High School Survival Guide - Freshman Year (P1)

Hello, you guys! In the upcoming weeks, we are going to discuss something that's very important, and yet I have not mentioned it anywhere at all on this website: how to survive high school. As you know, I have experience with going to high school, and let's just say that it is a very big transition from middle school to high school. There are many things that you have to consider. Because I have experience with high school, I will use the best of my personal experience to guide you through these four years, which I would say will be pretty tough and hectic.

I hope that if you belong to any of these grades, you can learn something from these upcoming posts so that your high school years will not be the worst years of your life, but instead, the best years of your life.

First up, I'm going to talk about freshmen, as this is a very big move when you first come to high school from middle school. Something that I really want to encourage people to do is to fit in at your high school because this will be where you are studying for the next four years of your life. The first steps and actions that you take at your high school will dictate a lot about how you will go on with high school in the upcoming years.

The first piece of advice I would like to give you is to please engage with other people. I know that it can be very stressful to talk to new people, especially those who have different backgrounds from you, but it's completely okay. Remember, these are going to be your friends—people who will either make your high school the best years of your life or the worst years. So, just make new friends, talk to these people, and make new connections. It's not that hard, trust me.

Continuing on, typically in high school, when you first come to 9th grade, there will be something called orientation, where you essentially have the opportunity to meet new people, even those who are older than you—people in 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. These are great opportunities for you to meet others. My personal advice is that you should make connections with people older than you. You may ask why this is important, and I can answer that this can actually help you a lot later on. As you know, after high school, you will go to college, and it's everyone's dream to get into the best colleges possible, right? However, this is going to be a very tough process. If you're able to learn from people who are older than you and who have experience with applying to colleges, it will be very beneficial for you later on. So, just make new connections with older students and don’t be scared of doing that, as they can definitely help you later on by providing advice on academics and social life, along with opportunities you may not have known about yet.

Next, please study well. Something that people often do is underestimate the importance of academics in their high school years. Many people decide to focus on other things instead, such as hanging out with friends or being in a relationship. However, I would strongly argue that starting well is a crucial component of future success. First, the content you are exposed to in high school will follow you forever, including when you go to work or college. This knowledge won’t go away, so you better focus on it. Second, academics are a significant component of college applications. Schools want to know if you are capable of dealing with the stressful coursework provided by these colleges. So, do try to study hard and get good scores on the different exams.