Dear High Schoolers, Time Is Precious

evmar wrote: post #4

sandspar wrote: post #2

The author dispensing wisdom to high schoolers is himself 20 years old.

For this advice, that is the best place to share it from. They're saying even by age 20 it's already the case that the effort was wasted.

I don't think that clear at all at 20. Yes the numbers are mostly meaningless, but there is a lot of value knowing what it means to study, work hard, and care about something.

Re: Dear High Schoolers, Time Is Precious

#7

Post by Aurornis » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 1:39 AM UTC

jfengel wrote: post #3

Eh. High school sucks. Get it over with as fast as possible.

“High school sucks” is a theme I see 10X more frequently on the internet than in the real world, across all the places I’ve lived.

I’m sorry you had a bad time in high school, but that feeling isn’t universal at all.

Re: Dear High Schoolers, Time Is Precious

#8

Post by sokoloff » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 1:45 AM UTC

I generally agree that SATs and APs lose meaning once the college enrollment is behind you, though I was asked for my SAT scores by my third employer (D. E. Shaw & Co.). I had to check twice with the recruiter to be sure I’d heard her correctly that she wanted my SAT score from a decade ago. (She did.)

Probably not unrelated: DESCO was also the single highest density of talent that I’ve ever experienced post-graduation.

Re: Dear High Schoolers, Time Is Precious

#9

Post by mholm » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 1:49 AM UTC

Talking about the AP exams in particular _improves_ time spent. You're sitting in class anyway, might as well get college credit for it. Getting a good grade there means you _won't_ have to take an equivalent course in college, most of the time. And that time in college is _truly_ free, rather than stuck in study hall, or within a boring suburb

Re: Dear High Schoolers, Time Is Precious

#10

Post by hyperhello » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 1:49 AM UTC

Aurornis wrote: post #7

jfengel wrote: post #3

Eh. High school sucks. Get it over with as fast as possible.

“High school sucks” is a theme I see 10X more frequently on the internet than in the real world, across all the places I’ve lived. I’m sorry you had a bad time in high school, but that feeling isn’t universal at all.

Teenagers feel things intensely. I couldn’t stand the feeling of being in my prime and being condemned to those meaningless classes in the rooms with kids I didn’t care to know.

Maybe the stress inoculated me to worse stress later in my life, or something.