"How many AP classes are you taking this year?" "Did you score passed advanced on the SOL?" "Have you applied to college yet?" "Are you going to the honor society meeting this afternoon?" "How many different clubs are you apart of?" "What's your GPA?" "How many community service hours are you doing?"
Those kinds of questions were frequent at my high school. Kids took at least three AP classes and maybe even a college credited class, then the rest of their classes were all honors. Almost everyone I knew was part of the National Honor Society or Beta Club. They were all completing community service hours more than they had time to sleep and eat (or even breathe). Kids were getting accepted to Ivy League colleges and having GPAs of 4.8 or 4.9.
And then there was me.
I guess you could consider me your Average Joe (or I guess Average Jane is what I would call myself). I never took a single AP class in my four years of high school. I was not invited to join the National Honor Society, Beta Club, or any other brainiac club for that matter because of that fact that I was simply horrible in French class, biology, and chemistry and that screwed up my GPA in both 10th and 11th grade. I took a handful of honors level classes in high school. I took honors English in ninth grade, honors biology in 10th grade (also known as the biggest mistake of my life), honors US history and an honors level theater class in 11th grade, and honors government and honors theater in 12th grade. I had gone to maybe two French club meetings before almost dying of boredom and quitting the club. I had played Primrose Everdeen in a "Hunger Games" parody for a theater Midwinter Showcase and I had directed two plays at my school, as well as ushering for basically ever play from ninth to eleventh grade, but never joined the Thespian Society. I got average grades; A's, mostly B's, and the occasional C (usually in math).
But then this miraculous thing happened.
The girl who was just "average" got accepted in college before most people. I was accepted into college after two weeks of my senior year starting. I was even (accidentally) accepted for the upcoming spring semester. Though I didn't go that early, it was obvious my little "plain Jane" grades were good enough to graduate school already and move off to college. Then, another thing happened. Little Average Jane me graduated with an advanced diploma. The girl who never took a single AP class, only took a handful of honors classes, got a 1330 on the SAT, and never joined a single honors society graduated with an advanced diploma, an acceptance into college and a 3.4 GPA. (For those of you who don't know, that's better than the average GPA of 3.0).
So, you may be asking where exactly am I going with this? In high school, they stress so much that you have to be in AP classes, you have to pass advanced on all of your SOLs, you have to ace every single class you take, you have to join every honors society you can or else college won't accept you.
On the contrary, for any high schooler reading this and feeling so stressed from everyone pressuring you to take every AP class you can, get a perfect score on your SAT, or anything else because "it'll look good for college," I'm here to tell you just be yourself. Take classes you enjoy, and take them in levels that you will excel in. Not taking every AP class will not ruin you. (Plus, it'll save you some money not having to pay for those tests). Some colleges won't even accept the AP classes you took, now that's some work wasted. Take the levels you excel in. You will get into college. You will succeed. You got this.
