<p>@ Izzy Busy. Trust me, you can be a pro at time management and still have plenty of late nights. Time management is important but the reality is that there are only 24 hours in a day. Without time management, the hardest course load wouldn’t be possible at my school. With good time management, it becomes possible with the sacrifice of a few hours of sleep. My schedule when I’m playing a sport is 8-1 class, 1-3 EC, 3-5 sports, 5-5:30 dinner, an hour or so of relaxing/socializing time, then homework time with 2- 2.5 hrs for each AP class, of which I have 3. </p>
<p>Mind you, I’m still talking to the overachievers here. Most people who don’t care about taking the most challenging course load and doing EC’s are completely fine. However, if you want a 3.6+ gpa with honors/AP classes, you have to be prepared to work your butt off</p>
<p>I agree what you mentioned. Do you attend a boradring school? If you do, I like to ask few questions:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>If a student in a highly selective boarding become an average or below, does he/she still have confidence and pride? </p></li>
<li><p>Taking regular + honors in a top boarding school is still better than taking many honors + AP courses at a good public school with higher GPA? Attending a top boarding school will be more beneficial regardless what you take?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Since the OP, loubear, may still be checking in even though the thread’s been hijacked, this is something that I felt was appropriate to explore very shortly after I joined CC. It was probably the first thread that I started, it received candid responses and it pretty much stayed on topic, so you may want to check it out:</p>
<p>It’s really a matter if you want honest answers or if you want to debate people who have made a considerable investment in a boarding school education. If you want honesty, they’ll be happy to deliver. If it’s a debate about the merits of boarding school you’re looking for, they can bring it, too.</p>
<p>I’ve been at boarding school for about a month now, so I’m not the most qualified, but here’s my input.</p>
<ul>
<li>Homesickness. I’m not struggling with it anymore, I got over it quick, but I know people who still are.</li>
<li>Jealous of daystudents. They get the chance to go home each night while we’re stuck here for months on end.</li>
<li>Boring at times. It’s all very repetitive. Sleep, eat, homework, hang out with friends. Each weekend there’s the same trips, same activities, ect…there are times when I feel my brain is rotting. </li>
<li>Trapped. Feels like I’m on the campus for years even when it’s only a few weeks. When we do leave it’s generally a big deal. Heck, we get dressed up for CVS. </li>
<li>Roommates. They usually suck. Lack of privacy, not to mention the relationship usually is a little rocky. When you live with someone you notice all of their faults and it gets old really quickly.</li>
</ul>
<p>^I’ll comment on the roommate thing [they do not “usually suck”]. There were plenty of things that annoyed me about my roommate last year [new students that request roommates of course don’t know them beforehand; it’s very different with returners]. But I came to be very good friends with her. Most roommate relationships turn out at least moderately well. I can only think of 2 instances [though there might have been more] last year when roommates just never got along. It does happen, though not frequently. That said, I also know roommates who came to be very good friends, and one pair who opted to be roommates again this year [incidentally, they’re on my floor this year, as is my former roomie. we wanted to be close but in singles].</p>
<p>@Izzy Busy Bee - I do agree, they do work. I’ve seen them. I go to a very small school though, only around 200 boarders, and from what I’ve seen their either really good friends or ignore each other. I haven’t seen any really bad relationships, no fighting or anything. Just from my limited expirience I have seen the majority of roommates not becoming very close. It’s only a month in, everything could change. My roommate and I get along really well and I really am glad we were paired together, even if we have our moments. When you live with someone it sorta changes the relationship. </p>
<p>Plus I’m a new student with a returning student and that made it a little weird at first that we didn’t have that in common. Like she had her friends already, ect… </p>
<p>It’s really not as bad as I made it sound though, I guess I might have been a little harsh in saying they usually suck.</p>
<p>Everyone gets stressed. If you don’t then you’re either always really really really on top of things and are a genius [nigh nonexistent] or there is something wrong with you. You learn what you need to do, how you need to do it and when it needs to be done and you eventually get to a point where you’re almost always in control and hopefully not too stressed. Or you don’t and you don’t get enough sleep and are stressed all the time. There is an abundance of both kinds of people [not sure which kind I am].</p>
<p>Stress. Yeah. It’s definitely there, no escaping it. Even the smartest geniuses have it in some way. </p>
<p>The first day, I had a meltdown. It was a workload meltdown. I had no idea I’d have that much work. The second day, I took control, sat down, got it done. That’s just how it is. Sure, it’s stressful, but you figure out a way to make it work. It’s getting much better as I learn when I can work and how to get things done quickly and efficiently. </p>
<p>But stress is unavoidable. it is highschool afterall. It does get better as you get into the hang of things. For some people it’s quick, for others it takes a little more time.</p>