Have you ever contemplated the next few years of high school and found them to be a dark-ended tunnel of vagueness? For the most part––unless you have older siblings or your parents have your entire future planned out––this might be the impression you get. Academically driven Sentinel students may often be afraid of taking the wrong step on this path and it may seem like the one thing that ruins their chance at getting into a good university. If all of this sounds like your daily inner struggles, don’t worry. We have put together a solid list of things you should probably consider to have more success with your high school career, including tips from our very own seniors!
Action Plan:
Get more clarity:
To get rid of your concerns, you should talk them out with someone experienced in your area of interest. Make sure you have an idea of how courses offered at Sentinel look up to grade 12, and book a time with your counsellor to discuss which ones would be the best fit for you to start planning out. By the time you get to grade 10 especially, you need to pick your courses knowing how you want to pursue them in higher grades.
Pick an array of interests:
Make sure you are well-rounded in the courses you take––it is important to fill up your toolbox as much as possible. This is especially relevant if you are not positive about what field you want to pursue because then you have more things to choose from. That being said, you still need to have a field or two that you are primarily focused on. Remember, it is easier and more professional to hard-core pursue one or two things rather than being a beginner in multiple fields. More on that further down in the article!
Improve on weaknesses:
It is easy to gaslight yourself into thinking that you are academically strong by enhancing your strengths, but have you ever thought about how you can make your weaknesses less prominent? Rick Li, the president of the Tutoring Club (and a certified STEM genius) has narrowed down some of the weaknesses that you can focus on––whether it is your own or those of your academic competitors within the school:
“STEM subjects are the most popular subject at our club. That makes sense––it’s difficult for a lot of students! I tutor math and physics, and I can see the struggle. In lower grades, STEM subjects could be conquered with rote memorization, but the 11 and 12-level courses require much more critical thinking. I encourage students to rely less on memorization, and rather to understand why they may perform a certain step. This is especially true in math and physics, where knowing why is better than knowing what. I just want to add that humanities and arts can be just as hard for some, and that difficulty shouldn’t be a measure of a subject’s ‘greatness’.”
Personal Profile
Academics are NOT everything, be unique!
If you have not yet pursued anything in particular outside of school, now is the time to do so. You basically want to make sure there is something that you can confidently say you are good at, whether it is sports, music, baking, or anything that is of your interest. Universities look for a well-rounded class, not a well-rounded university. In other words, they want to handpick special people to make classes of varying interests and abilities. It is better to have a classroom with 30 people who each specialize in something unique, rather than 30 people that have a little bit of understanding of every random thing. There is NEVER something you should or should not do. Yes, it’s a good idea to start by volunteering somewhere local or having a school club, but think about how you can use those opportunities to do something no one around you has ever done before.
Common Misconceptions
Of course with all the information lingering around, whether it is your friends’ traumatizing experience with grade 10 math or all the rumours surrounding other scarring academics, you need to make sure you have your own bias. Rick has a few things to say on this matter, especially about common trends he has seen among students:
“The first misconception I hear is that you need a language 11 to graduate–you don’t. You need a language 11 to satisfy UBC’s entrance requirements (see their website), but it’s not mandatory for graduation. If you want to go to the United States, though, a lot of US schools want to see some foreign language on your transcript.
When students ask “What should I take” if I want to study X at Y university, I suggest they look at Y university’s entrance requirements for their X program. If you want to study chemistry at the University of Toronto, you should take English, calculus, and chemistry (physics is recommended). I found that here: https://future.utoronto.ca/undergraduate-programs/chemistry/. Most universities will be clear about prerequisites for undergraduate programs. It’s also okay if you don’t know what to study, I suggest taking what seems interesting–you might find your passion in a class you haven’t thought about. Also, talk to your counsellor! They’re here to help you.
A general word of advice, keep up good study habits starting right now. This way, you’ll be prepared for university. A lot of people underestimate the jump from grade 12 to year 1 university, and they pay the price.
Sorry to end on an ominous note! Thank you to the Sentinel Sun for this opportunity.”
That being said, if you have any questions for Rick, make sure to follow his club on Instagram at sentineltutorsclub_, or if you need some academic help or advice, you can join their google classroom with the code odtogw5.
In the end, you can not in any way shape or form predict the future, and you can not most certainly plan out the grades you get, the teachers you get, or anything of that sort. What you can do is try your best and not quit. This is not a cliché tip you get from someone that studies the night before a test and gets 100%, or someone that just knows everything out of nowhere. Coming from me, I have suffered tons trying to gain knowledge, and I know there is more suffering yet to come. However, I want to end my senior year knowing that I did the best I could have done, and you should do the same. There is value in not knowing something, there is value in feeling lost because, without all of this, you would not have a journey. Having said that, good luck and make sure you take steps that you know your future self would be proud of.
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