I'd like to think we all get a little wiser every year. At 18, I looked back on myself at 16 and couldn't believe how little I knew. I'm sure I'll feel the same way two years from now about how little I know today at age 39.
Still, if I knew back in high school what I know today, man, I really
could have owned that place (or at least have enjoyed a smoother, less stressful four years). So here are 20 things I wish my 39-year-old self could have told my high school self back in the late 80's. Some are college related, some or not. Maybe a high school reader can benefit from one (the rest, feel free to discard as the ramblings of a college counselor who went to high school before email and cell phones were in use).
1. Give your parents a break. Recognize that parenting a teenager is stressful and difficult. There's no manual issued when you take responsibility for a child. You won't do everything right either when you have kids of your own.
2. Get a job in high school. I'm glad I did this one, but I probably would have appreciated it more at the time knowing what I know now. I learned a lot working at that limousine company.
3. Guys, when you pick a girl up for a date, the first thing you should do is notice how nice she looks. The second thing you should do is compliment her–out loud–on how nice she looks. Seriously, do this one.
4. Appreciate what other kids are committed to, even if their activities are different from yours. You don't have to participate in the school musical to appreciate the kid who spends his time doing that while you're on the football field. You can ask him how the opening night went. And if you actually went to watch the musical to cheer them on, imagine how appreciative those kids would be. Wish I’d done that one.
5. Ask for help when you need it. A lot of the highest achieving students get there in part by asking for help when they don't understand the material. If I'd known that, I would have been asking for help a lot.
6. Don't eat out with a group of people unless you're willing and able to pay for more than your fair share. Everybody gets frustrated with the guy who you have to choke to get him to chip in enough money.
7. Anyone who says terrible things to you about people they supposedly care about is not to be trusted. They're doing the same thing to you when you're not around. Run away.
8. If you especially enjoy a class, tell the teacher. Write him or her an email, or just mention it after class. My mom was a high school teacher for 30 years and keeps a shoebox of notes she received from students. I can see how much it means to her to pull them out and read them today.
9. Be excited about the opportunity to go to college. While you're at it, be thankful for it. There are a lot of students in the world who would give anything to be able to attend college. If your biggest concern is whether or not you get to go to a school that makes the top ten on the US News list, you've got a pretty good life.
10. Try to learn as much as you can about the things that interest you. I don’t care what it is. People–and colleges–love a kid who feeds her mind.
11. Be nice to the kid that nobody else is nice to. Two years after my graduation, that kid everyone made fun of was killed in a plane crash. A lot of other people have to live with the fact that they went out of their way to make his high school years as unhappy as possible. I got this one right in high school and am especially thankful I did.
12. It's hard to overstate the value of working hard and being nice to people.
13. If you obsessively pay attention in class, you’ll cut your study time dramatically and get better grades with half the effort. Really wish I’d figured that out earlier than, well, now.
14. Try not to worry too much about the bullsh*t that goes on in high school. Who's popular and who's not, who gets invited to the right party and who gets left home, who looks right (or wrong), and all the backbiting and that is so rampant in high school–nobody will care about any of it once you get to college. Until then, just try to stay out of it as much as you can. Don't participate in or contribute to it.
15. Don’t waste your worry on things that don't matter. It's not for me to say what you should or shouldn't worry about, but it’s a big world with plenty of other people and causes that deserve your worry. I could have been a lot better about this in high school.
16. A good standardized test-taker eliminates wrong answers and guesses. A great standardized test-taker does that without feeling any less confident on the next question. Eliminate, guess, move on and feel good about it. That's the difference between high scores and average scores.
17. Remember that eventually there will be no such thing as summer vacation. So take advantage of summers. I mean really take advantage of them. I've even got suggestions if you need them.
18. Don't put a senior quote in the yearbook that will make you look stupid when you read it 20 years later. I didn’t make this mistake, but if I knew the lesson, I could have saved some friends some embarrassment. One wrote, “I’ll love you FOREVER _____!” and they broke up two months later. Ooof.
19. There’s honor in driving the worst car at school. We once had a kid at Collegewise who drove the most beat up Volvo station wagon I’ve ever seen. He had a bumper sticker that said, “Respect the wagon.” That kid had style.
20. Remember that you’ve got your whole life ahead of you. You can endure almost any teen setback, angst or humiliation if you remember that.