Fall is a stressful time for RAHS seniors as they decide what they want to do next year.
For some, this process is something they have been preparing for for months; researching, touring and making a plan. For others, these deadlines have crept up unnoticed. No matter what your plans are, the fall of senior year is a stressful time.
Some students may be planning to go straight into a job or career pathway. Other students may be looking to go to trade school and researching the best schools for them. Many students are planning to attend college after high school, so they are in the process of figuring out where they want to go, and what they have to do for their applications.
Many of these processes are incredibly complicated and can cause students to feel unprepared to handle the requirements. Norah Sandy, a Senior at RAHS stated, “there are so many different steps to take during the process that it’s hard to know what to do next.”
RAHS offers lots of guides and personalized resources to help clarify these steps for students and offer them a helping hand in all the chaos that comes from making these big decisions.
RAHS offers college visits from schools around the state, support from counselors, Naviance (a college and career planning website) to help discover potential pathways, guides to the FAFSA (a government financial aid form) and scholarships, and access to the direct admissions program (a program that tells students which Minnesota schools will admit them based on their academic records).
This emphasis on your future can cause a lot of stress on students who are unsure what they want to do for the rest of their lives. Some students feel-pressured to make their choices based on outside factors. Senior Sophia Seifert stated, “It can feel extremely overwhelming to have to decide a major and a career path this early in life. Especially with some colleges pushing you to declare your major before you apply.”
Even with attempts to figure out your interests through classes or clubs many students are feeling lost. As Sandy puts it, “I feel excited to be making such a big decision but also overwhelmed by the expectation to suddenly know what I want to do with my life.”
Many students around the world are feeling this way, but it’s okay to be unsure. There is still time to figure it out, make mistakes and learn from them.
One thing that may make these decisions seem even more stressful is feeling like you’re unprepared or don’t know what you are doing or what steps you have to take. Some ways around this are to take advantage of RAHS built-in support systems or to talk to previous students who have gone through this before to help you relax and wrap your head around what needs to be done.
Despite the school’s attempts to help students out, this is still a stressful time for many seniors. As Sandy said, “I have definitely been feeling some stress due to making these decisions. It’s hard to not compare yourself to others going through the same process because some people are more prepared than others.”
It’s easy to believe that the choices you make in the next couple months are what determine the rest of your life but remember, it’s not binding. You can switch majors as many times as you want in school or even transfer schools. You can join the military or start your own business at any point in life.
One way to handle this stress of decision making is to take time to enjoy the present without worrying about the future. Seifert said, “I try to make sure I spend time doing things I enjoy on the weekends like spending time with my friends and family.”
There are infinite possibilities out there and what happens now might not even matter. So remember: it’s okay to stress out about what you have to do now, but remember that it’s okay if your priorities change or you decide that other options work better for you. There is the possibility for joy and fulfillment in any walk of life and in any possible career.
