Source: The Admission Game (theadmissiongame.com)
High school seniors are entering one of the most critical phases of the college admission process. This is the time of the year when admission officers watch to see what students do when it would seem the spotlight is no longer on them. They want to see how you respond down the “stretch run” of the senior year.
Consider, then, the mile race. It is an apt metaphor for your high school experience. To complete the race, you must circle the track four times just as you must finish four years of high school in order to graduate. Winning the race—or finishing high school with distinction—requires that you endure the grueling pace going into the last lap and still have what it takes to sprint when the race is on the line.
Let’s suppose, then, that your race has gone exceedingly well through the first three laps. You jumped out to an early lead and have maintained a strong pace. With only one lap to go, you are by yourself at the head of the pack. You can’t even see the competition! This is a critical stage of the race because you begin to ask yourself, “Do I really need to work that hard in running the last lap? Should I save myself for the next race and spare the inevitable agony that otherwise comes with a sprint to the finish?”
The question you really need to ask yourself, though, is: “What have I won?” The answer is simple. “You haven’t won a thing!” You may have a “feel-good” feeling about where you are in the competition, but the race isn’t over. Moreover, changing your approach with a lap to go could prove costly as other runners are bound to be pushing hard to catch up.
The same is true of your high school experience where each year is like a lap of the race. Each year is important academically as you prepare to step up and meet the challenge of the year that follows. In all likelihood, your Junior Year really put you to the test as the work was harder and the expectations were greater. But you made it and that may have been cause for celebration in itself!
Having done well through your Junior Year may have left you feeling good about your prospects of graduating and getting into the colleges of your choice. Nonetheless, you need to ask yourself, “What have I really accomplished at this point? How many colleges have accepted me?”
The Senior Year is the all-important “last lap” of your high school experience—and all of it counts! If your objective is to not only graduate but to get into colleges that are selecting from among hundreds if not thousands of compelling candidates, you need to be attentive to how you finish the “race.”
Even now, in late February of your Senior Year, the outcome of the race has yet to be determined. In fact, admission officers at selective institutions are waiting and watching to see what you do academically when you don’t think you have to do anything. They want to see who among the competitive applicants will sprint—or stumble—when the race is on the line. And they will wait until the middle of March to make their final decisions.
So, stay focused academically. Continue to get the most out of your high school experience—even when it would seem that doing nothing is a viable option. Give admission officers every reason to be excited about you as you sprint to the finish!
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