How to Make the Most Out of High School - Insights From Ivy League Students
Reading Time: 12 minutes
I can’t give you a step-by-step, secret formula to become first in all your classes, found your own million dollar company, and cure cancer by the time you’re 18. But don’t click away yet!
Though, I have not studied at an elite US University (however, it is one of my aspirations), through a few too many virtual coffee chats with Ivy League undergraduates and alumni, paired with my own experience at my state’s top high school for 27 years (at the time of writing), I’ve formed a hypothesis around what makes for a fulfilling high school experience. This is going to be a very subjective view that certainly won’t fit everyone - you could say that this whole website is addressed to the 12 year-old Yurui from 5 years ago who had no idea what he was doing.
I’ll try my best in this article to present how we can make the most of our time in high school. Not so coincidentally, the topics I’ll be discussing are centered around Harvard’s admissions criteria (which is similar to other top US schools), where admissions officers give a score from 1 to 6 to each part of your application (Academics, Extracurriculars, Athletics, Personal, Interview and Letters of Recommendation).
In this article, I’ll be giving you my take on how to approach high school in terms of:
TL;DR for these two sections - spend your junior years in high school exploring, to find what you enjoy, and then use your senior years to hone in on those passions - but don’t stop exploring and taking risks! That’s what high school’s all about :)
TL;DR for these two sections - they’re pretty much essential for maintaining your personal sanity through the time you spend working on 1) and 2) - great for stress relief and maintaining your own physical and mental health.
The Ivy League students I talked to placed a huge emphasis on finding subjects that you enjoy and going as deep as you can into those as possible. Try to find a specific area - if it’s Computer Science, try to get better marks in Maths, Physics, and of course, CS related classes.
I’m not going to lie, even though I went to an high-performing school, studying was never on the top of my priority list in high school; academics, for me, felt like a day job, and my extracurriculars/personal life was a side hustle. I might have to work overtime now on the studying because of how close my final HSC exams are, but I still get a ton of questions from junior students regarding “how do I study for my exams next week”, or “I’m pretty overwhelmed with assignments right now”. Most of the time, I try to provide some potential strategies when approaching academics, but at the end of the day, everyone has their own method that works for them.
I think the best piece of advice I can give is around subject selection - questions like “help me choose between subject X and Y”. When you’re choosing your subjects for Years 11 and 12 at the end of Year 10, I think there are a few key things you have to consider:
a) what sort of degree you want to study, and by extension (even if only slightly), what sort of career you want to get into after graduation. These don’t have to be concrete ideas, but if you’re thinking about going into an Engineering or STEM field, it’s not a bad idea to be studying a higher level of Maths, Chemistry and Physics.
b) what sort of marks you want to be getting at the end of the day. Especially in the NSW HSC, there’s a non-negligible difference in scaling between certain subjects - for example, studying Economics as compared to Business Studies will have an effect on the marks you get. However, this might only be applicable for students in New South Wales. Further, if you’re academically stronger in a subject, it will obviously be easier to perform at a higher calibre.
c) (THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE): What subjects do you truly enjoy? Which classes put a smile on your face when you see them on your timetable for the day? In which classes do you actively ask questions and spend time outside of class interacting with the teacher because of your genuine interest? When you get home from school, which subject’s homework do you want to work on first?
At the end of the day, it’ll be the subjects which you enjoy that will bring you the most fulfilment, and the best academic results, just by considering how much work you’re voluntarily putting in.
But you might ask, “Yurui, how do I find the subjects I’m interested in?” Good question - if you’re a student in Year 10-12 thinking about the subjects you’re going to be studying in the future, ask yourself the questions above! It might be a bit too late for Year 11/12s, but if you were like me and thinking about dropping a subject, the questions above are super important.
If you’re a more junior student, make sure to put some genuine effort into every subject you’re studying. In Year 7 and 8, it was mandatory for us to study English, Maths, Science (a mix of topics from Chem, Phys, Bio, Earth/Enviro, and Astronomy), History, Geography, PDHPE (Sport), Agriculture, Technology (woodwork/metalwork), Music, Visual Arts, Latin, and Japanese. I think the idea of doing so many subjects early in high school is great - school is providing you with an opportunity to explore as many areas as possible, as you gradually hone down on what you enjoy. Because I studied so many subjects in Years 7 and 10, I was able to make a decently informed choice in Years 9 and 10, where I decided to study Latin and Elective History, later switching the latter to Accelerated Software Design and Development, taking both these subjects to the HSC level.
Why do I place such an emphasis on choosing subjects you enjoy? At the end of the day, it’ll be these subjects which will bring you the most fulfilment, and the best academic results, just by considering how much work you’re voluntarily putting in. In subjects you enjoy, you won’t be putting them off to the last minute, you’ll be actively seeking to go beyond the syllabus/course guidelines and you’ll be spending more and more time immersed in these subjects.
We hear a lot from top US college admissions about studying a rigorous course load and challenging yourself throughout high school. But as Ivy League students have told me, just because you’re not doing a particular number or set of subjects, doesn’t mean you’re not challenging yourself. Love Maths? Consider doing Mathematics Extension 2 (specialist for the non-NSW Aussies) and try your hand at Maths Olympiads. Love Latin? Try Extension Latin and seek out external competitions to fuel your passion. Love Chemistry? How about Science Extension, deeper research into science, olympiads and science fairs? The list goes on - you get the gist.
TL;DR - High school academics is all about finding what you enjoy, and then honing in on those passions and niches as deeply as you can because of your genuine interest for the subject.
For my HSC, I studied English Advanced (which I USED to hate), Mathematics Extension 2 and Latin Extension. I finished the HSC subjects of Agriculture in Year 11, and Software Design and Development in Year 10; I’m in the process of dropping Chemistry now and dropped Physics a few months ago. As you can probably tell, an individual’s perception of life changes as they gain more and more experiences - because of our diversity in perspectives, I have now come to love English as we analyse hundred-year-old texts and try to look through the lens of the author and of each other, as we are each shaped by our own unique contexts. I ended up deciding to drop both Chemistry and Physics because I found that I wasn’t being as intellectually stimulated as compared to my other subjects and just plain and simple, wasn’t enjoying them anymore; this doesn’t mean to drop every subject and run, however. When trying new things out, always give it your all, and listen to your intuition for when it might be time to let go. Talk to your mates/teachers as well. Even if you’ve found something you supposedly enjoy, always be radically open-minded to new experiences, and make the best decision for yourself.
I’ve also been asked way too many times about tutoring. I did 2 hours a week in Years 9 and 10 and 5 hours a week in Years 11 and 12. I view tutoring as a supplement to schoolwork, and not as a replacement. Many of my friends went to egregious amounts of tutoring (15+ hours a week) - but I was achieving similar marks as them. There’s no great benefit in accelerating all your subjects months ahead of your school’s pace - sometimes it can have negative effects, when students get too complacent when you should be thoroughly revising in class because you ‘already know all the content’.
Especially for NSW HSC students, know that getting a high ATAR is usually a game of diminishing returns. Unless you’d like to study Medicine or Law, or there are any special programs which specifically pique your interest, a 98 ATAR will be no different to a 99.50 ATAR, though they take a vastly different amount of effort (at least in my opinion). If you’re a high achieving student academically, I’d recommend you to maintain your success, but keep in mind what degree you want to get into and make time for things other than studies. Furthermore, if you’re really set on getting a high ATAR, I’d put a lot more time into English. Because it’s mandatory, a difference of even a few HSC marks could lead to a significantly lower ATAR - for example, in 2022, a 91 in English Advanced scaled down to a 84.4, whereas a 95 scaled down to a 93. 4 marks difference resulted in 8.6 aggregate marks (which is pretty insane, considering the difference from a 99.50 and a 99.00 ATAR was 10.8 aggregate marks that year).
I think that the same philosophy that applies to academics can also be applied to extracurriculars. I truly believe that high school students should try to explore as many extracurricular activities as they can. The difference between academics and extracurriculars is that the amount of time you decide to immerse yourself in extracurriculars is entirely voluntary - which means you have full ownership and autonomy into how you spend it.
I think it’s absolutely essential to try out at least some of the extracurricular activities which your school offers with your spare time. Anything that piques your interests is worth spending 30 minutes every week in going to a meeting. If you’re tentative about not trying out extracurriculars because you’re missing out on break time with your friends, why not go together? After all, you are still spending time with them, just as if you were to sit outside together (which is what most groups of friends do from my experience). Going with friends also means that you can hold each other accountable for going to clubs and exploring your interests together.
If you’re interested in social justice, why not try out Amnesty International or Interact Club? If programming seems cool, see if there’s a way you can learn to code! Think dancing is lit? Try find other people who are interested through dance clubs! If clubs don’t exist at your school surrounding things you’re interested in, maybe consider founding your own club - it’s not as scary as it seems :) Talk to your teachers about it and who knows, something tangible might come out of it.
Once you have an idea about what you enjoy in particular, a) try to go as deep as you can into it and b) don’t stop exploring different opportunities. You might love community service - if you’re particularly inspired by your time there, maybe consider founding your own community service organisation! That being said, once you start diving deeper into a niche, don’t shut every other opportunity out - see more about Radical Open-Mindedness. The point of extracurriculars in high school is to find out what you enjoy, and you do that through exploring as many extracurriculars as you can. Taking risks is also essential - you have nothing to lose when you’re a teenager :)
Also, try not to obsessively plan out how you’re going to participate in extracurriculars, and try not to do things for your resume. I know it sounds appealing, but at the end of the day, you might end up living someone else’s life and not experiencing as many things to ultimately find your niche (which, again, is what high school is all about).
I taught myself to code in 2020 during Year 9 and the first COVID lockdown in Sydney - from there I realised how much I enjoyed it and decided to work on a few passion projects with my friends, which had a decent amount of success. From there, I branched out into a bit of WebDev, some competitive programming (which I wasn’t awesome at) and some more personal projects.
The skills I learnt there really shined through when I became a member (and later the leader) of our school’s Sound and Lighting team. Although on the outside it might have just seemed like we were playing around with cables, lights, and microphones, but in reality, being a part of and leading SnL was one of the best things I ever chose to do. Time spent before school and at lunchtimes setting up for events such as musicals, assemblies, year meetings and external events taught me responsibility, organisation, communication/teamwork (which evolved into camaraderie), and leadership skills while ‘serving the school’, all of which translated into the rest of my life. Funnily enough, I only ever saw it as time to have fun with my friends and work with cool equipment (and often get free food/miss class lol). Again, it comes back to doing the things that you enjoy, which in turn will be the things you’re good at.
There are also an insane number of opportunities outside of high school as well. Organisations surrounding community service, politics, music, and research - the list goes on. I’m not going to lie, for most of my time in high school, my extracurriculars were focused inside of school. But later, in Years 11 and 12, I decided to branch out and become more open-minded, which led to me working on personal projects, working at cool places and meeting more and more insane people.
One of the best pieces of advice I got through my virtual coffee chats with Ivy League students around applying to US schools was this - “Going big in your niche is what will get you competitive at the top colleges. Go super deep into one particular area and do things no one else will do. If you can’t definitely say to yourself that you are going to be the most competitive applicant coming out of Australia, then there is more work to be done.”
However, another perspective that I agree with more, which was presented to me by another Harvard student, and one of my close friends, with regards to making the most out of high school but still optimising for admission to top US schools is the concept of being not one-dimensional, but not well-rounded either (I mean the kid just participating debating, art projects, programming, social justice clubs and competitive sport). A good way to think about it is being well-lopsided; having a few areas which you particularly enjoy and are good at, which form your personal story. It’s sometimes useful to have an unusual combination of skills, and become the best person with that niche - that’s what makes you special. Keep adapting your plan to find the best personal fit.
Extracurriculars will really shape you as a person - well, it did for me at least. I like to view myself as someone who enjoys the analytical and logical side of Maths, Latin, Programming, and Chess and also as someone who tries to think deeper about the world, with the ability to actually take action on my ideas by working on personal projects (such as this very blog), found clubs at school which are still going strong today, and take leadership positions in student bodies (through our Prefect Body and the Sound and Lighting team).
I found it incredible how I could have full ownership and autonomy with what my personal projects ended up becoming. I also can’t begin to describe the satisfaction and fulfilment when I end up releasing the project, and people who I didn’t know would come up to me and go, “Thank you, Yurui, for creating this thing. It’s had a real impact on me and made my day better.” Like, man, it is an absolutely phenomenal feeling, which can’t be justified by words. Even with this blog, a few days after I published my first My Philosophy article, someone decided to reach out over Instagram about how “it was a crazy good read… enlightened me… thank you for writing that blog yurui". If I can have this sort of impact on even one person… then it’s all worth it.
That being said, don’t do things for external validation either; you will often be disappointed. Live life for yourself. Even if no one benefits from my content- at least I have something that I can call entirely my own that I’m proud of.
Playing sport is an incredible way to destress and have fun with your friends - I was lucky enough to play tennis for most of my high school years, train in Taekwondo from Year 1 to 9, play basketball every now and then with my mates and go to the gym around 3-4 times a week. I was never incredibly good at sports, that is to say, I wasn’t travelling the country or spending egregious amounts of time at practice every week. The furthest I got was playing for my school’s knockout basketball team, a stint at state tennis in Year 10, and achieving the rank of 3rd Dan Black Belt in Taekwondo.
I’ll hone in on going to the gym, because it’s been a priority for me for the past few months because of how great it is for me every week with respect to stress relief and letting go of whatever was on my mind throughout the day. Going to the gym really immerses you into a ‘flow state’ - so much that I forget about everything else happening in life, good or bad. Just got an exam back? Whether I did well or not so well, I made it a priority to see the inside of the gym that night. I think it’s all about making the effort to walk to the gym and doing something you don’t want to do, but still doing it anyways because it’ll be better for you in the long run - a classic example of delayed gratification. And the feeling you have when night has fallen and you’re walking back home in the dark? And the feeling of walking into school, having finished an early morning workout when all your mates were asleep? You feel like an omnipotent being - you have to experience it to understand.
A lot of people have told me that if you aren’t recruited athlete level for college admissions, your involvement in sport really won’t matter for college applications. Even more people have tried to talk me out of going to the gym and that I should hunker down on study - instead, I work out every day of my exam blocks. They had a point though - with all your studies at school, homework, time at tutoring, extracurriculars (and extra responsibility if you’re in a leadership position) and working on projects inside and outside of school, it seems tough to make time for getting active. But for me personally, if I didn’t spend time at the gym or on the tennis court, I would probably collapse under all the stress and pressure. Seriously, if you’re an ambitious high school student wanting to make the most out of your time, I can’t stress how important it is to engage in physical activity. For me, it did wonders.
I think extracurricular activities can even form the crux of your social life - at least it did for me. I made a good number of my friends through just saying hi when we were in the same class or introducing myself when we had mutual extracurricular activities, both inside and outside of school. Spending time with my friends during sport and grabbing food afterwards also formed some core memories for me with my closer friends.
I can’t really say much else - if you immerse yourself into school life, friends will find their way to you. Make sure to hold your closest friends even closer. Sometimes, it’s the memories you make with them that stick with you for years and years to come. Whenever I have a tough decision I need to make, or even just a simple homework questions, I know my mates have my back. As the saying goes, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time around. I tend to be closer friends with more like-minded people with similar ambitions to me, as we usually relate with each other on a whole host of things. I send all my articles to a few of my closest friends before publishing my work, as they share similar, yet dissonant sentiments about high school as I do.
I think you also hear a lot about going to parties as a teenager - to be honest, I’ve never been to a party. The closest I’ve been was the Year 10 Formal of another school, in which I got home before midnight. I really don’t think that parties are necessary for a good social life - instead I go on smaller, more intimate outings with my closer friends, in groups of four at the most. We’ve had some pretty insane memories, like running from Waverton to St Leonards at 1am on New Years Day in 2023, or even the simpler things, like grabbing dinner and chatting about life after a long session of late-night tennis.
I share the same sentiment about relationships in high school - firstly, I don’t think it should be your top priority (your time is valuable), and second, make sure you are able to love yourself before you can love someone else. I’m not against going to parties or having a relationship, I just don’t think they were for me in high school. Everyone will have a different opinion, though, so to each their own.
Conclusion
So the bottom line is this - you should spend your time in high school exploring as many academic subjects and extracurriculars as you’re willing to commit to, in order to find what you enjoy, and use your senior years to hone in on those passions, but still explore and take risks. But in between, in order to maintain your sanity and social aptitude, make sure to get involved in some sort of physical activity, and choose your activities wisely as you can often still have a healthy social life while participating in the above three.
High school is for you to find out what you truly enjoy. It is the doorway to independence and often known as your formative years - make sure to keep track of what you spend your time on, otherwise you may veer down the wrong path. Have a vision of the person you want to be in the future, and work towards becoming the best version of yourself.
Acknowledgements
Shoutout to the Ruse alumni who I’ve learnt so much from: CY, DF, SS, the Next Chapter folk who are a joy to be around: JK, TC, JN, ME, and JQ, my school teachers who have acted not only as sources of knowledge and insight, but also as mentors that have guided me through the toughest of times, my friends from YYGS - you know who you are, and congratulations on all of your acceptances - I hope to finally meet you all in person one day :))) and my parents, who probably won’t have read this far, but always support my endeavours.
Yurui