Quote from: Bjroosevelt on Oct 06, 2017, 01:02PMIsabel,
It is very impressive that you have a goal of practicing an hour per day. However, you have designed for yourself a schedule of someone who does not prioritize music. I know you are taking two music classes. However, you are not allotting time in your schedule to do the homework for those classes. I suspect you figure out how to squeeze in your AP homework.
For example, why in the world would are you take the PSAT, SAT, and ACT all in the same year? I guess it is okay if you really like studying for exams, but if you are trying to get into college, most schools will take either the SAT or ACT, but don't need both. In addition, the PSAT only helps with being a national merit scholar. If you don't need the scholarship, should you be studying for the test? I've been to school at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, and University of Southern California. I've only ever taken the SAT out of the 3 exams you mentioned....and I had to pretty much pay my way through college....It turns out that none of the students from my school who got into Harvard, Stanford, Penn, and Yale ever took the PSAT. They all focused their efforts their Junior year on top SAT scores, which they got.
Rather than trying to do everything as a Junior, try to think about your goals better...and structure your activities around your goals.
1) If you want to go to school as a music major, I'm not sure why you are prioritizing your other extracurricular activities.
2) If you want to go to school for Liberal Arts, Engineering, or Business, ask yourself how important music is to you......
3) If you are going to school for Liberal Arts, Engineering, or Business and it is important for you to do music, why are you bothering with the National Honor Society or decorating Floats for Homecoming. Is there a music related leadership role you could take on as an extracurricular? If music is important to you, focus your extracurriculars around music.....it will resonate much better on College applications than 'NHS officer' on your college application. Alternatively, you could change your volunteer work to playing music at a local assisted living center....The seniors would love hearing you practice and enjoy spending time with you
4) Only thing I wouldn't sacrifice is the volunteering. It's gods work. Not sure if you are person of faith, but if you are a high achiever, you need to do something for other people in order to keep your mind calm and focused. Humans aren't wired to constantly go, go, go.
5) Ask yourself how many of your time allocation decisions are focused on your goals, and how many time allocation decisions are based on what everyone else is doing......so "It must be right for you." If it is the latter, you can be confident that it probably "isn't right for you."
You are facing a struggle every high achieving adult does....and it is great prep for your future in college, when you have twice as much homework. I remember my first semester in Undergrad, my professor gave us 21 books to read for the semester. That was only one class.
I want to go to school as a music major. I am taking test prep as one of my classes in school, and throughout the year we go over the PSAT, SAT, and ACT (as part of our grade). My mom thinks it is necessary to take all three exams, as those are the exams colleges look to see that you have taken, and most juniors take all three. With the PSAT you can qualify for scholarships, and any extra money would help pay for college.
I like your advice about centering my extracurriculars around music- I plan on auditioning for select band and doing other performance-centered activities throughout the year. As for leadership, there are limited options available for me as far as I know. We have Tri-M (National music honor society), but the officers already are in place.
As far as my other extracurriculars go, I like art, so I am an officer for our Art Club. I am in NHS because it is centered mostly around volunteer work and making successful leaders, etc. I am Christian, and I volunteer with AWANA, a children's ministry.
A lot of the things I do, like take AP classes, standardized tests, and being in NHS are mostly because it is what is being done. Yet, each activity does have its advantages, especially considering college in general.
In the end, I'm not sure what activities I could drop. Thanks for your advice!
But you also then have to be careful to still be accessible. I'm admittedly not the easiest to get in touch with. If you catch me on one of my breaks, you'll probably get a response immediately. If not, it might take some time. I'm going to be trying to add some communication pomodoro in towards the end f the day to be more available. What is the old addage? YOu can pick two: good grades, social life, or sleep. Maybe it is possible but I'm still trying to figure that one out!
