December and January have flown by. February is soon to leave us as well. As these months pass by, so have college application deadlines. You are now done with all your applications (or most of them, in case there are later deadlines) and are just patiently waiting for April 1st to hear back from most schools. The next 7 weeks or so might be the longest weeks because the mixture of anticipation to hear back from college, the realization that you will be graduating from High School, and the feeling that you can’t wait to walk across that stage.

I know how you feel. Believe me, I felt the same way after applying to college. I just wanted to know what the next step was going, where I was going to study for the next 4 years of my life as well as how it felt to walk that stage and say that I was done with high school. With all of these exciting things coming in the near future, two things can happen: 1. you can be motivated to keep going and finish strong or 2. you feel less motivation to get things done, because, after at the end of the day, you are so close to being done. I really hope that you are experiencing the first scenario.

I understand that there are a few reasons why to feel like you are done and do not feel as motivated to finish strong. I just want to say that just because you are so close to being done does not mean that you should decrease the pace, let go of things and let your grades slip. My advice for these next few weeks is to treat them as a warm up for what college is going to be. Think of the next few weeks a time in which you begin to really find out what your study strategies are, to ask for advice from your teachers about what makes a successful student in college, or to plan ahead your summer before college. It is the final stretch and it is understandable that some fatigue is creeping in but do not let this fatigue get the best of you. You have made it this far and you do not want the last weeks of senior year to undermine all that you have accomplished in the past four years. Remember, colleges can withdraw your acceptance offer if your grades fall senior spring! 

Try to make the most out the next few weeks. I know that you might want to be done with high school but believe me, your last week in high school you might feel as if you don’t want to leave. So, enjoy every moment until then, keep working hard and finish strong!