<p>kman are you being serious about the friends thing? Because that's very sad.</p>
<p>A few more things:</p>
<p>1) Plan for your four-year schedule (though leave it open in case you want to change something). Make sure you can take the courses you want by fulfilling prerequisites early. I'm able to take all the courses I want this year (save for scheduling difficulties) because I recognized to get there I had to take more than a typical courseload, so I took courses over the summer. And now I'm very satisfied with what is available to me.</p>
<p>2) Don't just go for the A (if you can do so without killing yourself). Studying like hell in bio honors freshman year helped me tremendously with AP Bio junior year, and putting a lot of effort into chem honors sophomore year helped a LOT with AP junior year as well. Recognize the perks of ernest hard work!</p>
<p>3) Get really, really, ridiculously involved. Freshman year I signed up for like 10 clubs in school thinking that I would stay in the ones that naturally appealed to me and I would drop the ones that I wasn't genuinely interested in. It worked. I left freshman year with 3-4 steady clubs that I naturally enjoyed and now I love being involved in all my activities. At the time I thought I'd be a math/science kid - and in the classroom, I was. But I went to a couple science club meetings and a couple debate club meetings, and I enjoyed the latter much more. Basically, don't go with what's expected of you (by yourself, parents, peers - anybody). Challenge each of your decisions - about classes to take, clubs to join, everything - "do I love being here, or would I rather be somewhere else doing something else?" AKA don't do things just for a college app. =P</p>
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<p>Of either sex? That must suck. I'll be your friend!</p>
<p>I'll be your friend too. </p>
<p>That sucks, dude. Why.</p>
<p>dont apply for 9th grade at a school whos students have been there since 4th or earlier.</p>
<p>eh... that's debatable. i know plenty of people who are happy at schools like that. i'd say don't go to a school like that where a majority of the students have been there for that long</p>
<p>I did that... but people only knew each other since 7th grade. It was a little weird at first but I had 2 best friends coming with me and we all made friends, so I guess it depends on the situation. 20 people that I knew went with me... I was actually only friends with like 6 or 7 of them so I had to make new friends. Now I barely ever talk to my old friends from before.</p>
<p>yeah that's how it is at my school- 15 of us are there in 7th&8th grade and then 35 new people come in for HS. it works out fine</p>
<p>I would say PAY ATTENTION to your grades. Don't listen to people who say, "don't stress." Stress. I did not pay attention soph and fresh year and it really hurt my GPA. Even though I had over a 4.0 SR year, it was not able get a high enough GPA to get into my first choice colleges. </p>
<p>Try not to freak out over little things. Just enjoy yourself and be friends with as many people as you can.</p>
<p>DO NOT become exclusive with a small group of people freshman or soph year, because if you stop being friends with them Jr or Sr year, you'll be in trouble. </p>
<p>Join a team. Even if you think you will be embarassed because you aren't athletic or have never played before, DO IT. This is my biggest regret about high school. I thought everyone would be Olympic athletes so I never tried out for anything, when in reality a lot of people started a sport freshman or soph year.</p>
<p>You have to do at least SOME work in order to get good grades, NO MATTER HOW SMART YOU ARE. Kinda cool fact. I've probably done around 100 hours of hw in high school over the last 3 years. Even with a 2350, that B average will probably bite me.</p>
<p>"dont apply for 9th grade at a school whos students have been there since 4th or earlier"</p>
<p>haha my class of 250...has been together since kindergarten (and lots of us were in the same pre-k). yup, that's what happens when you live on an island, and there's one school on it. Oh, graduation's gonna be so sad :(</p>
<p>dont run to your classes. you will make it on time and if you run seniors will just make fun of you.</p>
<p>dont stop in the middle of the hallway. you will get mowed over.</p>
<p>the time will come for you to stress about colleges. but freshman year is not that time. keep it in the back of your mind but do not make it your primary concern. your primary concern should be having fun and enjoying your work your extracurriculars and your new school.</p>
<p>joining clubs and sports should be fun and is a great way to meet new people.</p>
<p>dont be scared of the seniors. we are generally nice people.</p>
<p>and i cant speak for all teachers..but i bet you most of them really care and actually want you to do well.</p>
<p>i promise it will all be good in the end.</p>
<p><3.</p>
<p>hahah...one more thing...</p>
<p>Don't wear a MASSIVE backpack filled with every book for every period of the day. You can always tell the freshman because they have these massive backpacks and pencil cases filled with every single writing utensil every invented. Then by senior year, the guys are using one pencil for the entire year and carrying it in their pocket. </p>
<p>Its funny how each year the bags get smaller, until Senior year some students are carrying a tiny purse!</p>
<p>Hahahahaha that's so true! I had a binder for each subject freshman year. Sophomore year I started with binders but ended up with a notebook and folder for each class. Junior year I only had one notebook and one folder for all my stuff. Senior year I might not use any folders at all - just one notebook for everything. Hehe.</p>
<p>remember to do all your homework and not slack off. As a freshmen, I wasn't as motivated as I am now and didn't put forth my best effort. Just remember that what you do now determines your future :)</p>
<p>join track =D
it's a great way to meet the upper classmen of your school</p>
<p>
[quote]
Don't wear a MASSIVE backpack filled with every book for every period of the day. You can always tell the freshman because they have these massive backpacks and pencil cases filled with every single writing utensil every invented. Then by senior year, the guys are using one pencil for the entire year and carrying it in their pocket.
[/quote]
Muhaha, so true, my backpack weighted about 6 kilograms in 9th grade and was totally full. I don't think I'll even need a backpack this year though :P</p>
<p>A huge thing you should do as soon as you start school is to start and keep sucking up to your guidance counselor. Face it, she/he controls your hs life. I didnt know until today, that the guidance counselors play a HUGE part in scheduling. I just thought they ran all the kid's requests into a computer and the schedules are automatucally put together. Boy, was i wrong. Please, you dont want to end up taking feeble electives like Home-ec or keyboarding when you could be taking a challenging AP/honors class. Especially if you're applying to top schools. Let the guidance know about you and all your goals.</p>
<p>Vicky_sky:</p>
<p>What if you have done everything you can; you've been talking with them 3 weeks before school opened, talking with all counselors, giving them requests, filling out the forms, everything. But they just can't change them, because the classes are "too full." The school is brand new, and the courses aren't that fancy to begin with.</p>
<p>My electives for this first year are Computer Apps I and II. But I'm taking it upon myself to self study all higher courses. What do people look upon this situation?</p>
<p>psh everyone carries a big backpack at my school, freshman, senior, w/e i dont know how we don't all have back problems it's so bad. and we have a zillion stairs in both buildings. horrible.</p>