They say high school is supposed to be some of the best four years of your life. As a high school student, I’ve heard the phrase “it goes by so fast” a countless number of times. As a senior in high school approaching the last couple of months of school, I’m here to tell you that it indeed goes by so fast, a little too fast in my opinion. Now, as for those who say high school is supposed to be the best 4 years, I may have to disagree on that. However, your high school experience is what you make of it, you are in full control of the next year or years to come. Here are some of the best tips/advice I (and other seniors) can give you on getting through high school:

1. Work hard, play hard!

When you’re in high school, especially at a high school like NVOT, there’s a lot of pressure on you to do well so you can get into a good college. As competition to get into a top-ranked college increases, it gets harder and harder every year to fit in that accepted pile. However, you have to remember that if you only work hard, you will eventually wear yourself out. You have to spend your four years wisely, so have fun as much as you work hard!!

2. Remember that everything works out in the end

I’ve seen a lot of bright students get rejected from their top schools, and yes it’s really upsetting and disappointing, but I’ve also seen students thrive at what they called their “safety” school. Going to a top-ranked college isn’t everything, it’s what you decide to make out of your four years at university. 

3. TIME MANAGEMENT IS EVERYTHING

I cannot stress this enough. As a huge procrastinator, I can tell you that it’s not fun cramming two weeks’ worth of information in one night. Space out your assignments and especially your study time. Try to do something every night so that the night before the test can be a 30 minutes-1 hour review!!

4. Try to get your standardized testing done BEFORE junior year

I know some friends that did this and they were a lot less stressed during junior year. Junior year is already stressful, and when you mix that with tutoring/studying for the SATs or ACT, it can be overwhelming. I was super overwhelmed junior year and my last SAT was actually in October of my senior year because I couldn’t quite get the score I wanted until then. Try to study for them gradually starting sophomore year, so you can take them in the summer or fall of your junior year. 

5. FIND YOUR PEOPLE!

Freshman year is really new and exciting because there are so many people that you haven’t even met yet. I know it feels like you have to stick with the people you grew up with (nothing wrong with that), but try to branch out and make new friends by joining clubs, sports, musical theater, band, etc. It’s okay if your “friend group” changes or shrinks throughout the years, that’s pretty normal for us all. 

Although this is a pretty simple list of tips, they’re actually quite hard to follow. As a senior in high school now, I would have loved if an upperclassman told me these simple, yet helpful tips. Hope this helps you all out.