Straight A's, AND a social life?

<p>For all you CCers out there, i was wondering, do you guys think it's possible to have straight a's,do ECs,vol.,and still have a social life and go out on the weekends? And if you do think it's possible what do u rec.?</p>

<p>It's very possible if you allow yourself to have a life. I get all A's with a few exceptions. I either manage my time well and have free time, or manage it poorly, and find myself lacking sleep and having done nothing fun. You have to discipline yourself to do your homework at a set time each night. You can't volunteer for everything. Colleges are certainly not looking for robots here. If you are clearly loaded with school and a sport, I'm sure they will know why you weren't able to volunteer as much.</p>

<p>But, it'd like to get into HYP or USC for my college, so this requires me to work extra hard.</p>

<p>Well, the way i see it is that as students, our jobs are to study. These crucial years in our life will determine the rest of our life out of college (and i don't care about those 1 in a billion lucky people who get hella rich from dumbstricken ideas or crap). It is kind of like alchemy: one cannot obtain something, without sacrificing something else of equal or more value. Lets just say if you play and hang out with friends rite now, be happy with being some small insurance dude or watever, teacher. Study alot, gain knowledge, life lessons, self discipline...... and become a top doctor, surgeon researcher, business administrator. One might contradict my idea and say " you gotta have a life while you still can!". Well, you'll have a much freer life away from parental control after college when you are on your own. Wouldn't you want money then instead of some wasted time now? Also, one might say you need book smarts and street smarts at the same time. Well, i would like to see you do that!!!!!!!!!!! You have to be like the perfect human that some rare people are to be good at both of these.</p>

<p>I have a (vibrant) social life, am busy with ECs, and have good grades (though not allstraight A's =/).</p>

<p>Students jobs aren't to study. It is to grow and develop into mature, capable, and promising adults that can benefit society. To do that, a student must learn not only chemistry and math, but how to interact with people and handle relationships.</p>

<p>Depends on how easy the A's are to get. Grade inflation anyone? Still, I wouldn't want to be robbed of my childhood because I'm always holed up studying or doing ECs just to get into college. Try to at least enjoy some of your life while you still can.</p>

<p>Um, just to put in my 2 cents:</p>

<p>I can have straight A's in honors classes AND a life. Not only by managing by time, but by having friends in E.C.'s...for example, most of my friends are from Yearbook or I forc-I mean cajoled into joining. Also, you can volunteer with friends. Have fun, now, so you don't get crazed, but also realize that school is important.</p>

<p>"Lets just say if you play and hang out with friends rite now, be happy with being some small insurance dude or watever, teacher. Study alot, gain knowledge, life lessons, self discipline...... and become a top doctor, surgeon researcher, business administrator."-Bassmaster</p>

<p>Our president was a party animal in his youth. It is very possible to be successful and have fun at the same time.</p>

<p>"Also, one might say you need book smarts and street smarts at the same time. Well, i would like to see you do that!!!!!!!!!!! You have to be like the perfect human that some rare people are to be good at both of these."-Bassmaster</p>

<p>They're not mutually exclusive. I make good enough grades and also consider myself very street smart. I am capable of being on my own and fending for myself in the world.</p>

<p>To the original poster, my advice would be not to be too hard on yourself. Make sure you go out at least once a weekend, every weekend. Never do more than two volunteer projects per month. Sundays are for studying. Fridays and Saturdays are for fun. It's entirely possible to strike a balance.</p>

<p>seashoresideshow- i love you. </p>

<p>"Sundays are for studying. Fridays and Saturdays are for fun. It's entirely possible to strike a balance." describes my mentality perfectly!</p>

<p>I don't have a social life.</p>

<p>How sad.</p>

<p>Same here - no social life.</p>

<p>I make time to have plenty of a social life. If it means putting off some work, I'll do it - I'd rather save my health and sanity than work for an A+. I'm still a straight-A student at an incredibly competitive school, striving to get into an incredibly competitive college...but I have plenty of time to have fun. :]</p>

<p>I guess it also depends on your definition of fun. I don't particularly love large, drunken parties with strangers like some people might...but I do love hanging out with my friends, and going downtown, and seeing movies, etc. So I find time to do the stuff I like as much as I can! Oh, that and my ECs are usually pretty fun anyway, I like doing stuff for them and a lot of them involve games and social activities...so they're not really all that boring or stuffy either.</p>

<p>I definitely think it's possible to have straight As and a social life...I'd like to think I've achieved that. Okay, I have some A-s and one B+, but I'm also taking five APs and double English...so academics are good. As for social life...echoing Forgetmenots, I don't frequent all of the large drunken parties (though I was at one last weekend, for people I'm actually friends with...not too fun, IMO, since I don't drink and consequently felt a little 'on the outside'), but I definitely hang out with my friends. I have three groups of friends at school, at least forty friends that I communicate with via Facebook/e-mail/IM (and no, I don't mean scary Internet stalker friends...people from other states/countries that I've met through international programs like Global Youth Leadership Conference and obviously can't see/call up whenever I want). I've had two boyfriends, I've been to all my school dances, I even made Homecoming princess.</p>

<p>Sorry, this post is definitely not meant to come off as braggy. My point is to give an example of being able to meet both extremes. My SAT scores could be a bit higher, I'm not the 'most popular girl in school,' and I'll let you know in a couple of months if I make it into Yale, Penn, or Harvard ;)...but I've been enjoying high school and I've become well-rounded, which I think is one of the most important things to do in adolescence (while, of course, keeping track of grades/college apps).</p>

<p>Also, Anon<em>Person</em>1 brings up a great point -- it's always good to have friends in E.C.s. I've made a lot of close friends on my high school's tennis team; even though I was on varsity for only two of my four years, I still enjoyed being on the team :)</p>

<p>I got accepted to my first choice college and I have something of a social life...some advice for all the kiddies is not to date a chick who trys to take all your time away and trys to influence your college decisions...that almost screwed me over my junior year so watch out for the girls mates.</p>

<p>Heh, I broke up with my boyfriend because he wanted more time with me and I wanted to study for my SATs. -shakes head- Now that I think about it, it does make me sound pretty pathetic.</p>

<p>But yeah. I had straight A's and a social life.</p>

<p>it's all in your hands. you could have no social life and get bad grades. or you can have a social life and good grades.</p>

<p>trust me when i say it is REALLLLLY possibile.</p>

<p>If you count CC, then I have a social life.</p>

<p>The key to balancing your life is not time total, but how efficiently you use that time.</p>

<p>One weekends, I usually get up at around 11. I eat, check my e-mail, etc for about 30 minutes. Then I do 1-3 hours of homework right away. I'm really concentrated so i can get A LOT done. By 4 PM I am a free man. No stress or worries. I need to shoot something? I shoot it. If there is a party, I'm there. Movie and dinner with friends? Great.</p>

<p>Although I must say, having a gf will shatter any sense of time lol.</p>

<p>btw, I have gotten straight A's thus far (yet to be seen for this next semester) and I am a junior taking the toughest courseload available...</p>

<p>dude...i cant get A's without having a social life. It's just not possible. I have 7 APs but it gets done ONLY because I have fun with friends.</p>

<p>i pity you guys that aren't having fun and getting good grades. I'm a college student just being bored and cruising around here. I think its respectable to study your ass off during hs and college, but then again its also sad if you don't enjoy the real fruits of life such as friends and adventure. Haha for the people you say that think it gets better during your 20s, you are wrong if you plan on going to med school. You better have fun now while you can. </p>

<p>And yes, somehow people get better grades when they are happy. If you aren't happy, you really are selling yourself short both in the academic and social world. I'm a pre-med at UCLA and I find that I get better grades when I'm partying with my frat and surfing occasionally instead of sitting in my room studying my ass off all day everyday. </p>

<p>When you are done you aren't going to remember the days spent studying organic chem or Stoic philosophical thought of Seneca in the post-republican era of Rome, you are going to remember the times you were spontaneous and went surfing at 2 am 3 days before a final (personal example obviously). Don't become a lazy fun-seeking person, but become a fun, energetic sociable successful DETERMINED student leader. </p>

<p>The girls that are these well-rounded smart, successful students are the hottest, most attractice girls I've ever known or wanted to date haha. They are also going to be the ones that get the top jobs.</p>