Reflecting on my Time in High School

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I’m back!

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The quote is from Grey's Anatomy, my all time favorite show :heart: :heart:

No promises, obviously. However, I just graduated high school? That’s kind of crazy…

Anyway, in my previous post, I talked about what I learned from the college process. It was mostly my college process story but anyway. I mentioned that this post should be anticipated. Looking back, there are a couple of things that I wish I knew going into high school, or at least learned about them a little earlier than I did. Without further ado, let’s get started.

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1. Stop Caring

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While I’ve talked about this before, this was the number one thing I learned from high school. When you stop caring what other people think, you become SO much happier! You might think it’s not “cool” to see your teacher after school, to be engaged in class, etc. Whatever it might be, I that when I started doing things for me, I improved significantly faster.

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2. High School Isn’t the End

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Often times, we forget that there’s your entire life beyond high school. You go to school for 13ish years. To be honest, it still hasn’t hit that I’ve actually graduated. It feels like I’m going back to school in a couple of months for a post-senior year. You could say that your grades are most important, or your sports team is most important. However, I wish I realized that I should have started to prepare for college sooner. For example, I would say I’m an adequate writer, someone who can write a paper but isn’t writing Shakespeare anytime soon. I wish I had worked on my writing more before college. The ultimate goal is doing well in college, which may include working on your study habits, time management, or even your math facts. What you learn in school should be beyond facts and figures, rather skills that you will take with you beyond school and into any field.

This statement could also be seen in another way. If you hate high school (usually a lot of people do) college is SOOO much better. You start to find your niche and all the really annoying, non-intellectual people get weeded out. Alternatively, if you were the annoying, non-intellectual type of person and hated the nerds, you’re in luck because chances are they’re off to a better school anyway. NGL I really didn’t like most of the people in my grade but I’ve loved the people I’ve met going to my college and my ex-college. Colleges somehow end up putting people who will fit and click together. Things have a strange way of working themselves out.

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3. Block out the B*tches and the Haters

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Stop spending your energy on people that are snakes. There ARE people that genuinely care about you. Don’t let people manipulate you by helping someone who is really only nice because they want something. Just be wary. When people actually care about you, it feels genuine, like they actually want to spend time with you—they won’t disappear when you need them most. I’m telling you, YOU WILL FIND PEOPLE. It may not be 20 people, but having a few you can rely on is the best feeling.

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4. College Isn’t an Endgame

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I know a lot of kids stress about going to an amazing college. I know it’s cliche, but going to an Ivy or top 20 school doesn’t necessarily get you to where you want to be. It’s great if you do, but don’t be afraid to go to a no-name school. While no one has ever heard of the school I’m going to, it has a 90% acceptance rate into each person's top 2 medical school and has a strong history of kids getting into great graduate schools. As someone who is almost positive that I will be going to graduate school, whether that be medical or for something else, this factor was very important to me. Graduate and medical schools can only take a certain amount from each school, no matter if it’s an Ivy or not. Even if 100 of the best applicants are from Cornell, for example, they’re not going to take all 100. Like college, graduate schools want to create a diverse class.

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5. Reading and Writing is Actually SO Ducking Important

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Even if you’re a STEM kind of person, writing is still really important. Both in high school and college, you’re going to have to write a lot of papers. I wish I had read more books and practiced my writing more before going to college. I thought I didn’t have time, but I wish I made myself do it anyway.

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Anyway, I hope you thought any of these tips were helpful. I’m sure I could think of many more things I wish I did differently, but these were definitely top 5. Now I’m off to college! See y’all around!

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Good luck studying!

I have a calligraphy Instagram @studebud