Staying Chill

High School can be pretty stressful, especially with a rigorous school schedule. But it does not have to be. AP classes and extra-curricular activities are wonderful in healthy doses, but too much of anything can really hurt...like blunt-force head trauma.

AP classes are usually much more interesting and rewarding than your everyday honors or regular course, but also require a bit more effort. Three or four AP classes are really all you need in any given year, depending on the difficulty level of the courses (the most difficult AP classes are pretty notorious, so you should know that two or three of these are enough). Honors classes are weighted the same as AP for ranking, and DV GPA is on a standard 4.0 scale so AP classes do not have much of an advantage on honors classes. Some colleges will offer credit if you manage a 4 or 5 on the AP test, but some colleges just use the AP test to place you in more advanced classes in college.

Extra-curricular activities are a must in High School. They will not only keep you involved socially, but also help to motivate you academically. Just like a double-double is better with a side order of animal style fries (or whatever you like to eat), your school schedule should be complimented by some activity you enjoy. Whether it is football, ceramics, painting, martial arts, running, competitive sweater knitting, or whatever; you need to do something other than study. Believe it or not, sometimes having that something extra on your plate will help you enjoy your meal that much more (sorry for extending this analogy so far...haha). A good balance of school and extra-curricular is not only fun for you, but colleges like to see that too (it proves to them that you actually have a soul). So keep trucking academically, but don't forget to moderate and to do something for yourself once in a while.

-Minyu Kim