Juniors post AP’s take their foot off the gas, simultaneously face looming responsibilities

As junior year comes to a close, students have far more time to relax and unwind. However, the bulk of the college application stands ahead of them.

Graphic by Talia Moskowitz ’24

As junior year comes to a close, students have far more time to relax and unwind. However, the bulk of the college application stands ahead of them.

If there is one redeeming quality about embarking on the grueling battle that is an AP class at Staples High School, it is that once the AP test is over in early May, the class essentially goes into cruise control for the rest of the year. Assignments are rare, and most teachers put on a movie and let their students relish in the free time that was once filled with FRQs and multiple choice practice. 

For juniors taking a bulk of AP classes, May and June feel like a walk in the park when it comes to their workload. 

But as the age-old saying proclaims: better the devil you know than the devil you don’t. The feeling of dread that greeted me as I sat down to write on demand essays in AP lit felt debilitating at the time. It never got any easier, but after a while it became predictable. There is nothing predictable or familiar, though, about the daunting undertaking of beginning the college application process. I would gladly write an essay about poetry written in the 18th century every week if it meant I wouldn’t have to enter the arena of college applications, armed only with a vague sense of direction about my future. 

I have found that while it has been satisfying to return my textbooks and say goodbye to AP classrooms for the time being, the space that was once filled by my AP classes has now been taken over by an anxious sense of urgency when it comes to college applications

In the midst of my junior year, I was so entrenched in my classes that the furthest horizon I often saw was the end of the week. Anything that was due afterwards just simply did not take priority. This applied to the college application process as well. At least in my case, the common app essay and supplementals were pushed to the back burner, as they were tasks that would be taken care of when I had more time on my hands in some distant future.

The standard monotony of classwork, homework, quizzes and tests turns into a stomach churning, self-paced marathon of picking schools, writing essays, and sending in applications all before the end of the fall next year.

— Talia Moskowitz ’24

Well, now I certainly have more time on my hands, and without AP classes taking up maximum occupancy in my brain, the tasks that were once swept under the rug for another time have reared their ugly heads. I can now clearly hear the Common App in my head asking me to reflect on my greatest struggles and express a unique aspect of my identity– two questions posed in the 2023-2024 application. 

The high school junior at the end of the school year lives through a particularly eye-opening and shell-shocking time. The hustle and bustle of junior year grinds to a halt all at once, and their future as seniors stares them right in the face. The standard monotony of classwork, homework, quizzes and tests turns into a stomach churning, self-paced marathon of picking schools, writing essays, and sending in applications all before the end of the fall next year.

My peers may call me crazy, but I’d say my AP classes provided a welcome distraction from a far more daunting task: that of figuring out how to define and advertise myself to an array of universities, and beginning to figure out who I’d like to be once I leave the comforting halls of Staples High School.