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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 1:37 am
by Barton1
If you have the drive to succeed, you can effectively juggle all of your tasks. Last year I worked myself to death, but loved every moment of it. I was drum major of the marching band, captain of the mock trial team, captain of the tennis team, working 4 AP classes, and proof-editing the yearbook. I was scheduled to a "t," but I thorougly enjoyed it. It's a matter of prioritizing, sweet-talking, and hard work. I hope you don't like sleep!

The worst day ever---I had mock trial county semis the same day as SCSBOA champs. Luckily we got a good draw and fate was on my side, but I had about two hours from the time I was done in court to the time my band walked on the field. I only had to drive 100 miles! Luckily I got there just in time!
J

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 5:21 pm
by misterkyle
ugh i have the same exact problem

trying to balance being section leader, class treasurer, 3 AP classes, winter formal commitee and an ordinary social life along with a job is really getting to me

i'm gonna miss marching season so much but in a way i'm glad it's over because its less responsibility for me, i just get to do concert season and first chair doesn't come with any baggage thank god <3

next year i'm gonna lighten my load a lot more because i'm expecting to get drum major, if not then i'll keep it up and just take one or two less AP classes.

i'm glad i'm not the only one feeling this way, jeez. haha

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 11:13 pm
by only4years
Great example! I got about ONE HOUR of sleep last night, didn't touch my horn, and barely finished all the other stuff I had to do. Why can't we have 40 hour days?

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 12:00 am
by altohack
only4years wrote:Great example! I got about ONE HOUR of sleep last night, didn't touch my horn, and barely finished all the other stuff I had to do. Why can't we have 40 hour days?
cuz then we would have more stuff to do.

They'd make it like 10 - 12 classes a day instead of 6-7, just cuz we have more time

People would be inclined to be in more extracirriculars...
just moving the standards up

we would get the same amount of sleep too
heh.

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 12:18 am
by Barton1
Hooray for taking too many extracurriculars! I was generally at school from 7AM to 9PM 4 nights a week. It was lovely....I imagine a lot of you are applying to top universities---you can get there, just keep up the good work. Just to tell you, admissions counselors love band, especially if you have some band leadership experience. I wrote two of my four essays about band for Stanford, so just keep that in mind...

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 8:19 pm
by MoophoniumMan
AzhlackDMPiccolo wrote:even though this is off the topic.. but you dont have to take soo many ap classes.. really.. one is enough.. dont burn yourself out on AP stuff.. it's not that important. as long as your grades are good and that you';r einvolved in other stuff. colleges dont care about AP stuff.. i fogot but my teacher once said that There are a lot of colleges that dont even look at it.. so why burn yourself out? :shock:
I totally disagree with this. I mean, I agree to the point that you shouldn't take every AP you possibly can, but... AP is important! Taking AP classes shows admissions officers that you're willing to take on a challenge, and that you can handle a rigorous course schedule. In essence you're proving to them that you can handle a work-heavy lifestyle, which is especially important at big-name colleges and private universities.

I take AP for the reason above (obviously)... but more importantly I take it because I can't handle being in classes with ::coughregularcough:: students. Seriously. It's a totally different environment... to be around people who are actually motivated to learn and succeed, vs. being around people who are just waiting for lunch. Furthermore, I generally prefer a challenge... I'd rather not take a course that insults my (perceived) intelligence. (lol).

Read The Gatekeepers by Jacques Steinberg for more information about how private college admissions officers make their decisions. I found it fascinating.

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 8:25 pm
by misterkyle
Barton1 wrote:Hooray for taking too many extracurriculars! I was generally at school from 7AM to 9PM 4 nights a week. It was lovely....I imagine a lot of you are applying to top universities---you can get there, just keep up the good work. Just to tell you, admissions counselors love band, especially if you have some band leadership experience. I wrote two of my four essays about band for Stanford, so just keep that in mind...
sweet. i've got 2 leadership positions under my belt and hoping to get the most imoprtant one too <3

as far as AP goes, that makes complete sense that they'd love to see us taking a rigorous course schedule... but i'm busting my butt as much as i can in AP Chemistry and i have a D, and that's affecting my AP Language and AP US History grades.. so i'm gonna end up dropping it at the semester, how bad do you think that's going to look?

ahhhhhh

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 10:27 pm
by Barton1
It depends on how bad you make it look---I won't pretend to be an admissions counselor, but they would rather see you do limited activities really well, then display mediocrity in a ton of activities. If AP Chem is pulling your other classes down, then I think you know what you have to do. I only did two years of science in hs and I was fine....

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 8:26 pm
by misterkyle
Barton1 wrote:It depends on how bad you make it look---I won't pretend to be an admissions counselor, but they would rather see you do limited activities really well, then display mediocrity in a ton of activities. If AP Chem is pulling your other classes down, then I think you know what you have to do. I only did two years of science in hs and I was fine....
yeah that makes total sense

i put wayy too much on my plate... i need to relax a little bit come the semester

thanks =]

Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 4:39 pm
by ChIckInPIt
Juggling? o YEA, and not even including school work, I got tons to juggle in band, especially on competition days. When you're in pit, u can never find nothing to do, there's always something. There's always things to take out, things to fix, and people to look after. Yea, that's right, at times ur gonna have to step down and talk to each member in ur section one by one to see how everyone is doin. Yea, even though as a leader you might be doin a lot more than everyone else, but sometimes ur members get stressed out and u just gotta be a leader and check them out.