Mrs. Hamrick’s Counselor Corner

This is the time of year that our 12th graders develop the very hazardous characteristic called “senioritis.”  Some may have caught it as early as the fall and, frighteningly enough, as we are working on meeting with our juniors for advisement, there are even some 11th graders who exhibit early signs.  It is a classic occurrence among students on the verge of graduating to a new stage of life, but there is danger in allowing it to progress to the point that the student completely stops working or majorly slacks off, believing that his/her grades are under control, they’ve been accepted into their college of choice, or they just want an excuse to get lazy.  But, what many students need to realize is that the college will be reevaluating their transcript after they graduate to make sure that they’ve continued in the manner by which they were accepted.  In the same way, juniors should also be very careful that they choose courses for their senior year very carefully.  If they have taken honors courses all along and at the last minute decide to drop down to on-level, the admissions counselors will notice.  Yes, they will notice.  This is why we emphasize the importance of course and level choice.

 If a student appears to have misrepresented him or herself as a hard worker and committed to education and then presents grades or courses that are well below their typical caliber, the college may become suspect.  I have personally seen letters from UGA admissions asking that the student explain why their grades dropped, asking for a prompt letter in response.  And, in some rare occurrences, students have had their acceptances withdrawn.  This is no joke – if you take a look at your admission letter, it probably states something to the effect that the student has been “conditionally accepted” pending receipt of the final transcript.  I call this the “senioritis clause” (although there are many other reasons a students’ grades can drop – illness, death of close family member, catastrophic event, etc.  Typically, an explanation in regards to one of these reasons would be excusable).  Do you really think that an admissions counselor would be sympathetic toward a student who gave an explanation similar to this: “Dear admissions office, The reason my grades dropped during the spring semester of my senior year is that I developed a very strong case of senioritis.  I just could not bring myself to work!  You know how it is…”?  Obviously not. 

And this isn’t all just for admissions purposes.  Recall that college is HIGHER education.  College is harder (in most instances) than high school.  Does the logic fit that you should slack off a few months before you will be studying harder than you’ve ever studied before?  Students need to be prepared and ready for the challenges ahead of them.  Athletes – do you spend all your time before the season starts laying around, eating junk food in front of the tv, thinking, “I’m going to be really busy and will be working hard in the next few months, so I’m going to veg while I can!”  Most good athletes I know, anyway, are training, conditioning, working out, etc. so they can become better.  Same rules apply to going to college.  But you all know this already! 

 Anyway, I say all this to introduce an article that I found that addresses this topic from the collegiate perspective so you’ll know that I’m not just spouting a bunch of nothing.   Enjoy!