It was November 12, 2021, and I was sitting in my statistics class scrolling through my computer when I started pondering college decisions. One of the schools I applied to had rolling admissions, but I still had not heard back. That curiosity prompted me to open my college spreadsheet to check for any updates and click on the link to their application status page. 

I logged into the website, opened their admissions page and saw a yellow box: An update to your application was last posted November 12, 2021. I got an uneasy feeling deep in the pit of my stomach. I took a deep breath and prepared myself for anything. Once I gathered the courage, I closed my eyes, pressed the “view update” button and hoped for the best. 

I opened my eyes and saw the words “Dear Jessica, Congratulations and welcome.”

“I actually did it,” I thought to myself. I was finally accepted into college. All of my work from the last four years paid off. 

After I finished celebrating in my head, another thought started running through my mind. 

Now what?

I’d already been accepted into college and achieved the goal I’d been working towards for the past four years, so what was the point of putting any more of my effort into school? I had finished turning in all of my applications, and while I knew that first semester grades still mattered, I no longer felt motivated to pour as much time and effort into my schoolwork. 

The feeling of senioritis had started to creep into my brain.

I told myself that I needed to keep pushing through, no matter how strong the urge was to let loose and relax for the rest of the semester. I was in the home stretch and had to continue staying on track because colleges could still ask for my senior year grades at any time.

No matter how hard I tried to resist the temptation, I will admit, I definitely slowed down after I started getting into colleges. 

Before the frenzy of college acceptances, I would open up my laptop the second I got home and get all my schoolwork done right away. I always wanted to stay on top of things because I hated when an assignment would be looming in the back of my mind. 

Now, I get home after softball practice and rarely even look at my laptop. That anxious feeling of ignoring an unfinished assignment is gone and has been replaced with a carefree mind. My mindset has changed, and instead of pouring my heart into my assignments, I’m just managing to stay afloat and use less effort for most of my work. 

While I used to get my homework done right away, I now sometimes use break or the 10 minutes before our first block starts after I arrive at school to finish the last few pages of reading. 

My drive and motivation that has been ever-present for the last seven semesters have started to wane, but I know this is okay and normal. Now that I’ve finally “made it” and accomplished the goal of most high schoolers by getting into college, I’ve decided that I want to spend some of the time I used to dedicate to academics on non-school-related things. 

I spend more quality time with my family now because I know I’ll be heading across the country for college in the fall. Whether I’m sitting on the couch watching TV with my parents, going to watch my brother’s baseball games or going to the driving range to hit golf balls with my mom and dad, I’m giving myself a well-deserved break from staring at a laptop and doing homework all day. 

Through this whole process of being a senior, I learned that it is okay to let up and give myself some room. Senior year is meant to be enjoyed and spent with friends while also making sure that you remain responsible with your schoolwork. 

I’m not letting up and allowing my grades to plummet, but I’ve started to allow myself room to breathe. 

Some of the time I used to spend on homework or studying is now spent doing the little things I’ll miss when I go off to college like going on drives with my friends or making dinner with my mom and dad. 

For those of you who will be experiencing senioritis next year or in the coming years, take a breather and relax. There’s nothing wrong with senioritis; you’ve earned it. 

Just make sure you don’t end up with 20 missing assignments because, as our college counselors have told us, colleges can ask for your current grades at any time, so just make sure they don’t get too low!