My experience in preparing for college has been a rollercoaster. There are things that I wish I had done to help better prepare me. I think that if I focused more on my academics than the outside world I would be more set. If I looked into classes based on what I wanted to do in college instead of just taking random classes I feel I would be better set. Looking at college just for sports is also a big factor to consider. Some people go to college for sports rather than academics. Your sports career will always come to an end and you have to know what you are going to do after your sports career.

Your junior year is the year you want to start planning on what you want to do after high school and what will work for you. For me, my junior year was the hardest because I focused on stacking my classes so I could have senior privilege my senior year and didn’t focus on the classes I was taking. So, for the juniors going into their senior year, here are some tips that I wish I had known. 

When doing your course selection, do not focus on having senior privilege and stacking a bunch of online classes. They get very overwhelming and are often forgotten about. Doing online homework is a lot more work than just being in class because there are more assignments and you have to do everything on your own. Being in class, you can learn better and have easier access to help.

 Also, do not focus on having classes with your friends. This is the year you need to focus and start getting ready for college or after high school, and just taking classes with your friends will not help that. 

Putting my phone to the side and focusing on my work would have also been a major change and better for me. My grades and academic performance reflected my use of my phone. I would be so focused on what was going on on my phone or if anything popped up on social media. 

People today rely heavily on their phones. It can cause excessive use and eventually harm the user. Do not choose classes for their social value. Instead, pick classes for their academic value. Do not worry about others’ lives if you don’t have yours figured out.