors Spanish V
This class, though very laidback, is difficult because almost our entire grade is a speaking grade...we have a lot of presentations where we just have to "talk about something," which is sort of difficult, and we have spanish literature to read all of the time which takes me 5x the amount of time for reading an english thing. Because I don't get enough sleep, I'm not very good at comprehension anymore.
7 AP Calc
I love this class, but I have to study at least 3-4 hours to even dream of getting a B on the tests. I understand everything, and have gotten consistent 100s on the quizzes, but the tests are very long and very tricky. The average test grade may be lower than an 80, and I have heard of only one person this year who has gotten an A on a test.
8 Advanced Web Development
Could actually be a study hall had I not been elected the Webmaster for NHS and have to design and maintain the NHS website. Not too bad
9 Honors Wind Ensemble
I'm first chair clarinet, a soloist, and the songs are difficult so I have to practice a lot. Also, I have college auditions and Regional auditions (ON SATURDAY) so I have been dedicating an hour a day to clarinet, sometimes less when homework is overwhelming.</p>

<p>It may be that varsity soccer has killed me. It ended, but as a result I am extremely far behind in AP Chemistry, Music, and College applications.</p>

<p>I have college things due next week that I haven't even staaaarted BLAH.</p>

<p>If you read this far, wow. Please tell me how you survive. I don't know what to do anymore. This lack of sleep is really catching up. I'm cranky and miserable all of the time. My mom has enacted a homework curfew that I always break. I cry way too often.</p>

<p>Other people are fine. How? I'm not dumb, I was #1 last year. Yet I (along with one of my friends) am depressed, cranky, and disillusioned (he is/was applying to harvard, I am/was applying to princeton. We don't even care about it anymore). I didn't even mention that my grades have hit an all-time low, even with all of this studying.</p>

<p>I've wasted enough time; I have a physics test tomorrow.</p>

2

<p>I don't survive.</p>

3

<p>hmm.............</p>

4

<p>Drop something. Seriously. It won't kill you, you won't care at ALL next year, and right now it's more important to stay healthy and well mentally than burn yourself out.
Don't worry about college apps either: just explain the situation and if the college doesn't accept it you probably don't want to go there anyway (everyone understands that stuff like this happens). Plus you'll notice a great increase in your grades if you drop one thing so you have more time to concentrate on other things and take care of yourself.</p>

5

<p>im taking ap chem, ap physics c, ap spanish, ap eng lit, ap gov, and multi var calc</p>

<p>i get at least 7 hours of sleep EVERY NIGHT, usually 8, sometimes 10.
i have above 95s in all my classes...</p>

<p>if you need to study 12 hours to get an 86 on a chem test, thats just sad, no offense but you dont belong in any of those classes, im sorry.</p>

<p>and if you do get into princeton, youre probably going to be ****ed.</p>

6

<p>I was seriously considering dropping AP Chem (after being so far behind) but that would leave me with only two AP classes to my name, in my entire high school career (last year, I couldn't take AP classes). My dream school is, unfortunately, the University of Pennsylvania (for closeness and a certain program), and I'm afraid that I already look like I'm not taking the most rigorous courses available (I could take AP History or Government but I don't like our school's history program at all). </p>

<p>Upenn is the only reason why I haven't dropped anything.</p>

7

<p>Just chill, don't put so much pressure on yourself, take a moment to smoke a joint once in a while, you know, you know you like it...that's your style.... uh huh, uh huh...</p>

<p>oh, I got carried away. Anyways, life is more than school, and you would probably learn better if you didn't stress out so much and put such high expectations/pressure on yourself.</p>

8

<p>If you couldn't take any last year they won't hold it against you. Especially if you're still taking stuff like honors physics!
Really now, the reason I am reemphasizing stuff here is because if you're like this now you're not going to survive college especially at a place like UPenn. End of discussion. And even if you would survive by sheer luck you would find yourself with shot nerves from stressing out, bad health, and lost experiences, and the rest of your life ahead of you to deal with all that. Do you want that life? I doubt it, so I'd advise you to take a second glance at your priorities.</p>

9

<p>spydertennis - </p>

<p>In honors chemistry last year, I had one of the highest averages in the class. Soccer took up a LOT of my time this year, a lot more than usual. Most of our comprehension of the concepts in AP chem comes from homework and reading the chapters (which are a billion pages long). Because I had no time, I'd skim and read the summary. Needless to say, as AP chem is cumulative and all, I am now catching up on earlier chapters. I studied for 12 hours because I was, finally, reading the chapters (a four chapter test) and coming to understand the concepts. I got full points on my AP-style essays, but because I hadn't reviewed Net equations in a while, I only got 7 points out of 15, and performed average-ly on the multiple choice. There's that explanation.</p>

<p>I wouldn't compare our classes. I have no idea if your APs are harder than my APs. They may very well be. But as much as I say that I'm struggling, I still have one of the top grades in all of my classes, compared to my peers, even national merit scholars and 800 math SAT scorers and all.</p>

10

<p>Drop AP Chem. It sounds like the most work for you, and you would still be taking a science.</p>

11

<p>You overstudied on your AP chem test, that's for certain...overstudying can actually harm your score. You need to trust your instincts, and let go of regret, bet on yourself, now start, cuz that's your best bet. watch me now.... </p>

<p>anyways, if you have to study all night for a test, then 1. the class is too hard for you, or 2. you have not learned how to study smart, or 3. you did a fair share of procrastination. end of story. and like raindrop says, drop the class, and move on....if you don't get into UPenn, there's always Penn State...which will provide you with the opportunity to live it up at some kick ass football games...something UPenn can not provide.<---that's how I would look at it</p>

12

<p>Yes, the problem is that Upenn has a program that is EXACTLY what I want and NO OTHER college has it. AND it's close. If Joe Schmoe university had digital media design and was half an hour away, I'd pick them.</p>

<p>Princeton is my mother's dream school. It's close, I'd be expected to pay only about 6000 a year, and huge bragging rights of course. It is good for what I want, but it is definitely not my top choice. </p>

<p>I really, truly believe or hope that once college applications and these regional auditions are over, I will be a lot happier. I think it is that stress that is compounding my normal school stress.</p>

<p>But hey, that 12 hours of studying was NOT IN VAIN! Because I took the Chemistry SAT II the following saturday and it was the easiest thing ever; I finished with 15 minutes left to spare, haha.</p>

13

<p>okay I have felt this way as well except my problem is not that I stay up nights from doing constant work, I procrastinate so I have to stay up late to do my homework..half the time i'm a freaking zombie</p>

<p>I would not advise you to drop any classes. I loved AP chem too much to advise someone against it. You just need to chill. Plus, late at night your brain doesnt function as well so youre not getting efficiency from all those hours.
Have some fun, killing yourself from being devoted to schoolwork is the biggest waste of life.</p>

14

<p>Senior year is supposed to be awesome, I know, lol.</p>

<p>However, all of this overworking does make it so that when I do have time to lounge/go out with friends, it's like the BEST THING EVER.</p>

15

<p>You're coming off of soccer, you're knee deep in college apps and auditions, and this is also the time of year when teachers who haven't paced their classes well ramp up and get testy and demanding as the end of the semester looms. It's a tough time. If you can, why not let the college applications wait until winter break and focus on school for now? I know people advise against this, but really, it's not that far off at this point. My D has two weeks off. She can get a lot done in two weeks. She's not looking at or even thinking about any more apps at this point. She did the ones that were due and the Jan. 1 apps will be sent in on Dec. 31!</p>

16

<p>1down2togo - thank you, I think I will do that...it's better to spend a good amount of time on ONE thing anyway than trying to do a lot of things at once.</p>

17

<p>Along the same lines, you might consider doing what my S and D have done -- both with a lot of success (one all the way through Stanford). When they found themselves with a lot of demanding classes and too little time, there was often a class where the difference between getting a B and an A was enormous, where a B was definitely do-able without going crazy but where getting an A required time an effort of a magnitude that impacted other classes and they felt the return on this added investment wasn't worth the price. When they had a class like that, they'd decide to get a B and spend the time working to push their other grades over the B+ hump into A territory. Just a thought.</p>

18

<p>1down2go is right....prioritizing your classes is a very good way to relieve pressure on yourself. A B grade in your Intro to Physics class is not that big of a deal if all it does is fulfill a core liberal arts requirement for instance. You will definately need to learn this pattern when you enter the world of college, because it's not quite the same as HS.</p>

19

<p>dude, im talking ap eng, ap span, ap gov, ap calc b/c, ap physics c, tennis and i get around 6-7 hrs a day and i get A's.</p>

20

<p>i also dont know about this 5 hours for two pages. either you cant type or (no offense) you may not be able to organize your thoughts efficiently in reasonable time. i dont know how you would do the sat essay if it takes 5 hours for 2 pages. 2 pages is like 30-45 minutes, 1 hour tops.</p>