3mos. left of High School. What should I look forward to?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I looked forward to senior year of high school for a long time. Because, you know, I’d be a senior, and it would be cool.

Now I am a senior, have 3 months left of high school, and have come to the conclusion that senior year sucks. Seriously - there’s the stress of choosing a college, all my friends have apparently gone insane, my parents are being incredibly smothering and not understanding that I’m a big kid now, there’s the stress of not giving in to senioritis, and I’ve got IB exams in, like, impossibly little time.

So: tell me about your last year of high school. Is it normal for it to suck? Should I go to prom? Should I go to graduation? (note: I really don’t like the majority of my graduating class). SHould I give up on trying to make things work with all my friends, as in August I’ll be leaving for Far Away? Also, how many of you all actually went to your HS graduation, was it worth it, and was it mandatory?

Also, I know fully well I’ve got MAJOR exams in May. And yet, I’m looking at acceptance letters, and I just don’t want to do my schoolwork. :o

2

Well, now that you’re on the kusp of “real life”, you should probably know that, things won’t be as good as you anticipate. Also, things won’t be as BAD as you anticipate!

Just a quick life’s “two cents”

I was just talking about this today. I went to my prom but, after almost 25 years, my opinion is that, it was a waste of time and money. However, had I NOT gone, I’d probably be whining right now about how I wish I’d gone.

Go to graduation ceremony. It may be your only one!

Make it fun. I graduated in 1980 and, it wasn’t out of the ordinary to be seen wearing cowboy boots (even in Northern New Jersey).

So, knowing that it would be a night of celebration, I had a half pint of whiskey down one boot an a half pint of southern comfort down the other boot. It was just for a laugh that I walked up to the podium and recieved my diploma with a slight limp.

What should you expect after graduation?

That’s the problem right there! DON’T EXPECT A THING. Just let it happen. Enjoy. Be true to yourself and the rest will follow.

3

High school sucks for most people…so you are in the majority there.

I graduated 1000 years ago, but in my experience, your high school friends will soon become the minority of people you have contact with, and for many (including myself), you will have almost zilch contact for the rest of your life. Thus, I wouldn’t sweat trying to make everybody love you at this stage of the game.

Go to the prom and do that stuff if you want - but again, those memories are fleeting and unless you have a special someone to take - forget it. I am sure some people will respond with loving memories of that evening, and how they danced with their soul mates. For me it was the epitome of fake smiles and fodder for gossip about who “did it” on prom night. Yawn. I wish now that I had taken that prom money and gone with a couple of friends to some beach and had a wild week(end) instead.

The real fun lies ahead! College buddies are far better, and you don’t have the baggage of them knowing all your secrets and family history. You have a clean slate and can choose friends that have similar interests and life goals. And after that, there is the exciting adventure of moving out on your own and getting a job and doing what some people like to call “living”.

Again…high school sucks. Everything from here on out will be MUCH better - so for the next 3 months, take a last look at your school and classmates…the next time you see them at a class reunion (should you decide to attend), the prom queen will weigh 295 pounds, the jock will be a divorced alcoholic and Mr. Cool Dude will be serving 10-15 for drug dealing.
That alone should be something worth looking forward to!

4

Five to ten years down the road, I think you’ll miss the general idea of high school much, MUCH more than actual high school itself.

High school is often compared to prison, and I don’t think it’s because of the schoolwork. It’s because of the socialization, the alienation, the humdrum sameness to everything, and the overwhelming feeling that things will never, ever be better.

I was very happy to discover, lo those many years since, that it’s a temporary prison sentence. :cool: Of course, I graduated halfway through my senior year, so I’m not the typical cat, either.

So what should you do/enjoy in the last 3 months of high school?

I think in the last 3 months, you should really open your eyes to what high school really is – a bridge to other, better things, that in absolutely no way resembles anything you’ll see again.

5

I was in your situation last school year. Prom was, to me, a waste of time and money. I actually only went so I’d have an excuse to borrow a family friend’s Jaguar for the night. As far as graduation, I really, really, really wanted to skip it, but could not get my parents to agree to that. Honestly, though, if you’re not terribly inolved with your school and don’t feel a deep sentimental attachment to your class, don’t frickin’ bother. It’s tedious and you’ll have to listen to lots of badly-written speeches that are meant to make you sad but will most likely just make you a little queasy.

In short, just do what you feel. Lots of people will tell you to go to both prom and graduation, but if you give it some good thought and don’t feel like you’re going to enjoy it, get some like-minded friends and have a good time.

-Kody

6

Coming up on two years since I graduated…

I didn’t go to my senior prom. Don’t really feel like I missed much. One thing we did do was have a video scavenger hunt after the prom. That was fun.

We played a lot of Frisbee. In class, some. Then again, I had 4 AP classes and we had nothing to do after the tests.

My advice is to remember that in 2 years, you won’t be that close to any of these people. Sure, you’ll see them every so often, and you might hang out occasionally, but you’ll never be this close to these people ever again.

7

My senior year wasn’t quite the norm, so it can’t really apply to your situation. We were in an ‘emergency campus’ composed of trailers 'cause our school burned over the summer. So just remember: it could always be worse.

More importantly, do you want to go to prom? If you want to go, go. Even if you don’t have a date, you’ll have a great time if you want to be there. If you don’t want to go, you shouldn’t feel any pressure to go.

Yes. You only graduate from high school once, and if your parents are all that smothery, they’re going to want to take pictures of their baby girl graduating.

Are you having issues with your friends? If you are, yeah, give up. The friendships won’t last. If you’re getting along great, then it’s worth the effort. If they fail despite your best efforts, well, you did your best.

I went. It wasn’t mandatory, but I was the salutatorian, and somebody (possibly my mother) would have killed me if I hadn’t gone. It was worth it. I cried twice, though fortunately not during my speech. And I hated 75% of my graduating class. As I got closer to graduation, I started getting all nostalgic and weepy, though.

And it’s really more fun if you just give in to the senioritis. You know you waaaaant to.

8

A great many older adults are likely telling you things like “these are the best years of your life!” Urging you to enjoy the precious halcyon final year and whatnot.

Every single one of those people is lying to you.

It’s not done maliciously, however–the “best years of your life!” screed is simply one of Santa Claus’s many less-successful younger narrative friends and relations. It’s something that’s allegedly magical to believe in at the time, and valuable to learn the untruth of as time goes by. Problem is, it’s a less successful relation of Santa for a reason, because neither of those factors really apply–it’s not a valuable thing for young adults to believe in, and there’s not all that much value in figuring out it’s untrue–it’s all pretty staid, basically.

As to what’s ahead: what pretty much everyone else has said. In a few short years, you’ll have very little if any contact with most of your current peers. The overall importance level of just about everything is largely begin blown so far out of proportion that you’ll likely boggle at it years down the road. People like to do that, though, so expect it to continue. The form of it just changes.

9

It sucked for me. One teacher I had for two classes (out of four, block scheduling)during my last semester decided to pick on me all friggin year for no reason (and I know everyone says it, but it was true, she admitted it to my mom 3 years later). I wouldn’t waste my time. I had a pretty big, pretty close group of friends when I graduated and haven’t talked to any of em since about my second year out of high school. I went to prom and it was alright, but not the big deal everyone made it out to be (though to be fair, I was feeling bad most of the night). Yes, hell no, and oh yes, it as a Big Friggin’ Deal.

10

I say go to prom if it isn’t a financial burden or anything like that. I didn’t (dateless wonder), so I’ll have to live w/out knowing what prom was like, but it doesn’t kill me…in fact, it doesn’t bother me at all. But if it’s no burden to go, you should just go and enjoy the experience. If it bites, you can always leave.

11

My senior year, like my freshmen, sophomore and junior years, sucked donkey ass.

Going to the prom was not an option for me as you had to have a date to go to our prom.

I would have not attended graduation, except that it would have broken my parents hearts so I did it for them.

I had possibly the worst guidance councilor on earth. She basically recommended Oklahoma University, or Oklahoma State University or trade school. (This with 1400+ SAT scores)

When I was in your shoes, I looked forward to freedom.

What is great is that most of the things that make you unhappy are going to go away soon. But after that, you have to make your own happiness, which, is not as easy as it sounds.

Good luck.

12

I never got a ‘senior year’ and it has been one of my biggest regrets. My folks moved states half-way during my senior year. They were trying to save money and so I was homeschooled that last year of high school. Luckily I went to prom my junior year and although I went with a guy who was just a friend, and there was no sex or alcohol, it was a blast! So I’d say if you’ve got people with whom you know you’ll have fun, you should go to prom.

Also, go to your graduation. Since I was homeschooled, I just took my GED (which was a joke, btw. I could have passed that my sophmore year) so I missed out on the whole graduation experience. And since I’ve had to postpone finishing college, my next graduation probably won’t be until I’m 29!

I’d say make the most of the remainder of the year with the friends you do have. Work hard, keep the GPA up, but have fun as well. You may never see these folks again, or at least not until the 10 year reunion.

Just my 2 cents :slight_smile:

13

I had to go to graduation, but my parents would’ve made me go even if I hadn’t had to. Prom was boring, even though I had a boyfriend at the time. If I had the chance to go back to high school, there’s no way in hell I’d do so. I’ve had much more fun since I got out of school (high school and college).

14

I went to my graduation. It was just a ceremony, but it’s important to your parents, so go. There’s no good reason not to. I don’t know how it could have been “mandatory.” What were they gonna do, expel me?

You will soon find that you will not “like” the majority of anybody. Within a year of leaving high school you’ll be forgetten your high school friends; within five years you won’t know if most of them are alive or dead, and within seven you won’t care if they’re alive or dead. Your friends will all be college friends. Once you get a real life you’ll have a few close friends and some friendly acquaintances at work and that’ll be it. You will find your interests will not require a huge posse of friends.

Even if you LIKED high school, you’ll stop caring about your classmates within a year or two if you leave home.

My advice to you for the next three months and right through college is don’t hold back from anything. You’ll regret it later if you do. Go to the prom, date everyone you can, have wild but safe sex with some hot guys or girls, as your preference might be, take a backpack trip. Have a blast wherever possible as long as you don’t get physically injured. It’s your last chance to do something screwey without actually screwing up your life.

15

High school sucked. I spent my senior year in hives from all the stress. The good news is that it gets 100 times better, so don’t worry! My prom was useless and I regret having gone. Graduation I did go to—my mom would have KILLED me and it isn’t worth a fight.

You will be surprised who you stay friends with and who you don’t, and there is nothing wrong with that.

In the next few years, you will spend a lot of time trying on different hats to see who you are. That’s fine–it is how you become an adult. Try everything once and then decide who you want to be.

Most importantly, enjoy the next few years!

16

Oooh, that’s so cool that you are almost done.

Highschool sucks compared to the rest of life for everyone, except the extreme popular guys and gals. For the rest of us that simply tried to do our best in social scene, it was really different.

Whoever said that highschool was the best time of your life was lying. Either that or their life really sucked after highschool. College is cool, but don’t worry about leaving friends there behind. There is truely something about friends that you have had for so many years, but in 4 years you’ll change a lot. Also look forward to learning a lot about the world. Or more precisecly, how little you know. I think the older I get and the more I know the more I realize that there is so much more to know about life.

Prom… Well being a girl, you have the advantage of just sitting back and seeing who asks you. If not, ask some dude that you like as a friend and make his day :slight_smile: Doesn’t have to get serious, but it would probably make him happy to be able to go.

I definitely second the ideas of trying to go out and do as much as possible. You’ll get to look forward to a new world. You’ll probably know nobody there so you can be anyone you want to be in your deepest heart of hearts. You won’t have parents or friends to that have certain expectations that you have to live up to. Definitely go wild, and have (safe) sex and do whatever.

One thing I would try to stress is that in my personal opinion, try to steer clear of any sort of greek organization or club or whatever where there is some sort of pressure to fit in. You can have a small group of friends and have the time of your life. I didn’t do that and I regret it.

Learn to be yourself, but realize that you don’t have to stop having fun once you graduate. If you are so inclined, you don’t have to get married right out of college, or even start a career. Remember that when you make commitments like getting married, having kids, or buying a house you have a much harder time doing what you want. Use your time during and after college to have all the experiences that you ever dreamed of if you feel like it.

Importantly, and this has been hard for me to understand so much, that your deciscions about what you want to study and other things aren’t as important as they may seem. It isn’t so hard to change your direction in life after you have chosen a study and completed it.

Also if you get the chance try to learn a foreign language and study abroad. I always hated studying spanish in Highschool and even in the first semester of college, but I eventually learned to like it and I am very happy with the way it has turned out.

17

I didn’t go to my prom, but I hung out at the beach with my friends afterwards. That was lotsa fun.

18

The toughest part of the year is over, no? You’ve already filled out all the applications, taken all the tests (except IB, of course). You’re just waiting to hear back from schools. I say relax.

I was a goodie-two-shoes all through high school, but even I let some senioritis take over. Seventh period orchestra? Ha! I’m going to McDonalds! Adios suckers! And guess what? Kids like me could get away with murder because we were such “good kids”. I used Beta Club as an excuse for EVERYTHING.

Seriously, though. You’re in the downhill portion of school. Now’s the time to sit back and ponder about all that you’ve been through. I’m doing that right now with grad school.

I did NOT want to go senior prom. I hate all the things involved with proms, like finding a dress, wearing a dress, getting hair done, etc. that it seemed like a pain in the ass. But my friends–yes, even I had friends–made me go. And even though the prom itself wasn’t that great, the festivities associated with it were fun. Plus, I have another story to tell to everyone. Everyone assumes Monstro is too big of a nerd to have ever done anything normal like go to the prom, but boy are THEY wrong. Not only did I go, but I had a DATE (the only one I’ve ever had, btw)! While all of my friends went STAG. Hehehehehe.

I remember thinking, “June 10th (my graduation date), all of my troubles will be over.” Wrong. The stress of high school doesn’t even compare to the stresses that follow. Every time I think everything’s going to get easy, everything just gets harder. So my advice is just to savor the good things about this time in your life. Be with your friends even if you know they aren’t going to be your friends for long. Find a teacher or two that you respect and share your future plans with them (and let them sign your yearbook…because it will be their comments that will touch you five, ten, twenty years from now). Don’t try to distance yourself from childhood (or your parents) too soon. The last moments are the ones you’re going to remember most, so you might as well make them as nice as possible.

Congratuations on your achievements and good luck in future endeavors. Also, go to graduation. Don’t do it for yourself. Do it for your parents. There’s something about seeing their little darling in a cap and gown that makes them feel like they did a job well done. Most parents deserve to experience that feeling, IMHO.

19

Sorry, but I remembered something.

I had friend problems my senior year too. They were friends by circumstance (same classes, same orchestra) and for the most part they were cool, but by senior year I felt like I didn’t belong with them. I put some distance between myself and them while still keeping up the illusion that I was still “one of the gang”.

Like I said, they were friends of circumstance. Once the “circumstance” was over (high school), I essentially stopped caring about them. Evil but true.

Occassionally, I’ll get one of those forwarded emails from one of them and wonder how they’re doing. Last Christmas I hung out with a high school chum and it was just like old times. But do I feel bad for not keeping in touch? No. I’m a totally different person than I was in high school (which was 9 years ago). I’m sure they are too.

Unless your friends are dragging you down, though, I wouldn’t artificially sever the ties. If a post-high school relationship isn’t meant to be, then it won’t be. No need to hasten its death.

20

So, what I’m getting so far: Go to graduation, if only because my parents (who seem to suddenly care about me, go figure) want me to. Whatever, mostly, to prom: go if I want to. A ticket alone is going to be at least fifty bucks, though, so I’m not sure if that’ll happen. Plus, at my school, you need a date. No one goes solo.

The friends thing still has me boggled. The abridged version of the whole sorry story: I’ve got two groups of friends: friends of circumstance (FoC) in my IB classes with me, pretty much who I see all day, who I’m not that close with other than one person. Then there are my Real Friends, who are not in my classes, a small group of people who I consider True Friends (TF). Most of my TFs are either going to the local community college next year, or staying in state, or very very local (the furthest anyone is going in NYU, from southern NJ). My FoCs are mostly going a little further away - Maryland, UDel, etc. I’m going either to England (Richmond University), Wales (U Wales Aberystwyth), or New Mexico (St. Johns). The further, the better. My FoCs are mostly, “Whatever, that’s far, you’re crazy, good luck.” My TFs, on the other hand, “How can you leave us and go so far away!” They’re taking it like a personal insult. I’m not going to change my top college choices to feed their egos, but I don’t know if its worth much more than, “Dude, chill, that’s why we have AIM.” sigh

And on preview, I really sound like a whiny teenager. :frowning: Sorry.