Advice from a Senioritis Ridden Student

By Amanda W. (Senior)

As I continue to adjust to falling back into my schedule after winter break, my thoughts have been primarily consumed by college applications. During our break from school, I was able to submit most of my applications, but after that, came the added requests for transcripts or financial aid documents. Even after the green checkmarks appeared on my screen, there were still more requirements which I did not expect, but was luckily able to meet over the past few days. Though tedious and stressful at times, essays for college applications do allow you to truly delve into who you are as a person and what the past few years of your life have really meant.

After attempting to shove the thought of long awaited admissions decisions aside, I have begun to truly reflect on my experience here at GCA. I have learned so much in the past year alone. And so, in the hopes of imparting my wisdom onto other students who have either just begun their journey towards high school, or are steadily advancing towards it.  There are a lot of things that I wish I would have known as a freshman.

So luckily for you, I am now able to share some of these and allow you the chance to learn more and make your academic life that much easier.

The first and, in my opinion, the most important bit of wisdom has to do with your guidance counselor. If you are a freshman this year and have not gotten to know them very well, I encourage you to go send them a message and let them know a bit about yourself and the ideas you have regarding future plans after high school. I cannot even begin to count the number of emails exchanged between my counselor and I, so throughout your remaining years here at GCA, they will be a priceless resource. Be it for questions about credits, recommendation letters, applications, or a variety of other topics, their assistance is crucial to your success.

And chances are, that by the time you graduate you will not be able to imagine what you would have done without them.

Next up on the list is testing. Yes, it is a dreaded subject which we all would prefer to ignore, but if you plan on pursuing post-secondary education- then listen up. In my experience, I have found that there are a variety of tests which are applicable, to every student.

Depending on what path you want to pursue, but for most students the most common of these exams have to do with the College Board. For example, The SAT and ACT tests. They are pretty well-known and my only advice on them would be to take the writing at least once. This is especially important if you have a knack for writing essays. If you are particularly good in this field, it can only help you out in the future. The main thing about tests for me would be the fact that I had no idea SAT Subject Tests were something important and even a requirement at some colleges until the spring semester of my sophomore/junior year.

If you are already looking into universities or even have some random idea for a handful of choices, research their test requirements! For some of the larger institutions, they require Subject Tests in either any subject or a math and science. So try to prepare to your best ability. If you are a sophomore taking Biology this year and find that you are quite interested and perform well in the subject, then take the SAT Subject Test for that! It can only help you if you need it in the future and if the cost of the tests would be a burden on your family, and you are eligible for certain financial benefits, you always have the option to receive a fee waiver and take the tests without having to worry about that. If you are able to get a fee waiver for these tests, you are also able to use up to four application fee waivers for certain universities, so the benefits are certainly easy to find.

My final bit of information is less focused on college and centered more towards your general academic life here at GCA. As I am sure you have noticed, when met with the fact that you are homeschooled, many people respond with questions or at times, unfortunately, negative ideas and a bias towards this idea which branches away from what is considered to be normal. This response can be great as it allows you to inform someone of a spectacular and new format for learning. But the quick criticism you receive can also be difficult to take. The way I see it, this is something that will not go away anytime soon and for that I can only advise you to have patience. However, for every student I have encountered here and many administrators, we each have our own reason(s) for being here. Those reasons have allowed us to embrace other parts of our lives and be much more flexible with our schedules unlike our brick and mortar counterparts. For me, GCA has allowed me the opportunity to visit Europe, to travel across America, and to graduate a year early so that I can take a gap year. Without this wonderful virtual school, I do not know where I would be or who I would be as a person and despite its occasional challenges, I am truly grateful for my experiences here.

I won’t get incredibly sentimental here, but with all of the judgement we may face outside of this community, I think that it is important to remember what it brings to each and every one of us individually. To my fellow seniors, we have made it this far and are almost to the finish line, so you can do it! To those who have yet to realize the odd and strangely wonderful sensation which is Senioritis, I wish you all the best and hope that my small amount of knowledge has helped you in some way.

Until my next bout of academic insight,

Amanda W.