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<p>well said…</p>
<p>…As a senior, the only stress I’ve had is social. I never stayed up late to study, maybe finishing a paper at midnight was the latest. I just did the work that was given to me. I find it much harder to pursue girls than to do schoolwork.</p>
<p>Actually, the nerves from finding out acceptances to colleges has kept me up at night, I slept 1 hour Dec 14th/15th because I find out about GT [possibly] today and was just deferred from UGA, which I thought I would be accepted to. But I’d categorize that differently because its not anything I purposely put upon myself such as an EC or the pursuit of a pretty girl.</p>
<p>The added stress for my daughter has been a bad bout of pneumonia affecting her second quarter grades and probably exams. She has been #1 in her class, and now is freaking out that she will probably have her GPA ruined this semester because of it. I don’t know if her favorite schools will consider this or not in the admissions process. Has anyone had a similar problem with an illness seriously affecting their senior year grades, and do schools take that into consideration?</p>
<p>I feel really bad for most of these kids.
I’m having a really fun, non-stressful high school experience and I feel confident I am going to get into a really good college.</p>
<p>I have a perfect SAT minus Writing, so that helps.</p>
<p>I stay up late all the time though but that is for partying.</p>
<p>This is quite accurate at my school. It’s upsetting that many adults don’t see that. I only have five classes at school which means I have one 45 minute studyhall, and I’m still not able to complete an entire subjects homework during that time. I have around one hour per class, which sometimes have to be cut down when I have 2-3+ hours studying for tests or doing projects. The sad thing is, I’m not a procrastinator. I space out my work very well and still tend to spend around five hours doing homework every night. I also dance, do a sport and go to SAT tutoring once a week after school. I also devote a solid amount of time to three clubs and one big organization. </p>
<p>Luckily most of my teachers understand that sometimes when you have a club from 2:30-3:30, volleyball until 5:30 (unless it’s a game in which case, most likely 7:30), dance from 8-10, and then homework to do, it’s hard to get all of your work done. The problem is, I absolutely love everything that I do and can’t imagine my life without those experiences every week so I’m not willing to cut anything out just because it’s tough.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why colleges put so much pressure on kids to do EC. If i want to follow my passion of Madden and watching anime why should the kid who’s passion is saving lives better then me. I know that sounds shallow but just because we have different interests doesn’t mean I won’t contribute to the world. Who knows I might find the cure for cancer while playing a round of halo.</p>
<p>I can’t think of anything more boring or depressing than meeting any of you who has proudly claimed that they sleep for 6 minutes a night and do 48 clubs a day. It’s called a life. You’ll regret it if you don’t get one.</p>
<p>im totally with 174IQPartier by the way…</p>
<p>Kingjoker54, colleges want students who will be active and involved and happy in school. They want the kids that will do sports, create works of art for gallery spaces, write for and design student magazines, act in drama productions and all of those things that make the campus an interesting and vibrant place to be. Students whose only passion is watching t.v. don’t create a stimulating learning environment by those activities.</p>
<p>bee12345, I think alot of those people only sleep for 6 minutes because they do have a life. I barely slept last year, yes partly because of clubs and sports but mainly because I chose to balance grades with making the most of my high school experience. If your lack of sleep isn’t for things just to look good on paper, I’d say it was well worth it.</p>
<p>My solution: A cup of coffee and more sleep on weekends. :D</p>
<p>“Who cares about SLEEP? You can do that when you’re retired.” My ex-tutor’s philosophy when he was in high school haha.</p>
<p>I haven’t read the whole thread, but the article is ridiculous. You can live like that, but it is completely self-imposed and not necessarily to get into top schools. That is absurd.</p>
<p>I take more classes than is officially allowed by the school, am involved in many ECs, and still manage to get at least 8 hours of sleep per night. These kids are WAY overbooked. They are not helping themselves at all. Seriously, you can get into Columbia with great everything and only 5 ECs, not 10.</p>
<p>I work hard academically and I participate in major ECs that I enjoy. But I also want to have a semblance of sanity that all too often, I see kids lose during the race for college admissions. I don’t have 20 APs, I take 2 (Junior year 3). I volunteer for things that interest me and am a member of the debate team. I still have time to watch TV, the news, and relax. I usually only have time to sit-down for a good read on the weekends, but I have enough time to enjoy life.</p>
<p>I do know that when I finish my homework at 11pm on a weekday, I will give up two hours of sleep and stay up until 1 so that I can do whatever (CC, tv, anything social, read, etc.)</p>
<p>The cup of coffee/sleep on weekends strategy is one I utilize not infrequently.</p>
<p>A stressful lifestyle causes you to either adapt or crack…</p>
<p>Personally, any normal person would look at my life and see nothing but stress, but I feel that I have simply adapted to a tougher existence because that is the way I like it. 3 to 4 hours of sleep per night is no longer a problem for me, even though I dedicate tons of time to difficult sports for most of the year. I have the most rigorous workload in the history of my school, but that is not why I am up late every night. I am up late every night because I prefer being awake (whether it be reading, thinking, meditating, partying, surfing the net, etc.) to being asleep. Obviously I will have to shift priorities some in college because the workload may be greater, but if it is studying a subject that I love then what is the difference? I know I should sleep more for my health, but I will keep the current trend until it becomes obvious that I must change.</p>
<p>oh i am only gonna get around 2 hours of sleep tonite because i am still studying for my BC Calc exam.</p>
<p>I think the extremes are unnecessary. I also think a lot of the stress and fear about getting into a good college is unnecessary and overblown. Of course, I say that as an adult with many years of experience, not a high school student who tends to be more susceptible to such anxieties. I see this in my own kids from time to time and sit down with them to talk them off the ledge when they start stressing out over this kind of stuff. I’m glad they are so motivated because I never feel the need to push. Instead, I find myself trying to let them realize they do have the freedom to pull back a bit and relax from time to time. I try to offer them other outlets so they have a chance to regenerate their energies when needed. They seem to appreciate this.</p>
<p>Of course, I do think some level of this type of drive is completely necessary. Globalization has ushered in a new era of competition and our students need to be prepared. Unquestionably, students need to develop a much higher level of academic discipline, and a little more structure and regimentation probably wouldn’t hurt. </p>
<p>You think you have it tough? Take some time to see what it’s like for students in some other countries. Their entire life is just one big IB program on steroids. I don’t agree with that model, of course, but we have to consider not just how well we perform against students in the U.S, but globally as well. We are engaged in an academic arms race that promises to be much more demanding of us than in the past. I don’t think that means students need to kill themselves with course overload and superfluous activities, but I think it does mean much less entitlement to leisurely pursuits.</p>
<p>Too much work? how about not enough work. I had an insane course load last year that along with sports and my part time job gave me no social life, and made me pull about 1-2 all nighters per month on average; its not impossible, it just sucks. I say the stress level I had was perfect, and I was working at maximum effort to get everything done, and I did. If its all about competition to get into the best colleges, lets see who can truly past the test, and who fails.</p>
<p>^But that stress level isn’t necessary to get into the top colleges. I honestly don’t see why you would do that to yourself if you’re not even enjoying it.</p>
<p>it may not be necessary for the top colleges, but now I have a sweeeeet pt job that pays bank, and Im relaxing my sr year. I would encourage a system wide revamp of schools to make them more competitive so that it would weed out the hard working not too smart types, and let the hard working AND intelligent types rise to the surface.</p>