<p>My first post here so hello to College Confidential!
I have about 30 days until school starts up again, and like every other teenager in my area I don't want to go back!</p>
<p>The problem here is the stress! It's obviously bad enough because I'm a bit of a perfectionist, but its even worse because its a new school!
My parents are sending me to a different high school this year (my sophomore year) because the chances of getting into a good college with a scholarship is higher than where I previously was. So now I'm going to a huge school, where the competition is even more fierce to get into a good college, and I have to get really good grades this year. My dean told me if I wanted to get into a college that my 3.2 average my freshman year wasn't going to cut it! Since when was making 2nd honors a bad thing?</p>
<p>The school brought in a lady to explain GPA and how important it is. She told us that if we didn't have a good GPA all 4 years that we wouldn't get into good colleges.</p>
<p>Then theres parents. My brother is in the air force so he gets his education for free. Its a really cool thing for him, but what about me? My parents keep telling me that I'm a moron if I don't join the Air Force after high school. So I'm a moron then. I don't want to join the Air Force, I seriously gave it some thought. It's just not the lifestyle I want! My family acts like I'm the 'screw up' in the family just because I don't want to enter the military. </p>
<p>It's too stressful!!!! I'm ready to pull my hair out and school hasn't even started yet. I keep thinking about everything that could possibly go wrong and then my entire education would be all for no reason at all(dramatic I know but think about it!!!)</p>
<p>So, are any of you feeling the pressure? Or have you ever been in the pressure cooker of high school like this?
It's madness I tell you!</p>
<p>I have to admit CC, isn’t going to necessarily alleviate your pressure in any sense; in fact there is a higher probability of heightening it. Just saying.</p>
<p>3.2 isn’t that great, especially with grade inflation. At my school we have a 3.2 honor roll and a 3.5 honor roll where you’re eligible for NHS. My class has 600+ students out of a school of 2500+ students. You should definitely join Air Force, there are a lot of opportunities such as ROTC scholarships for college and government careers. Chilax you still have a lot of time left to enjoy your summer. BTW, at least you don’t have Asian parents like me.</p>
<p>There are plenty of top colleges that don’t look at freshman grades. U of Michigan is one of them. You will get into a college. There is a college for everyone. Don’t stress about the air force, it’s not for you. My mom was in the same situation as you. Everyone in her family was in some branch of the military and it was expected that she would follow suit. If your parents won’t pay for college, then go to a CC for two years and save up money for a university. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.</p>
<p>What is it about the air force that you don’t like? Is it the military in general or is it specifically the air force?</p>
<p>My advice: Chill Chill Chill. That’s what I’m trying to do rioght now. You only have 30 MORE DAYS of freedom so you have to try to avoid thinking as much as possible. Don’t worry- you will have a lot of time to stress. Be happy- you were awakened in frosh year not summer b/fore senior year. Anyways, Don’t go to the air force if you don’t want to. Never let anyone inc. parents push you into a decision you don’t want to make. ( except if parents say don’t jump off a cliff-then you should listen :]</p>
<p>I think the perks of the military are pretty cool, but the entire lifestyle is definitely not my cup of tea. I don’t want to be told where I can and can’t live. My brother was given two choices, Las Vegas or Korea. I don’t want to have to pick one of the lesser evils. & because my brother was stationed there, his choices for college was very very small. He’s taking online courses too. I don’t want that.</p>
<p>My advice is to just ignore everyone who’s trying to run your life for you, because ultimately they aren’t in your situation.
If you don’t want to join the military, don’t. That’s a completely personal decision that no one can make for you.
Don’t stress about GPA, those who tell you to really aren’t doing you any favors. What I try to do is simply work as hard as I can without getting really stressed. Usually that means studying at least 2 or 3 hours the night before a test, and maybe a half hour a night in each subject that you really need to work hard to get. Usually I do busywork in front of the tv so that I’m not drained by the time I get to what actually matters.
Depending on where you want to go, a 3.2 freshman year really won’t hurt you. If you’re shooting for top tier, then of course it’s not good enough, but otherwise you’re fine. Just keep working hard, and realize that most colleges don’t care about freshman year grades.</p>
<p>Finally, I think everyone has felt the pressure of high school at one point. My guidance counselor showed us a youtube video telling us that we won’t actually be able to get jobs after we graduate college, so don’t bother get a 4-year degree. The point (as far as I’m concerned): People will try to freak you out to get you to do what they want, but don’t pay them any attention. Just do your work and don’t think about where it’s going to lead you. If you get a good education, which basically any accredited college will offer you, you will be fine. But yes, it’s madness.</p>
<p>Try to enjoy the rest of summer, don’t add a few weeks of stress onto the coming school year.</p>