<p>My D senior S is experiencing a pretty serious slump in his motivation to work right now, particularly on lengthy written assignments, which is likely to result in a low B or possible C in one of his classes. He was deferred at his only EA school, and obviously he hasn't heard from any of the schools, primarily top tier, to which he has applied. My question is not about his chances of acceptance being hurt - I'm sure they will be. But he was telling me that one of his buddies was having a similar motivation problem. DS has been a top student until now. I'd like to hear from both parents and students - do girls experience the same burn out, or are they better at keeping their noses to the grindstone?</p>
<p>I can't speak for a comparison, but at my school (all-girls), some have slumped in their grades, some have remained the same, and some are doing better than they ever have.</p>
<p>Mind you, at my school the work senior year is much harder than junior year (or before that)... our teachers do not go easy on us at all.</p>
<p>My memories of high school are that it was not a gender issue, but an individual student issue. It seemed to depend a lot on how overworked they were feeling before that final term (those who felt that they were stretched to their limit were more likely to burn out) and how stressful their college applications process was (those who were more stressed during the process were more likely to burn out). Another factor that mattered was whether people in their social group, if they had one, were experiencing senioritis - it seemed to be contagious.</p>
<p>I think it is not the true "slump". Tht is, the lack of motivation is not coming from being lazy or something like that. It comes from applying to too many top schools - the application process is too consuming, takes over completely. Even two weeks after finishing hr last app m daughter does not ave a single day without dealing with the application process. Kid face 10-12 interviews in one month, which all hae to be arranged, plus an array of letters on what was received and what is still missing, plus E-mails regarding those missing pieces (looks like the schools themselves cannot believe that it takes a month to sort the mail) It's just hard to focus on the school in this atmosphere.</p>
<p>Among the high achievers at my daughter's school it appears that the girls are more prone to "senioritis" than the boys. Several young women who were admitted ED to highly selective universities have noticably slacked off since returning from December break. Two of my daughter's close friends, who had been A students up until last year, have been having trouble focusing in class and have been coming to school late or leaving early. Both received a D or worse in calculus and have dropped calc for the Spring. </p>
<p>Nothing like this has been reported about the top-performing boys. I think it's fair to say, however, that among the average and low-achievers more boys than girls are "slumping".</p>
<p>^^hmm thats funny...the same sort of thing has happened at my school. girls hold the top four or five spots at in my senior class (i'm number 2) and boys have from like 5-10. </p>
<p>i had to FORCE myself to study for midterms, which i usually don't have to do, and put off writing midterm papers until the night before they were due. My friend, a guy, had his stuff finished weeks in advance. he jokingly (or not?) said to me that he was gonna steal my spot.</p>
<p>our val had kinda stopped working too because she got in ED. Granted, when i say stopped working, i mean getting straight Bs, but is not difficult at my school. </p>
<p>i definitley had to make a conscious decision that i wasn't going to get senioritis, and i usually enjoy participating in class, going to school, and doing (the interesting) homework.</p>