Simply Serendipitous

From the very beginning of high school, I remember hearing the horror stories about the junior year.  Between the first APs, the college search (at least for students at my high school), taking on leadership roles in extracurriculars, and still keeping grades up, it was sure to be a year of hell.  But it actually turned out to be my favorite year of high school.  We got to park in the upper school lot, we felt hardcore with our ridiculously long study guides for AP US History, and we got to plan the prom.   With great responsibility comes great reward, or something like that.  (right: the admin building of my high school).

I’m starting to think that junior year of college might be similar, though on a larger scale and for more undefined reasons.  But maybe it’s just that I’m slightly lagging behind my classmates in taking things on, which is a definite possibility.

So what is it that’s making my junior year so different from my first two years?

*a job: I work in the Admissions Office this year and I’m definitely excited about the responsibility and opportunity.  It does, however, mean a more structured routine during the week.  My classes start at 12 or 1:30 (depending on whether it’s M/W or T/Th) and in the past, that would’ve meant I’d stay up really late and then sleep in really late all week.  But nowadays, I’m working in the mornings before class, keeping me on a normal schedule.

*an apartment: I have my own apartment, as I mentioned in an early post, which is a really nice place to go back to at the end of the day.  It also means remembering to pay rent and other bills, and if there are any problems, being annoying until it gets fixed (as opposed to dorms where a phone call fixes any problem you could ever have).  I’m also absolutely terrified of bedbugs. (They’re actually a serious problem–look it up if you don’t believe me.  Thankfully I’m still in the clear).

*no meal plan: It’s surprising how much of an adjustment it is when you start doing your own grocery shopping and feeding yourself.  I’ve already gotten into the habit of making huge portions of things that keep well (last week was chili) for the nights that I’m too lazy to cook.  There’s also the whole budgeting thing that goes along with this.

*active involvement:  The past two years, being a member of the Student Admissions Advisory Board has been my main involvement, but I’m trying to branch out this year while still staying hugely involved with SAAB.    I’m the Presiding Official of the Academic Ethics Board this year, though, so that will certainly keep me busy as well.

*classes: Somehow I ended up in three, 300-level polisci classes this semester.  I feel like I’m getting such great exposure to different things, but I have SO much reading.  More on classes in a future post.

*routine: The biggest change, mostly the sum of all of these components, is that I have a pretty rigid routine.  This past week, I was busy from approximately 9-6 with work and classes, and then some days later if I had evening meetings.  In the past, I’d have a lot of free time during the day (which, admittedly, I didn’t always use very wisely, but it was always there), so it’s been a big adjustment to have a full day and then come home and realize I still had all of my assignments to do (sounds like high school, actually!).

Despite the busy-ness and all the changes, I am fully confident that, like high school, my junior year at Hopkins will be my best yet.  And, sadly, it’s my last full year at Hopkins, too, since I’m graduating early and will be spending most of my senior fall semester at the School of Public Health to finish up my major.  But stay tuned to see how the story plays out.