Neharika: So I was just wondering how everything was going. I know it's the middle of college app season. 

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Rohini: So ya, we just submitted our UCs and earlies. And I think most of the people in my school's decisions are coming out soon. I actually personally earlied to one school. But it's coming out in December, but I know that a lot are coming out this week, especially this week because of finals, it is definitely a busy time of the year. 

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Neharika: how is the amount of stress right you are feeling right now or has it all subsided or has it increased since submitting. 

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Rohini: I think a lot of it we have to compare with junior year. Junior year at this time was a lot more stressful for me than senior year. Even though right now I have the applications piling up, I was taking a lot harder classes junior year and senior year is a little bit more chill. But with the applications, I am definitely feeling the heat of it all. I am struggling to get at least get through two drafts a day to send them to my editor so that my mom can see them. Plus on top of that keep up with school work. Definitely this week is challenging. This week and next week since it's the last two weeks before winter break. Which means all of my classes are going to have their final and tests. Plus it is my two weeks that my editor doesn't go on break so that she can edit my essays before the January first deadline. 

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Neharika: Awesome! Having gone through the process, how did you decide the AP classes that you were going to take? 

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Rohini: So I am kind of STEM-oriented. I like the natural sciences and so last year I took bio and physics and wanted to take chem this year. So it was the last of the sciences I wanted to take. As for my other courses, they kind of fell into place because of the requirements for graduation like for UC credits. Digital photography, econ/gov. For math, I am just taking the next level. I didn't stop at math like some of my peers did. And for English, I am taking AP Lit. It kind of just fell into place, it wasn't as much choice as last year because a lot of them were the required ones for graduating. 

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Neharika: Ya definitely! Do you think you made the right decisions by taking these classes? Were some of them harder than you expected? 

 

Rohini: Ya, actually this year I am not doing as well as last year at this exact same time. Which is weird because last year I took a lot more, at least I thought so then, but more challenging classes than I did this year. This year I am only taking three APs compared to last year which I took four. But, this year definitely I think the biggest thing was the transition of my math class. I've always been in the non-honors track, and this year I decided to challenge myself and take AP calculus, so that was a very big jump for me. And I am definitely struggling in that class, but over time it has gotten a lot better. I have definitely understood to process the material and understand it because my teacher is really good. Chemistry also is quite challenging. One thing is that I really enjoy the classes I am taking this year. Last year I didn't enjoy them as much, but this year I am finding the classes that I am taking to be a lot less busy work and a lot more actually hands-on productive stuff. So I am definitely having a lot of fun with my courses this year. 

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Neharika: When you are talking about AP classes, do you think AP culture is actually a thing at Mission? 

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Rohini: Oh ya, 100%! Mission is probably the most competitive school in our area. We come close with Irvington, but we have more stress on us because Irvington is allowed to take APs in freshman year and sophomore year. So we Mission kids like to pile them all into junior or senior year. And so I think that the AP culture goes hand in hand generally with just the mission culture in general. Everyone at Mission feels pressured, not really by our parents or even ourselves, to do as much as we are doing. But because of our peers and because we see everyone else doing all these big things and taking so many AP classes that there's definitely that ego factor and staus to the classes that you take and it is very very common at Mission. And I am very aware of it. As I am sure everyone else as compared to other schools. And it's really easy to get stressed out because sometimes you pile on way too many classes you aren't ready for just because other people are doing the same and that's the only thing that you know because you've been going to this school. Ya, the AP culture and the Mission culture is definitely extremely stressful. 

 

Neharika: If you compare AP culture and taking AP classes to just your overall time-frame of things that you are doing, do you think you are doing more than just taking AP classes? Are there some things like extracurriculars that you need to worry about as well? 

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Rohini: So, I think that, at least for me, I liked my selection for the AP classes last year and this year because I know a lot of people who decided to take more and a lot of people who took less. But I think for me I found the right balance because it gave me time to do the extracurriculars that I enjoy outside of school, and it didn't take up too much of my time other than finals week, which obviously was stressful. But, I definitely have time to do things that I like to do. If I had taken one less class, I would have definitely had more time to commit myself to one of my biggest extracurriculars, speech and debate. So there were a lot of tournaments that I couldn't go to because I had to study or I had a test. And that's why, after this year, I decided to take one less AP class so I could focus on speech second semester even though I'm not competing first semester. Focus on second semester. But I think I found my balance, and definitely, if anyone else finds their balance, there is a balance in all the AP classes and there's a way to moderate both your extracurriculars and AP classes at Mission. Even though it seems like everyone puts their work just into their school. 

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Neharika: Can you tell me more about this balance that you understood and were able to conquer? 

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Rohini: Sure, when we were first looking at AP classes to take, I remember everyone, well everyone was talking about the classes that they were going to take. I knew that I wanted to go into some STEM field, and I was always interested in the natural sciences. So I wanted to take two AP science classes for that reason. But I wasn't sure which ones. So I decided to take bio and physics instead of bio and chem because everyone had warned me, "Don't take bio and chem, it will kill you!" and stuff. So I went with that and took bio and physics. But I also knew that if I took bio and physics, I would have to take some easier APs and my other weighted classes would have to be easier so that I could prepare enough time for bio and physics, plus have enough time to do speech and all my other extracurriculars. Because junior year I had a leadership role in the speech team too. This year I am vice-president and last year I was the captain of a subset of the speech team. And so I knew that that was going to be taking a lot of my time up too. And when I look back at last year compared to this year, I was so much more busier last year even though I have essays this year. It's because a lot of the essays I did over summer which was also about this balance thing. Because I basically moderated my time so that I knew that I was going to get busy in the school year so I wanted to finish a lot of it in the summer. And that's the same with my extracurriculars in junior year. I did a lot of them in summer. I started writing my speeches in summer, started practicing in summer so that I would have a piece that I could take throughout the year. Even when I was busy, just go to a tournament during the day and come back rather than spending the entire week practicing a piece and not being able to focus so much on my classes. 

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Neharika: So having dealt with so many things on your place, I am sure there were a few side effects. Did you have any situations where you were dealing with things like stress and anxiety? 

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Rohini: I don't think I've had any really stressful experiences at Mission. I think a lot of people get really really stressed out and you can see it on their faces and we have all had a little bit of stress. But I've never had anything as serious as like anxiety or really anything serious like that even though my friends have. My parents always tell me too that I will end up wherever I end up and that's going to be where it is meant to be. Just knowing that I tried my best is usually enough for me. There was one moment in sophomore year that I had the absolute most stressful experience of my life till this day. It was the project that my chemistry teacher had assigned. And we hadn't started it until a week before and I now know never to make that mistake ever again. But we hadn't started it until a week before and it was failing on every try we had and it was a hundred point project which meant it would determine our grades for the rest of the semester. And I completely lost it. I would not sleep. Every single day my mom would come down at 5 am to start her day and cook our lunch and stuff, and she would see me in the living room poured over this project. And I did the most for this project because it was at my house so my groupmates didn't spend as much time as I did. But we really really really pushed ourselves that one week and I pushed aside everything except just focusing on that chemistry project and we ended up getting a good grade. But that week was definitely one of the most stressful experiences of my entire life. 

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Neharika: So you were talking about a few of your friends experiencing stress and anxiety. As a friend what did you do if you did anything to help them understand that stress and anxiety is just a part and that there's a lot to look forward to. 

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Rohini: So I think the one thing that really set me apart from my friends who went through these things is a lot of my friend's parents are what you would dub the term "tiger-mom," and I see it because I know them really well and I get to know that through them. But basically their parents are always on their academics and always trying to control every little aspect of their schoolwork. And I think that gets really overwhelming sometimes because honestly when I talk to my friends about their stress and stuff, they don't tell me "I'm stressed out because I did so bad on this test and I am scared for my grade." They don't say that. They say, "I'm stressed out because I'm scared of what my parents are going to think. And that makes such a big difference because I've always had my parents just saying "It's ok you're going to do fine on the next one." And having those motivating figures has really taught me a lot about stress from another person's point of view because they go through it so much differently than I do. So I just tell them, it's literally fine. Don't listen to your parents, you are going to be fine. Just keep trying your hardest and again, you are going to end up wherever you end up and it's all going to be worth it at the end. 

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Neharika: That's really good! The positive thinking seems to have really brought you forward. So if you are able to tell your past self one thing about your Mission experience since you are almost a second-semester senior, what would it be? 

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Rohini: If I could tell one thing to my freshman self, it would probably be,  try a lot harder in freshman year. Because sophomore year is when I really started getting my act together and I just wish I had put enough effort into my freshman year than I did in my other three years. So it would be, try a lot harder in freshman year and don't slack off just yet because second-semester senior year is waiting for you. And I am already starting to get a little bit of senioritis now, but it's just a couple more weeks and then it's here!  

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Neharika: Is there anything you are looking forward to since college seems to be a big part of your life? 

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Rohini: Ya, I am really excited to go to college. I am excited to get all my decisions back. I'm excited to take that step into being an independent adult because right now obviously we live with our parents, we go to school, and it's just like college is such a big part of my life so how could I not be excited about it. And I am excited to see where all my friends get decisions into and I am excited for second semester. I am excited for senior assassin, senior prom, the Ashland trip. Just all the things that Mission does for second-semester seniors that really makes it fun!