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I noticed in high school that, for many students, yearbooks are either something to get every single year, or not at all. Some students buy a yearbook no matter what, but others completely refuse every year. Students always are told, “you’ll want a yearbook to look back on!”, but being young it’s hard to actually decide if that’s true or worthwhile.

Why buy a yearbook?

Having a yearbook is a cool way to be able to look back on the year. Looking back at pictures of yourself and your friends at different points in your lives can be pretty fun, and a great way to reminisce.

Plus, having friends sign your yearbooks is always fun. It’s cool to see what people have to say about you. Keep reading »

Your GPA is a fundamental part of your high school resume. As a number, it attempts to quickly show how solid of a student you are. Many scholarships will ask for your GPA, as well as some college applications.

“GPA” stands for “Grade Point Average”, which means that it averages out all of your grades.

How to calculate it:

First, take a look at your current or most recent grades. Each letter corresponds to a number:

• A: 4 points
• B: 3 points
• C: 2 points
• D: 1 point
• F: 0 points Keep reading »

If someone close to you has recently graduated high school, then you might be looking to find a good present to buy the new graduate. While what you can buy will depend on what you can afford and your relationship to the student, you have many options.

Graduation gifts can be tricky to decide on

If the student is going to college next year, anything that could be useful in college is a great choice, ranging from dorm accessories to entertainment. If the student is not attending college after graduating high school, anything that he or she could use otherwise would make a great gift.

I would also make sure that the student doesn’t have any of these beforehand… there’s nothing more awkward than giving a gift and finding out the person already has it!

Here are a few general areas to think of when deciding what to get: Keep reading »

Every year around April, every high school starts buzzing with excitement and drama about prom — who is going with who, what each group is going to be, where they’re going to get dinner, whether or not she’s found a dress or not, and so forth. The prom hype is hard to completely avoid, for better or worse.

If you’re unsure whether or not to go to prom, you definitely should avoid feeling like you have to go. In the end the decision should be up to you, not to somebody else.

Is prom a huge life moment?

No. It’s not. Although with all the hype you might feel like prom is a big deal, the first week after prom will probably be the last that prom is a major conversation topic. By the time the next year starts, prom will be a distant memory for most people. Even in college, prom never really comes up — I believe in my first year at college, prom has come up maybe once or twice.

However, in the high school sense, it definitely is. Prom is the defining dance for your high school life, and so it’s definitely hyped up while you’re in high school. If you decide not to go, be prepared to explain yourself when your friends wonder why you’re not going. You also might feel a bit left out when people talk about prom.

But in the end, prom isn’t any different than any other high school outing — football games, homecoming, and so forth all fall into this same category. Think about any similar event you missed — how much do you regret it? That’s probably what you’d feel if you missed out on prom.

There’s a lot more pressure on girls about going to prom — who your date is, what you do, how your dress looks, and so forth. In deciding whether or not to go, just be ready to explain to everybody why you aren’t going. For guys, it’s typically about having fun, and making the decision as a guy is easier: will you have a good time? Keep reading »

This question was sent in by a reader. You too can send in a question — just use the form on the sidebar or go to the Contact page.

The other day I received a question about SAT practice books — which I used and how I prepared for the test.

It may be an expensive way to prepare, but I’ve always believed the best way to prepare for the SAT is to take it. Once you’ve taken it, you’ll have a good idea what to expect — what types of questions are on it, the typical time limits, and so forth. When you come back and take the test a second time, you’ll know much better what to expect and be far more prepared. Keep reading »

Asking a girl to prom can be pretty nerve-racking, even if you think she’s likely to say yes. There are all kinds of doubts swimming around in your head: what if she says no? What if I get nervous and mess up? What if I come across as weird?

Don't be afraid to ask a girl to prom

Having confidence is always the best way to handle any romantic affair — including asking a girl to prom. Being confident not only increases the likelihood of receiving a yes, it also will make it easier if she says no. However, confidence doesn’t come to everybody easily, and sometimes a push in the right direction can make a huge difference.

How are you going to ask?

If you’re trying to come up with a creative and cute idea to ask her to prom, that’s always a good choice, though I would only recommend it if you’re confident she’ll say yes (or don’t care if you get turned down). If you’re looking for cute ideas, I suggest you read my post that has some suggestions. I’m going to be assuming that you’re just going to walk up and ask her, however.

Keep reading »

Fights are an inevitable part of school. They’re also pretty remarkable… as soon as one begins to brew, you can almost feel the tension pulsing throughout the school, and students always have an instinctive sense that tells them which way to go to watch. Students would always crowd around the fight, not only to watch, but to block administrators from breaking up the fight. For a lot students, fights are the best entertainment at lunch. I was the same way — I loved watching fights. Why, I can’t really explain or justify, but I enjoyed spectating.

Sure, school fights rarely involve karate, they draw a lot of attention from everybody.

On the administration’s end, fights are a nightmare. Having to break them up, deal with the students involved, and prevent further fights is definitely a nuisance, and so schools do their best to prevent fights.

A really common method to prevent fights is the “no tolerance” policy: if you are in a fight, you are going to be suspended, no matter what. Over the last ten years, this policy has caught on strongly. But is it fair, and does it really solve problems? I’ve never been convinced.

Keep reading »

If you still have a year left of high school to go, at some point you’re going to need to choose your classes for next year. Picking classes can be a bit tricky when you have to try to strike a balance between classes you’d like to take and classes you should take, as well as trying to fit in all the classes you want to take.

A lot can depend on the classes you take — the choices you make for next year could affect what you can take in the years after that, they could affect how appealing you look to colleges, and they could help determine what field you’d like to (or not like to) have a career in.

So where do you begin in deciding? I recommend starting with a course catalog, if you can find one from your school.

Keep reading »