Junior year is notorious for being the hardest year of high school. Upperclassmen often warn underclassmen that junior year will include sleepless nights, an overpacked schedule and endless responsibilities. This is the year when college preparation hits full force. Students start to join clubs, study for standardized tests, become a part of organizations and research colleges. With the idea of college nagging 11th graders, some may feel compelled to grow their extracurriculars list. All of these factors combined create a busy out-of-school schedule. On top of this schedule, school is said to become difficult. The grades from junior year are the most recent full-year data colleges will have on each student. This forces students to push themselves to do their best, inflicting stress on these third-year students.
With so many overwhelming pressures, junior year can become overwhelming itself. Berkley High School (BHS) offers many opportunities: a variety of classes, interesting clubs, many sports and SAT opportunities. With so many things to become involved in, students may recognize why junior year holds its reputation. To understand this pressure firsthand, I spoke to juniors Aram Mouradian and Lydia Binelli.
Both individuals had expectations of a challenging year because of the things they heard from upperclassmen or adults. Mouradian said, “I heard it was the hardest year and everyone was complaining about it.” Binelli similarly explains how she heard “It is the most important year, and you’re supposed to take hard classes on top of standardized testing”. It is evident that both students had formed preconceived ideas about junior year based on what older individuals had told them.
Since upperclassmen made Mouradian and Binelli fear junior year, it is only fair to hear their true perspective. Binelli and Mouradian feel similarly; they both emphasized how they have felt “overwhelmed” this year. Binelli added, “This has definitely been my hardest year of school because of my classes.” Though Binelli enrolled herself in challenging classes, she feels that “the classes aren’t hard individually, but there is so much to do for every class.” Binelli mentioned that she tends to have tests/big assignments for every class all in one week. With work constantly piling up, junior year can become a challenge.
As mentioned previously, there are many ways a junior can become overwhelmed throughout the school year. Preparation for college applications takes place during the trenches of junior year and college starts to feel “not so far away”. Binelli and Mouradian are both trying to accomplish the steps of creating a strong college application.
When submitting applications to colleges, students send in their activities list, the part of the college application where the student’s extracurricular activities are listed and described. Binelli, ensuring her activities list is decorated, is a part of many extracurricular activities. While she is following her passions she also explained, “Sometimes when I sign up for things I’m thinking that it is for colleges.” She continued, “I want to do the activities, but I also need to stand out when colleges look at my application.” It is important to become a part of extracurriculars that are enjoyable but Binelli believes that she needs to become a part of all of these activities in order to stand out; she thinks this is the case because it is what she has always been told. This is not the case as BHS counselor, Mrs. Weiss said, “It is important to become a part of two, maybe three activities that you really love and you should stick with those throughout all four years of high school.” An excessive amount of activities is an unnecessary stressor and expert Mrs. Weiss proved that.
Not only is Binelli becoming involved outside of school, but she also is fixated on her performance in school. Binelli shared, “I’ve always been conscious of my grades, but this year I’ve been especially aware. I don’t want to ruin my GPA by getting a bad grade.” Binelli is aware that her grades matter, especially as she advances through high school.
Alongside school work, Binelli is starting to prepare for the ACT. She claims, “I know that the ACT will be time consuming.” Aware that it will take time out of her days, Binelli still wants to prepare for the ACT because “the idea of college applications stresses [her] out”. With so much on her plate, she tends to get home late while still needing time for homework. This causes stressful days, which soon add up to busy weeks, which quickly turn into overwhelming months, and soon enough junior year is filled.
Binelli isn’t the only overwhelmed junior, Mouradian, having a different schedule, still relates to Binelli. Mouradian, trying to build up his activities list as well, is a part of B’nai B’rith Youth Organization (BBYO), which is time consuming, but a strong passion of his. He explained, “I have a leadership role through BBYO and this adds another layer of stress along with school work.” Not only is Mouradian a part of BBYO but he also holds a job at an accounting firm. He shared, “I’m hoping this job will help my college applications.” Similar to Binelli, college applications are a huge motivation for his extracurricular activities. Mouradian also tends to have late nights of homework, BBYO, and work, causing him to get little sleep. But, this doesn’t stop him from “trying to keep [his] grades up”.
It is clear that both BHS juniors have had a stressful but successful junior year thus far. The pressure they are feeling comes from many sources, but it is clear that they are mainly motivated to impress colleges. Mouradian emphasizes, “The rumors about junior year are definitely not rumors, they are accurate.” Of course, each individual will make a school year their own, but the rigour of junior year tends to be hard to avoid. Mrs. Weiss recommended, “You might not be able to take things off your plate but do not suffer in silence.” While the thought of college may be an anxiety inducer, make junior year more enjoyable by joining extracurriculars that are interesting and as Mrs. Weiss said, do not suffer in silence. Though the pressure can be intense, making junior year feel both hectic and overwhelming, the hard work will pay off.
