Vaccinate Your Teen Against Senioritis

By Katherine Cohen, Ph.D.
March 2008
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"Senioritis" is a dreaded disease common among America's 12th-graders. Symptoms of this affliction - which can creep up slowly on the unwitting high school senior, or occur after college applications are sent in the fall - may include the following: taking easier courses, spontaneously dropping extracurricular activities, epic procrastination, tardiness, absenteeism and an overall sense of complacency.

Parents, you do not want your senior to contract this disease! He could potentially have had three great years behind him, and he is looking forward to the opportunities after high school such as employment and college. But, letting the ball drop now will jeopardize his chances of being admitted to his college. Here are some tips that will help you vaccinate your teen against senioritis.

Communicate to your 12th-grader that:

• Colleges can rescind your letter of admission.

Students feel that once they have received a letter of admission, all the hard work is over. Not quite. An offer of admission is contingent on a student passing all courses listed on his senior year schedule. Colleges require that students send a copy of their final year transcript to ensure that the student has graduated and successfully passed all courses that was listed on his application. So, dropping or failing a class in your senior year may give your spot to a student on the waitlist.

In fact, the entire year's performance - not just the first semester - is factored into an admissions decision. In some cases students are waitlisted after the regular round of admission, in which case admissions committees will need even more proof of a student's commitment. For waitlisted students, end-of-year grades and AP test scores can be the dealmakers (or breakers). Here's an interesting scenario:

• You never know when

you'll need your high school courses.

Most students will consider decreasing the rigor of their senior year classes to take advantage of work programs. But, beware - a student will never know if they need those courses later on life.

Here's an example. One of our former students applied to her No. 1 choice, the University of California-Berkeley. Against our recommendation, she had actually lightened her course load senior year - dropping AP Physics and AP Statistics to take college-level science and math. She was not planning to be an engineer or major in science so her parents and guidance counselor supported her choice. At that point, she felt that she didn't need the AP scores as well. Fortunately, her admission to Berkeley was not rescinded as she had fulfilled the minimum curriculum requirements.

She called me in her sophomore year, telling me about how excited she was with the many courses that Berkeley offered. Unfortunately, she could not take full advantage of all these courses since she didn't have the advanced science or math that many courses required. She was upset that had she taken the AP courses and successfully passed the AP tests that maybe she could have taken these interesting courses.
Hoping to go to law school, she chose to major in political science. To her chagrin, she saw a required course in Empirical Analysis and Quantitative Methods. This class expected that all students had a solid background in calculus and statistics. She struggled through the class, as many of her peers had been exposed to college-level math in high school.

"You may have a school on your list because your mom or dad went there or because it has a well-known name. Once you get beyond those things and look at the experience and what it would really be like, that [determines whether] the school stays on your list or not and that will inform you, 'do I visit that school or not?'" Cohen said.

The moral of the story is: high school courses prepare one for the demands of college and in the real world. So, before you decide to make any changes in your senior year program, ask yourself, "What if I'll need this in the future?"

• Leave a lasting impression at your high school may get you scholarships.

All students want to receive their diploma knowing that they have given their best efforts, in and out of class. Although the temptation to relax in the spring semester is strong - especially after taking standardized test and writing essays - there are opportunities that only exist in high school. For example, there are many organizations that award scholarships during a student's senior spring semester. To be the strongest candidate possible, students need to be impressive in all areas - academically and socially. You may regret not being eligible for a scholarship because you decided to quit the tennis team half-way through the season.

Overall, taking a look at the long-term picture will help you stave off the temptation to have a relaxing senior year. Don't worry - you'll be reaping the rewards of all your efforts over the summer - just before you start your new adventures in college and in life.