What Am I Doing?: A Guide To Surviving Senior Year

It’s nearly the end of the school year, which means that seniors are entering a new chapter of their lives and juniors are preparing for that transition into their final high school year. Seniors are found everywhere (or absent completely) around East sleeping on their desks, not doing work, or chattering away and the small portion of seniors that are actually participating in class are doing their best to stave off that senioritis. Senior year is definitely an experience that will make or break your future and the most important transition into adulthood. So whether or not you’re reading this in 2026 or far into the future, here’s what to actually do before and during your senior year in order to prepare for college and basically the rest of your life.

Whether you like it or not, the summer preceding senior year is very important so using it to your advantage is what can kickstart an easy and laidback start to the first semester. Use those three months for volunteering, working, researching schools, and drafting a basic application essay using the common app prompts. Most rising seniors put a lot of that work off and it ends up being a last minute scramble right before applications on top of homework, clubs, and sports. Definitely don’t do that and prepare in advance, even if it’s not much. That’s considered the ‘prerequisites’ before the start of senior year. Senior Chloe Mosher recommends “Drafting your college essays during the summer and getting familiar with all of the college application requirements before school starts. Make a list of checklists in order to stay on top of all the work. Academic status still matters so don’t graduate with any regrets.” During August, there should be more of an urge to connect with counselors, starting to familiarize yourself with the application portals, and balancing everything from sports, extracurriculars, and schoolwork.

Senior year is stressful. Multiple surveys conducted in 2025 from Collegedata.com have found that “The total percentage (52 percent) includes students who said applying to college in general was their biggest stressor (33 percent) as well as students who cited specific aspects of applying to college, namely SAT/ACT tests (3 percent), competition for admission (6 percent) not getting accepted (8 percent), and family pressure or conflict related to applying to college (2 percent).” If anything, trust your parents and anyone who has been through this process. Even if you don’t want them involved, don’t reject the fact that they were offering to help you. 

There isn’t really a need to be best friends with every senior attending East (considering there’s about 450-500 each year), but definitely be friendly with them. Most of the last high school experiences will be with these people – Senior Ditch Day, fun trips or excursions, prom, and graduation – so at least be nice. If you’re really worried about making friends, just remember that you’ll have a completely clean slate once you get to college. Chloe also suggests “Make memories with friends and take advantage of unique high school opportunities like prom and off-campus lunches. Senior year is the last time you will ever have this particular balance of freedom and structure.” So at the beginning of the year or even when you’re entering the last month of senior year and you’re asking yourself “What am I doing?,” remember that there are millions of students like you who are in the same boat. It’s just a matter of whether you’re prepared enough for the rest of your life and how much you’re willing to engage with the school.