Welcome to the 21st century where the competition to get into college is at an all time high, and the stress placed on high school students is even higher.

In order to be considered for admissions to these top schools, a student’s course selection must be rigorous all while obtaining excellent grades. An ideal student to many of these colleges is one with a perfect GPA and a schedule filled with honors and AP classes. Therefore, students who want to go to highly ranked colleges are doing everything possible to create a schedule fitting these terms and, in turn, overloading their coursework.

As a student who is interested in several of the top colleges in the nation such as New York University and The Ohio State University, I fall victim to the pattern of overloading on my coursework. This overload can ultimately lead to suffering. I become overwhelmed with all of the work I have for my classes and end up losing sight of the positive aspects of school.

Schoolwork should not be unbearable. It should be challenging and manageable.

In high school, most students are involved with various school clubs, team sports, and part-time jobs, all while trying to have an active social life. All of these things are important aspects of life that high school students should be partaking in. A student should not be doing homework from the end of a sports practice, around 6 p.m., until 2 a.m.

During my junior year I loaded my schedule with honors and AP classes and it created unnecessary stress in my life. I took too many honors classes in subjects I wasn’t interested in, for example, Honors Chemistry, simply because it was another honors class that I thought would impress colleges.

I have never been one to enjoy science classes, and in college I have no plan to major in anything remotely related to it. It would have been smarter for me to have taken a regular course instead in order to avoid staying up all hours of the night trying to figure out how to do a stoichiometry problem.

The time and effort that I put into all of these rigorous classes made my grades suffer a bit and my stress levels go through the roof. If I would have balanced my schedule and took honors and AP classes in only subjects that I was interested in, I would have been more successful in every class I took, as well as in extracurricular activities.

While it is important to challenge yourself in honors and AP courses, you have to feel confident in your ability to handle the workload. Take honors and AP classes in subjects that you are interested in and might even help you decide what you might want to major in during college.

Creating a balance with your classes will help you be successful in all of your classes, manage time better, and become less stressed. Success will come from the ability to challenge yourself without becoming so stressed that your hair starts to fall out.

Adriana Guidi is a Perspectives Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.