Rebecca Lee
Editor-in-Chief

Endless scrolling will be the death of me.

There have been countless nights where I have found myself on Tumblr or Facebook, procrastinating on my homework even though in the back of my mind I know I still have work to complete. I’ve slowly began to put off finishing school work more and more until the very last minute as this year progresses.

Even when a friend asks what homework is for the next day, after she gets a response she might nonchalantly say, “Eh, I’ll do it during my free period and lunch. I’m a second semester senior, anyway.”

Preparing for college does not end after a student’s junior year or after her first semester of senior year.

Many seniors during their second semester use “senioritis” as an excuse for not doing homework, yet most colleges still look at applicants’ senior year grades. Admissions officers reserve the right to question poor second semester performance and, in some cases, to reverse an admissions decision already made, according to U.S. College Search.

“Please note that this acceptance is provisional and contingent upon the successful completion of your coursework in progress and high school graduation,” St. Mary’s College of California writes in its acceptance letter.

High schools are required by most universities to send an admitted student’s second semester grades. A second semester senior who thinks that her last few grades will not be seen and could possibly affect her is sadly mistaken.

Schools such as the University of California and California State University do not ask for an applicant’s transcript until after she is admitted, so it may seem easier for seniors to drop a class late in the year if those are the only schools that they applied to.

Universities expect to see students keep up the same rigorous classes for the school year, according to College Board and dropping courses or activities can be cause for a college to take back its offer.

A slight decrease from an A to a B will probably go unnoticed by admissions officer,s but a large drop in a student’s report card who has As and Bs to multiple Cs and Ds can be reason enough for a school to withdraw an acceptance.

Seniors may have the leisure to not worry about their grades as much, compared to previous years, but then it becomes too easy to continue to slack off into freshman year of college rather be motivated again.

I have a bit of a problem with procrastinating as I wait for a response from the universities I applied to, and I know I need to start planning out how to use my time. Instead of simply writing down an assignment’s due date, I need to arrange a schedule to set aside time for homework, time for myself and follow it.