Second Semester Senior year, otherwise known as SSS, is the supposed pinnacle of your four tedious years of high school. College apps have been sent out, your GPA can afford to drop a full point and you receive countless congratulatory likes for university acceptance posts on Facebook from people you’ll likely never talk to again. Yet the expected euphoria of relaxation is completely smothered as you are blindsided by the inexplicable stressors of this final semester.
Secondary Stressful Semester would be a more accurate depiction of this portion of your high school life. Yeah, you no longer have to worry about writing those 500-word essays for your dream school, but for the first three months, you’re going to have to live with said school torturing you with emails asking you to like their Facebook page, flexing about how wonderful their various curricula are and all-around boasting the fact that they have a 12 percent acceptance rate that you probably don’t fall under.
Suddenly, Subpar Safeties and a few targets begin to send out your acceptance letters. They obviously aren’t bad schools, but unless you’re one of the gifted few going to Stanford or an Ivy League, your days until May 1 are spent congratulating everybody while secretly wishing you could’ve been one of those admittees. Plus, don’t stress about the fact that you’re only picking where your life is going to be located for the next four years. It isn’t that big a deal, but hey, at least you have two whole weeks to decide! That’s 14 whole days (20,160 minutes)!
So Stop Saying things like “I bet you’re having fun during your second semester!” Because not only does the pressure of college loom ever closer, you’ve also got to prepare yourself to say your goodbyes to the incredibly loving friends you’ve made throughout your Paly career. Whether your buddy is going to college on the other coast or if they’re one year behind, school will definitely be different without those people in your life, and that sucks. Sure, you can still visit and there’s a whole summer ahead for you to goof off together, but the departure will always be more bitter than sweet. But…
Summer Seriously Stinks. You may have a senior trip planned, but what’s next? After two weeks touring Europe with your friends, you’re faced with the dilemma of finding a productive, or at the very least enjoyable, task for the rest of your summer. If you’re attending a university that follows the quarter system, you effectively have one-third of the year from the end of high school to the start of college working at Teaspoon and going to tedious college orientation sessions, preparing you for the 3 a.m. nights and 3.0 GPA that is your post-high school education. So you know what?
Suck Some S***, senior year. I’m going to college.
