October, the Hardest Month for Seniors

Right now seniors across the country are feeling the stress of college full force. It is a force to be reckoned with, and it's bad. The SAT is on Saturday the 1th, most schools have their homecoming games and dances in a few weeks, early decision college applications are due in 3 weeks, and a lot more! Oh and now that school has been in session for a full month, teachers are starting to pack on the work because the course intros are over. October is the worst month for seniors.

Let’s start with the SAT that is on the 1st, or the one that is on November 5th. Any high school student knows the stress of studying for the SAT or subject tests in addition to everything else that he or she is doing. Seniors are so busy that the extra studying really just takes away from time sleeping. Our schedules are so packed as it is, but that's life. For students who took the SAT, a weight was just lifted off of their shoulders. Otherwise, November is the last test day for a good number of colleges. Students can still test in December, but they risk not having their scores sent in time, and this does not work for early decision or early action.



Then comes the everyday stresses of high school, especially homecoming. Everyone remembers their homecoming, seniors the most. It is their last one after all, so they want to make the most of it. Seniors need to find a date and arrange everything so that they can have a memorable time. Unfortunately, all of this planning takes a lot of time, time that could be spent on SAT studying or other school work. But homecoming is a part of high school, so the exception must me made. The drawback is that sleep deprivation starts to affect many seniors.

October is already the second month of classes. For most schools, September was an introduction to the courses and October is when everything starts to take off. Homework starts to pile up and students are not yet adjusted to the increased workload. This adds stress on top of everything else. Seniors are still on their summer schedules, so having to read a novel per week comes as quite a shock. This is not a fun experience for students. Fall sports are also in full gear by now, so anyone involved in anything has even less time than others.

Add to all of this college applications. For any student who wants to apply early decision or early action to a school, the deadline is usually Nov 1st. This means that the ENTIRE common application including essays must be perfect by the 1st. After then, students just need to do the supplementary material for each school, but the crunch before is terrible. There is a clock ticking and seniors feel as though they are running out of time. It is a race to the finish.

I hope that this brought some insight into the month of October. If you have a teen who is unusually stressed, sad, or depressed right now, this is probably the reason. October is not fun. It is the hardest month for seniors.