I flew through freshman year with ease. When it came time for me to fill out my sophomore year course selection, I felt pretty confident in my academic abilities. I found my counselor and pen in hand, began selecting my courses. Pre-AP English 2, Check. Pre-AP Algebra 2, Check. Pre-AP Chemistry, Check. I hesitated over the box for AP World History. I had heard the dooming stories. The late nights, failing grades, and tears that came with the course. I thought back to the meeting I had with a counselor from my dream college, Texas A & M. “We like to see that our students take the highest level classes available” he said. Unwilling to jeopardize my place at the college of my dreams, I checked the box for AP World History.

Sophomore year began with about the same workload as freshman year. I was doing well in all of my classes, mostly A’s, a couple B’s. By the time the second six weeks came to an end I had found a new rhythm that worked well for me. Unfortunately, as the third six weeks began this rhythm was broken. I was challenged with new obstacles both at home and at school. With the increase in homework came a decrease in family time and with my attempt to increase family time came a decrease in my grades. Pretty soon I was failing all but one of my seven classes. I felt terrible. Not only was I letting myself down, I was letting down everyone around me. My parents, my sister, my friends, my teachers, my newspaper. They were all suffering as a direct result of my failure. Thankfully, my AP got involved. He told me it would be best if I dropped a class. I immediately knew which class he was talking about. With my outstanding 4 in AP World History it was a no brainer. But I did not want to leave AP World History. Despite it being the most difficult, time consuming, class I had ever taken, it was one of my favorite classes. It challenged me, encouraged me to think for myself, and brought me closer to a lot of cool people. Both my parents and my AP were set on me leaving AP World History and now that I am out, I am grateful. I now have a reasonable balance between school and life. I don’t have to worry about stress hives or pulling all nighters. I have a few nights a month where I have to stay up later than I would otherwise prefer, but overall I am happy. Although this was a low point in my life I am glad that I experienced it for if I had not I may not have learned what I known today. This experience taught me that although it is good to push yourself, one should never go past their limit. These limits do not define me just as the classes I take do not define me nor my intelligence. I now known that life is less about seeing who can work the hardest and more about finding the perfect balance between work and leisure. Thanks to my parents and counselor I now have a schedule that has helped me find this happy medium and I am a stronger person because of it.