# Do You Ever Wish You Had Worked Harder in High School?



## mestizo1991 (Nov 16, 2011)

Now that I'm finally finishing getting my associates degree I find myself looking back over the last three or four years and wishing I had tried harder in high school or at least planned out my college education better. I actually had decent grades but I was never motivated or pushed myself. I never bothered to try to get and out and do things or think about what I would do when I graduated. I now realize how some simple planning could have made things so much easier for me than they are now.


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## hazyjane (Nov 21, 2011)

*i do*

Im in my last year and I just figured out where I want to go, but I have to do community college for 2 years then try to transfer. My other friends all knew where they wanted to go since middle school. I wish I had taken AP classes and just done something with my time. Most of all, I wish I could say that my teens were the best time of my life, but considering that I stayed inside for most of it (one time I stayed in the house for 2 years straight), and got verbally abused by my entire family, I have to say that they...just happened.


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## rkrocks123 (Nov 7, 2011)

Not me, I didn't put any effort into high school and got into my first choice university anyways. I do wish I had worked harder for my first two years here, though, because my GPA is terrible and I've failed way too many classes.


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## Marooned (Feb 20, 2004)

Very rarely are life and the ideals we envision for ourselves in accord. To dwell on what could have been is to squander the most precious resource we have: Time. Life is too short for regrets. Be happy to have recognized those past failures, for it is through this process that we learn what it takes to realize our goals.


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## sansd (Mar 22, 2006)

Not really, since I left without graduating anyway, but I wish I'd learned to work for things earlier in life so that I could have started doing it when I needed to.


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## EmptyRoom (Jul 28, 2010)

Marooned said:


> Very rarely are life and the ideals we envision for ourselves in accord. To dwell on what could have been is to squander the most precious resource we have: Time. Life is too short for regrets. Be happy to have recognized those past failures, for it is through this process that we learn what it takes to realize our goals.


Agreed


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

I just wish I could have started community college at 14. I think I could have handled it better than I handled high school, both academically and socially. High school is a waste of time.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

carambola said:


> This is what I did, though at 15. I don't think I would have made it through high school.
> 
> It might have been better for me to have stayed in community college longer and not to have transferred as early as I did, though.


How did you do that? I thought you needed to be 18 or have a high school diploma/GED to enroll in a community college. And you can't take the GED until you are almost 18. I think my dad looked into it for me because I was refusing to go to high school. I took the GED a couple months before turning 18 and it was super easy, even though I hadn't been a real student since I was 13.


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## sansd (Mar 22, 2006)

komorikun said:


> How did you do that? I thought you needed to be 18 or have a high school diploma/GED to enroll in a community college. And you can't take the GED until you are almost 18. I think my dad looked into it for me because I was refusing to go to high school. I took the GED a couple months before turning 18 and it was super easy, even though I hadn't been a real student since I was 13.


I took the California High School Proficiency Exam. You can take it if you're 16 or in the second semester of tenth grade. I was in the first semester of my tenth grade year, but still had enough credits that I could take it (from summer school, taking an extra class in ninth grade, and college courses I'd already taken). The CHSPE is legally equivalent to a high school diploma in California, so it works for community college enrollment.


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## cavemanslaststand (Jan 6, 2011)

^^ @ komorikun and carambola

I used to think every state had PSEO:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Secondary_Enrollment_Options

Basically, it was a state-law program that allows high school juniors and seniors to collect college credits at a state college/university at taxpayer's expense, so free as in beer.

This worked well for me with SA and coming from a poor family. High School people always assumed I was at college. As long as I kept up the college grades, I was mostly cutting college classes too and was home taking naps all the time.

In addition, the Univerity of Minnesota also has a talented youth program (unrelated to PSEO) that allowed me to take calculus at age 12.

If your state has these programs, it rocks. I already had 3 years of college credits by the time I graduated high school, and the college credits double counted toward high school as well. All at no cost to me. Basically graduated both HS and Uni one year apart due to this.


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## nycdude (Mar 20, 2010)

I wish I made more friends.


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## SuperSky (Feb 16, 2011)

^ Same deal. I wish I'd worked harder on social stuff and things I'd actually need to survive, rather than schoolwork.


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## adopie (Oct 1, 2011)

I think I worked too hard in high school.

If anything, I should have studied and taken the ACT more times so I could have a better scholarship :<


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## Matomi (Sep 4, 2011)

I did fairly well, but i could've done better.


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## anonymid (Oct 16, 2005)

I wish I'd worked harder at every level of my education, but it's a pretty empty/meaningless wish, because I know that if I were to do it all over again I'd be just as lazy and just as much of a procrastinator. I would do just enough to get by, without really preparing myself to become a functional adult. My bad habits are just too deeply ingrained. No amount of self-awareness seems to make them go away, so I doubt a do-over would do me any good.


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## matty (Nov 2, 2009)

Yes and no, I wish I had of developed the skills of studying hard. But all in all I am happy with what I have made of my life.


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## thankyouberry (Aug 11, 2011)

I think I worked pretty hard in high school... it's just that I didn't learn how to work quickly and consistently. I also lost motivation sometime around junior year. I'm still trying to find it.


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## Huk phin (Oct 30, 2011)

Yes.


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## pita (Jan 17, 2004)

I took a lot of bull**** classes in high school and I wish I hadn't. A sampling: drafting, interior design, accounting, programming 1, programming 2, typing, desktop publishing, writer's craft. I probably should have taken calculus, biology, and physics with everyone else.


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