Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - November/December 2015 - (Page 42)

one step ahead Be Your Own Priority No matter what anyone tells you, the race to get into college is neither a marathon nor a sprint. It's a full-on season of insanity that can drive you to question your own worth as a person. It's the opposite of the American justice system, in which you're innocent until proven guilty. When you're applying to colleges, you're unworthy until proven worthy-or at least that's how it feels sometimes. Around this time in senior year, there is only one term for what many students start to do: really, truly freak out. College application season roots out the competitive from the ultracompetitive, even neurotic, students. In high school, success means being at the top of your game in every arena: piles of AP classes, leadership positions in clubs and on teams, and impressive extracurriculars. All the stress that students put on themselves in high school may seem to be a means to an end. The problem is that the habits you build in high school can follow you into college. If I had the opportunity to do high school over again, knowing what college life is like, I can't say I would make the same choices. In college, instead of working at all costs for A's in the hardest courses, leadership positions in the most prestigious organizations, and a thriving social life, you have to choose your priorities. No matter how rigorous your high school is, the academic work in college will be tough. It will take time to cultivate a group of friends, teachers, and teammates who have your back, and in the meantime, you need to focus on yourself. If your heart isn't in a course or activity, it's not worth your time and energy, no matter how prestigious others think it is. Your mental health is more important than anything else, except maybe your physical health, especially as a young adult. You may think that spending long nights alone at the library, jittery from caffeine, gives you a badge of honor and makes your classmates think you are a hard worker, but turning that behavior into a pattern will not do you good in the long run. It's important to rest. Set aside some time even in your busiest day to relax and forget about the deadlines for an hour or so. It's important to know why you're doing what you're doing and make sure you're spending your time in a way that's worth it for you. You may have been the best at everything in high school, but you have to accept that no one is number one in college. The most important thing you can do is prioritize your own well-being. This can look different for different people. Maybe it means carving out time in the morning to linger over breakfast and read the school newspaper from cover to cover. Maybe it means going for a run across campus after class. Maybe it means 42 imagine by Zoe Ferguson rearranging your schedule so you're not spending all your time on one subject or taking more credits than the college recommends, what's known at Cornell as going "over hours." Sadly, I have known students who attended prestigious colleges and committed suicide. I have also known students who took semesters off from school when they felt they couldn't continue. Those students came back, better and healthier for having taken a break. This may seem unfathomable to ultra-ambitious students applying to the "top" colleges in the country right now, but students at any of those colleges can tell you the same thing. The manic pursuit of stellar grades and top test scores that got you into college is not a strategy that will get you through college. There will always be someone to compare yourself to, someone who seems to be doing exactly what you're doing, only better. Maybe you pride yourself on your programming skills, but the person next to you got a higher grade on your latest software design assignment. Chasing a narrow definition of success will not make your life better; it will make it harder. Rest is just as important as work. The best thing you can do for your college career is to keep your mind fresh by taking a breath or taking a break when you need one. n Zoe Ferguson is a junior at Cornell University, where she is working on a thesis about women and mental illness in literature. She writes for The Cornell Daily Sun and Kitsch, the campus literary magazine. In her spare time, she likes to rest and relax. Nov/Dec 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - November/December 2015

Big Picture
In My Own Words Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns
National Treasure Volunteering at the National Archives
Driving My Future, Exploring the Past The many rewards of genealogy
Past in Focus National History Day
People-Powered Movements Studying revolutions at Phillips Academy Andover
Hooked on History From paleontology to conservation science, four graduate students share their research
This is History My summer at Crow Canyon
The Benefits of Majoring in History
Making History My journey to the inaugural International History Olympiad
Historians in Training The Concord Review Summer Program
The Ultimate Game
In My Own Footsteps Putting my choreography in the spotlight
Selected Opportunities and Resources
Off the Shelf Review of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options Interview with archaeologist Inna Moore
One Step Ahead Be your own priority
Planning Ahead for College Choosing the best college for your major
Students Review: University of Washington
Mark Your Calendar
Knossos Games

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - November/December 2015