Year in Review...

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Are you satisfied with all that you've done this year? Reached all you goals? </p>

<p>I am pretty unhappy with how I did this year. Although this was my first year doing AP and gifted (did honors last year), I could have done much better than I did. My GPA went from a 3.9 to a 3.8, last semester, and it's probably gonna go down again once this semester ends. I didn't accomplish anything in robotics. I did get accepted into this new program at my school called STEAM(stem+arts), which I'll be part of for the next 2 years and I applied to be a peer leader, got accepted. Even then, I'm starting to think I should have taken ap psych instead of being a peer leader.</p>

<p>my classes are/were, ap comp sci, ap world, g geometry, g chem, chorus (i'm in the select group)</p>

<p>Enough about me, how was your year?</p>

2

<p>I’m a senior. It was the best school year of my life, other than maybe fifth grade. </p>

<p>Stuff I did right:

  1. Stayed with my relatives and took all my classes at a university 80 miles away from where my parents live. I became more independent and slightly less stupid.
  2. Took six math classes >Calculus BC and aced them all.
  3. Got my first and only leadership position.
  4. Overcame my shyness enough to acquire a non-invisible boyfriend.
  5. Gained a lot of perspective on what I want to do with my life.
  6. Got a scholarship big enough to save me from having to take out loans.
  7. Went for a lot of walks.</p>

<p>Stuff I did wrong:

  1. Procrastinated on literally everything.
  2. Probably got a B in Creative Writing.
  3. Drank gallons and gallons of Diet Coke.
  4. Got rejected from the summer program I applied to.
  5. Got rejected from the University of Chicago.
  6. Never went to office hours.
  7. Skipped classes. Not a lot, but more than I should have.
  8. Made no effort to get a driver’s license. </p>
3

<p>Senior, best year of my life by far.</p>

<p>Right:
4 AP Math/Sciences, think I will get credit for 3 in college(except AP Physics, expecting a 3), exactly as planned. Will get credit for all 3 I passed in college.
Got into a personal Top 3 college choice, Top 50 ranked, and I am rooming with my best friend. School is a perfect fit in every way I have discovered so far.
2 Free Periods, made life very stress free
Wrote my senior paper on something I really will use beyond high school, the draft is turned in and currently 15 pages, to be expanded on.
Great social life, got closer with all my friends, some going to school around me, great summer upcoming
Track - PR’s in all 3 events, school long jump record, almost made states
School introduced an academic award for CS for the first time this year and I got it
found some great music, and how to find more in the future</p>

<p>Wrong:
Still don’t have a car, though I won’t need one in college so its too late now.
Waiting to hear back on internships for the summer, though still very possible just means not in the bag yet
Didn’t make states in track
Failed to get involved in the new robotics club as intended
first round exit of the annual chess tournament due to bughouse partner choice (He lost with 3 Queens to play! Yes! 3!)
didn’t get out to any concerts, missed 1-2 I would have wanted to see</p>

4

<p>By the way, I’m currently a sophomore. @halcyonheather‌ 6! Wow, which math classes? @PengsPhils‌ nice job on the PRs, hopefully you get a good internship.</p>

5

<p>As stated senior year is the best year so far.
Right:
Taking 6 AP Classes and i’m confident I got a 4 or higher on all of them.
I am Valedictorian
Got my first car
Qualify for FBLA Nationals
I am in a program for my state and receive a call from the vice president<br>
Got into Cornell
Got full ride to my first school</p>

<p>Wrong:
Still looking for a job
Got rejected from University of Chicago>.>
Got rejected for Gates Millennium scholarship</p>

6

<p>Senior year
Right:
Straight A’s every quarter
Successfully and (for the most part) thoughtfully applied to a wide array of schools without succumbing to last minute panicking
Decent SAT retake
Full ride scholarship to school I’m matriculating at this fall (horribly debt averse so this was even more of a blessing)</p>

<p>Wrong:
Severed contact with a close friend over petty drama
Probably failed AP Calc exam
(This might be a potential regret) - Decided against going to Prom as well as purchasing a Yearbook
Still can’t dance</p>

7

<p>

Multivariable Calculus, Intro to Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Introduction to Number Theory, Numerical Analysis, Abstract Algebra. I mean, I mostly did well because of grade inflation, but hopefully this means I can get a degree in math without flunking out. [-O< </p>

8

<p>@halcyonheather‌ =D> </p>

9

<p>The Good:

  1. Became SECME president at because she wasn’t fulfilling her duties and I was the Vice President.
  2. I led the SECME team to victory at the regional competition, where we got first place.
  3. I got all A’s first semester, which raised my GPA.
  4. My GPA was ranked 5th in my class at the Award Ceremony at the end of the year.
  5. I also got the AP Biology achievement award. (School gives an award for each class offered.)
  6. I got my first real experience with good experimental research.</p>

<p>The Bad:

  1. The AP Biology test terrified me. I think that I probably got a 3.
  2. My class rank actually dropped by three, considering that I was #2 last year.
  3. SECME didn’t make it to nationals because we didn’t get first in any of the qualifying events.
  4. My science fair project didn’t make it past regionals.
  5. I ended up having to take Yearbook because the class i signed up for didn’t fit in with my schedule.</p>
10

<p>Good:

  1. Think I did well on AP Lit exam
  2. Got into Schreyer Honors College at Penn State
  3. Held number-one cumulative average in my honors physics class all year
  4. Received a letter inviting me to some awards ceremony at my school on Thursday so I think I may have won a department award? So that’ll be cool, if so
  5. Pulled an A in my macroeconomics class, where the material is not hard but the teacher grades arbitrarily and purposefully complicates the process
  6. Started dating my best friend
  7. Got rid of two toxic friends
  8. Likely to finish 6th in my class
  9. Only missed ten questions on a 56-question Spanish exam where I knew literally about 20% of the vocabulary
  10. Helped plant a tree as teacher’s retirement gift
  11. Sucked it up and went to prom
  12. Going to New York with marching band in June!</p>

<p>Bad:

  1. Didn’t start dating my best friend earlier
  2. I am so done with school right now and I have one final left
  3. Didn’t take more APs this year
  4. Didn’t apply to enough colleges
  5. Still don’t have my license
  6. Periods of minor depression (one relating to close grandma’s death)
  7. Didn’t win national level Scholastic Art & Writing Awards (guess I got really lucky sophomore year)
  8. Looks like I didn’t win anything in regional writing competition (should have gotten the letter by now…)
  9. Waitlisted at reach and match schools</p>
11

<p>Good:</p>

<ol>
<li>Did well on all my internal and external exams for IB.</li>
<li>Received an SAT score that’s good enough for me to get in to all the colleges on my list (but that probably won’t happen.</li>
<li>Was accepted into National Honor Society.</li>
<li>Participated in a bunch of different extracurricular activities that I enjoyed.</li>
<li>My schedule allowed me to be a teacher’s aide for my favorite teacher, and my favorite class.</li>
<li>Became less shy; greatly improved my social life.</li>
<li>We had the most snow days ever (10).</li>
<li>Went to my school’s Relay for Life and had a great time.</li>
</ol>

<p>Bad:</p>

<ol>
<li>My GPA and class rank did not improve.</li>
<li>I procrastinated on most of my assignments, and still occasionally turned in late work.</li>
<li>I still have yet to get a girlfriend.</li>
<li>The full IB Diploma courseload completely burned me out, and I have no desire to do anything related to school.</li>
<li>I disliked most of my teachers.</li>
<li>I’m screwed beyond belief for IB Bio next year.</li>
<li>Did not win any awards.</li>
<li>Did not go to Homecoming, Prom, or any of the school’s sporting events besides tennis (only because I’m on the tennis team)</li>
<li>Discovered that I was arguably the worst player on my school’s tennis team, and only got a chance to play in a few of the matches.</li>
<li>Ended up hating TOK, which I was looking forward to taking since 8th grade. </li>
</ol>

12

<p>@metsfanAJM Maybe #6G will affect the future of #3B and #8B ;)</p>

13

<p>Good:</p>

<p>Bad:
Too much to list</p>

<p>Well at least I got all As.</p>

14

<p>Senior!!!</p>

<p>Right:
-Got into Carnegie Mellon and MIT
-Kept up a really good relationship with my boyfriend
-Learned my first programming language!
-Made better friends with people in my grade
-Had a really great senior trip
-Improved my sense of style/appearance after realizing that I’d been so focused on getting into college that I had neglected buying new clothes for like 2 years!!</p>

<p>Wrong:
-Stressed out a ton
-Didn’t take an open all year, definitely should have
-Did early decision at CMU not giving myself a chance to get into MIT before I made the decision (still prolly would’ve gone with CMU but it was tough to not be able to consider MIT)
-Dying my hair black was a bad idea because it looked really good but then when my blonde hair grew out I looked like I had bald spots</p>

15

<p>Positive:

  • Participated in more clubs/ECs
  • Raised my GPA abit
  • NHS acceptance
  • Actually studied for my AP Exams
  • Made more friends/went to more class events
  • Model UN/FBLA awards which I didn’t think I could do bc I wasn’t confident in my public speaking and qualify for FBLA nationals</p>

<p>Negative:

  • Terrible in Pre-Calc
  • Still no job/work experience
  • My ranking probably wont be near my goal</p>
16

<p>still got a month left of junior year, but this is how it will most likely play out.</p>

<p>Good:

  1. Huge positive GPA difference from my miserable sophomore year
  2. Decided to stay at my current high school rather than having my parents move us to a different town, which actually may have enabled me to have a better school year
  3. Got rid of Twitter a few weeks before school began
  4. Participated in pretty cool EC’s
  5. Volunteered at my former elementary school’s field day
  6. Educated myself about the college application process and also various colleges across the country
  7. Matured a great deal from my underclassman years
  8. Made a lot of new friends
  9. Got a lot of girls’ numbers
  10. Signed up to take AP Euro next year
  11. Gained more self-respect</p>

<p>Bad:

  1. Missed the first two weeks of school because of extreme personal issues and because I transferred to a terrible private school; the absences still counted towards my attendance record, and playing catch-up really hurt my 1st MP grades
  2. Still don’t have a first girlfriend or even a first kiss; tbh, this is probably because I’ve almost shut out the girls in my grade completely and paid attention to sophomores and freshmen almost exclusively
  3. Despite the fact that my 18th birthday is in 3.5 months, I still haven’t began to drive yet. I passed the permit test in December, but haven’t done anything related to driving since
  4. Haven’t gone to the gym in more than a year
  5. Made a new enemy or two
  6. For all my obsession over college, I still have yet to actually visit one.</p>
17

<p>Good:

  1. enjoyed my junior year schedule
  2. got most of the well-liked teachers
  3. made new friends
  4. became less shy
  5. got an officer position in JROTC for next year
  6. improved my GPA
  7. confessed to the guy I like
  8. glad I took choir instead of theater
  9. managed to get off tumblr until Friday all year
  10. will apply to a STEM camp and hopefully I’ll get accepted to it</p>

<p>Bad:

  1. still need to visit at least one college
  2. still need to get my permit
  3. got rejected by the guy I like (refer to 7)
  4. did not participate a lot more extracurricular activities
  5. procrastinated a lot
  6. I’ve liked 3 guys over the year and was indirectly involved in love/crush chain reaction
  7. had subs in two of my classes and did not like the subjects as much as I used to
  8. became irritated at my science teacher
  9. my stress levels did not improve
  10. slept later than usual</p>
18

<p>Freshman</p>

<p>Good:

  1. 4.0/ Rank 1 first semester
  2. Deciding to sign up for Honors English in the first place
  3. Meeting more people
  4. Getting somewhat involved
  5. Applied for and got into a somewhat selective school organization for next year
  6. Started a club for next year with some friends
  7. General year-to-year maturity
  8. Successfully adjusting to high school and honors classes</p>

<p>Bad:

  1. Bombed most everything in math second semester
  2. Not being as social as I could have been
  3. PROCRASTINATION
  4. I still have no idea how to study…
  5. Not a whole lot of fun stuff happened… but I got my fair share</p>

<p>My first year of high school wasn’t too bad.</p>

19

<p>Took my first AP class. Took six more. Learned multivariable calculus. Decided I wanted to go to Stanford. Got a 223 on the PSAT. Took five biology classes. Realized that I hate biology. Fell in love with computer science. Disagreed with conservative ConLaw teacher. Almost failed but aced the final. Magically saved my 4.0 GPA. Visted a bunch of colleges. Decided I wanted to go Caltech. Took the ACT for the first time. Got a 34. Got rejected from every summer program I applied to. Created my own summer camp curriculum. Took the ACT again. Got a 35. Bombed the writing section. Read Godel, Escher, Bach. Came up with twenty college essay ideas. Aced a few AP exams; failed a couple. Decided I wanted to go to MIT. </p>

<p>It was a stressful year, but I learned a lot. Looking back makes me want to cry. :(</p>

20

<p>Basically the first time I’ve truly hated life. The only thing enjoyable about this year was the NBA playoffs.</p>