This can give indecisive students hope for their future and not make them so stressed to make all of their decisions now.
“I would like to get a head start on deciding my career and college decisions so that I can have a set job for my future,” Aryah Black Eagle-Seres, a junior at Lakeland, says.
Junior year can be incredibly challenging for students because they have to manage academic responsibilities, extracurricular activities, and part-time jobs while trying to maintain good grades and start figuring out their plans after high school.
Another problematic aspect of the junior year is the SATs.
Juniors especially get stressed because the SAT scores are looked at by colleges when choosing which students to accept.
Another aspect that causes stress on seniors is their senior projects.
Many projects have a presentation, paper, and 40-90 hours of work completed.
Lakeland High School helps its students by giving them options to make the workload more manageable.
Suppose you take the Comm 101 and English 101 dual credit courses in either your junior or senior year and score above 80 percent on the 8-10 minute speech and the last essay, which is a 7-page minimum paper. In that case, you can bypass the presentation and research paper Lakeland has as their senior project requirements.
There are other options for a successful career besides going to a big college.
Community college is also a great option, considering the national average acceptance rate is nearly 100 percent. Some students choose to attend a trade school to get certified or even join the workforce directly after high school.
Many jobs are available in North Idaho after going to trade school, including electrician, plumber, nursing, technician, and welding.
These careers can offer good pay and job stability, in addition, they have been becoming a highly demanding job over the years due to the decline in their job fields.
The downside to trying to achieve a certificate through Kootenai Technical Education Campus, is that their classes have the possibilities of filling up fast so the quicker you apply the better chances it is to get in.
In today’s day and age, it is almost a universal belief that college is essential to achieving a successful career. From a young age, many students are taught that college is the next step they take after high school. This sets a mindset in many children that college is the only option.
This idea and narrative is often reinforced by teachers, counselors, and can be found on social media as well.
As students get to the age that they can apply to colleges, some have the idea that getting into the college they want is not an option but a requirement.
Another reason to there being so much pressure on children start applying is because there has been a rising cost of tuition per college, by being one of the earliest appliers and having better grades than the average student, it increases the chance of getting into the college applied for and potentially getting some of it paid off by scholarships.
“I feel like if you try hard enough in school and put in effort all throughout high school, then scholarships are an award from all the hard work you put in, and it isn’t too hard to find scholarships,” Kya Stice, a junior at Lakeland, said.
With all of the expectations and things to be done for getting accepted into the desired college, it can harmfully impact many of the students applying.
For some top colleges, there can be intense competition, and for students who have a fear of rejection, this can take a serious toll on their mental health.
Some people may take months or even years during their high school era to perfect their resume to look more appealing to colleges. All of these factors may lead to burnout and high levels of anxiety for each individual.
A study by the American Psychological Association found that 70 percent of students reported feeling stressed about their college applications, with many getting heightened anxiety about it.
This can lead to individuals questioning their self-worth depending on the outcome of each application.
