Senioritis

The leading cause of college freshmen failures.

Senioritis

Sarah Scott, Yearbook Media Editor

How Contagious is Senioritis?

 

Early acceptance letters and committing to colleges takes pressure off seniors for the rest of the school year. When students realize they have signed to a college, the rest of high school does not seem to matter because they have already been accepted. Little do they know, the rest of senior year can make a large impact on their future college life.

 

Whether students’ futures includes college or not, they feel the quadratic formula and Christopher Columbus will no longer be necessary. Instead of filling their schedule with advanced or AP classes to try to get some college credits out of the way, they take the minimum amount of classes and take their extra time with friends.

 

Even after being accepted into a college, an admissions office will still require a transcript after senior year to make sure students do not drop the ball their final months of high school. Cases have shown that some students have been kicked out of a college if they made the wrong decisions their final semester (Chuck).

 

Mrs. Hayward, who teaches AP Senior lit, said, “It [senioritis] is definitely real and one of the hardest fights.” Teaching an AP class, however, she does not see as much as senioritis as some teachers do. After the first semester, most kids have signed to a college and “…that is when it really hits.” To fix this contagion, she said, “I do the best I can to keep the class moving. When it gets really bad, I give pep talks because I do not need people crashing.”

 

Seniors are all on the same page: “Let’s get out of here.” Megan Eichner, 12, recently signed to attend The School of Mines next fall. “My senioritis started two weeks into the year,” she said. Megan, being in multiple advanced and AP classes has had a harder time than in previous years getting to extra school events. She said, “The only thing [that] keeps me going are the true senior memories, like football games I was unable to attend previously. I do not want to miss the good moments.”

senioritis pic
Granted, seniors may be ready to check out and are ready to receive their diploma; however, they need to stay on top of academics their last year. College is more challenging than high school will ever be and leaves students in shock with the amount of work, often putting them behind their freshman year of college. Sliding through the last semester will not be enough to mentally prepare anyone for the already demanding work and transitions in life that accompany the first semester of college. Risking college life is not worth leaving their grades behind.