Questions

So, it’s been just over 200 days since I got in. It seems like such a long time. I’m not even sure I’ve been alive for 200 days.

I’ve been at the school for a while, and if I were to be honest, I’d tell you that I don’t exactly remember what I wanted to know, so I’ll only be writing about what’s important to me when I’m writing it.

Or, even better, you could ask me questions, or suggest something for me to write about/ask me to write about something, some aspect of Smath. And I’ll do my best. Or ask DuhBagel or Auriee to do it. If it has to do with online, I’ll ask BegoniaEyes.

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Trimester 1

So, I’m in a bit of an awkward situation, you see.

I’m looking at 73 posts, and think there are too many. I’m looking at 3 emails I haven’t responded to, and a few exams/final projects to do for the glorious end of the first trimester.  The end of superstudy. The end of 1/6 of my experience at Smath, 1/3 of my time with my seniors, a little less than half the time before my juniors start joining the facebook group.

Y’know how science can really ruin the romance of some things, how sometimes it’s better to dream a beautiful dream than a truthful one, to think than to know the answer?

I also think about my day-to-day interactions, and I realize that I don’t want to say too much. I feel like every insider bit of NCSSM I share is both sharing a piece of personal information about the school, and one more piece of the romance that I’m explaining with science. It’s a disservice to you, to Smath, and to everything in general.

But right about now is the time when I’m really getting annoyed with all the couples, “popcorn couples” as they’re being called because they keep popping up, and it really makes me want one. I’m getting tired of all the seniors telling me how things are going to be or what I’m going to feel or anything, really. I feel like I’m a Smather. Maybe I haven’t had sex on a roof or gotten a level 3 yet, or had my seniors graduate, or even gone off-campus that much, but I feel like I’ve experienced enough and they just need to shut up and enjoy it instead of telling me how to enjoy it.

Which is part of why I don’t want to write this, but I figure you can stop reading if you want to preserve your experience. But I wouldn’t have, and in retrospect I would have wanted myself to. Also, that stuff that I mentioned doesn’t happen that much. Seniors only graduate once a year.

Anyways, I would suggest trying to get a varied science education before you go to Smath. It will help with your classes. It might help you exempt some requirements, people will think you’re smart, and it’ll make the classes easier because you’ll have exposure already. Not sure how it helps you get in, but it’s good for once you do.

Also, halls have reputations. Don’t worry about them in advance. If you’re on one of the more talked-about ones, then you’ll get annoyed and people will say bad things about your hall. But most of the stereotypes don’t really apply anymore. Except Royall. Royall girls are always Royall girls because it’s Royall.

I love Royall. It’s actually a cool building.

Exams are chill so far, and they’re mostly over, so… exams are chill. Most days you only have one or two exams, and they’re at least 2 and a half hours apart, giving you time to eat, change your mindset, and get over the 25% of your trimester grade that you just bombed.

Yes, the exams are worth 20-25% of your grade. That’s the less chill part, when you’re stressing about how these 2 hours could make-or-break your grade. And then you have to wait who knows how long before you get your grades. And you rarely know exactly what grade you have in a class until mid-trimester reports.

And this is a much too long post to spend many more words wrapping it up nicely, so I’ll call it a wrap and go back to studying.

[Guest Blog Entry] Is it Worth it or Not?

Well I’m a member of the class of 2016 just like the other guest blogger, anxiously waiting for applications to open and trying to talk myself into volunteering at the hospital on fridays. To be honest I’m really posing a question more than blogging about what is going on in my life right now, because let’s face it life right now is pretty boring. But on to the point, I have scoured the internet just like many a prospective smather before me has done and have seen about two different main opinions. Half of the reviews (or maybe a little less) say that it it the best place in the world and would give the school an 11 out of 10. This makes the school sound like the best place on earth! Then you come to the other half of the reviews and see that people say it molded them into “better and stronger people” but that they hated their two years there with passion.

I personally want to love my high school years, and right now at my current school it’s just not all that great, not bad, but not great. I want amazing academics (otherwise I wouldn’t be applying to NCSSM in the first place)  but I also want to be with a group of people who want to love their high school years as well, not just  focused on getting into an ivy school. I’m not a “super nerd” hiding in a corner with a computer, but I love to learn. However I am not willing to sacrifice having a life for some school, no matter how “strong” it will make me. I want to hear it from those who are already there, is the school worth it? Can you have fun and genuinely enjoy life there? Do YOU like it there? Would you do it again? I basically just want to know if I should continue on the road of NCSSM applications or if I should start trying to convince my parents to let me go to Choate or Andover.
Any advice would be great.

-Prospective Applicant

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These guest entries were intended to stand alone, but since you’re asking about things I can help answer, I may as well. Interestingly enough, it’s something I’ve been meaning to write about.

The biggest surprise to me once I came here was that the general make up of the student body is so much different that what I was expecting. I imagined most people here would be the “super nerds” you mentioned, all with some sort of prestigious achievement (going national math competitions, medaling in science fairs, etc.) that got them in. Now, there most certainly are those kinds of exceptionally bright people here, but they don’t make up the entire student body. Based on my perception, I’d call say about 20-30% of the people here are seriously aiming for Ivy Leagues, and only about a handful are exceptional students that have chances to win contests like Siemens and Intel.

One thing to remember is that NCSSM is only a 2A school because it’s only for juniors and seniors.  Each class size is about 300 per grade, which is fairly large. But since everyone accepted goes through the application process, the entire student body is rich and diverse: there are your hardworking people always studying and aiming for the big schools, there are your average people who get mostly B’s who want to go to state schools, there are some with mostly C’s who don’t mind because they’re simply enjoying their time here. People don’t fail because, well… the school dismisses you if you fail a class. But usually, guidance and the registrar helps you avoid that.

As for the work load, I would make sure you know what you’re getting into. When choosing your classes, you can put yourself into easier classes. I’ve heard people purposely did worse on certain placement tests so they are placed into an easier class. The same is in vice versa: you can easily stack a few difficult classes and end up studying in your room all the time.

I’ve noticed here that the pressures of college have already affected me. I’m starting to give up parts of social life to keep my grades up and maintain extracurrics. But that’s just me. There’s a lot of people who are the same, and there are many who aren’t.

I’ve also learned not to go by everything you’ve read online. The students here are vastly different from just the impression you get from those online. Also, because people only spend two years here, the general feel of the student body changes quickly. No one really knows what your class will be like.

The main point is, this is still a high school, and you still get people from all social groups of a typical high school, only the bell curve for academics is shifted more towards the higher end.  But there’s so many different people here that you’ll definitely find your place where you “fit in.”

As long as you’re content with the choices you make, you’ll do fine. I think, because you know exactly what you want and what you are and aren’t willing to lose, you’ll have an easier time adjusting to life here.

~Auriee

[Guest Blog Entry] Utopias and Self-doubt

Hey, all. I’m a random blogger, randomly blogging. Unlike the four awesome bloggers that already write for this blog, I’m in the Class of 2016. Which means I, as most of you were last year, am freaking out now the admissions open up in a couple of weeks.
Sometimes, NCSSM looms over me, and other times I forget it exists. There. I said it. There are times when I don’t remember the possibility of me going to a different school next year. On one side, I can picture myself moving in, laughing with a roommate, poring over my homework, and staying up late to finish that one assignment. (Yes, as much as I want to go to NCSSM, I’m am under no illusion that it will be easy, both applying and actually BEING there). And on the other hand, it is so…EASY to see myself at the same school next year, talking with the same people I’ve known since kindergarten, surrounded by my same friends, most of whom are also applying to NCSSM this year. It’s painful to think that as much as I want to go to Smath, there’s a possibility that one of my friends will, and I won’t.
I’m also ravaged by the ever-present feeling of “not enough”. I was watching a Youtube video yesterday (by one of my favorite Youtubers, iiSuperwomanii. Go watch her, if you’ve never seen her videos), that was titled “Wake up call”. She talks about how if you think you want something, aforementioned video is your wake up call. Meaning you should realize that you might not be doing enough, and that there are others putting ten times more effort into the same thing. And that truly was my wake up call. What if I’m NOT doing enough to get in? What if I don’t get in, merely because I didn’t take up the volunteering opportunity at Hospice? So many questions. On one side, I love my Utopia of NCSSM, and how it’s a goal for me right now. I haven’t had many goals for myself lately, and it’s nice to know I have something to strive for during sophomore year, instead of chilling and doing the same routine as freshman year. And yet, NCSSM is eating away at my self-esteem, because of this feeling that somehow, I’m not good enough. Thanks a lot, Smath, for making me continuously doubt myself.

Blog Update

Looks like we’ve all started to finally settle into things, and get this blog running a little more.

The three of us here are busy, and the rest of the student body can attest to that. For me, it’s just a constant schedule of work, eat, socialize, sleep. I’ve been working more and sleeping less, but it’s just routine for me. Turns out, the registrar had me overloaded this tri with a core elective and I didn’t even realize it until my advisor meeting.

Anyway, starting this month An NCSSM Journey will be seeing some changes!

We’ve written much about ourselves and our experience, but what about you? You can help us out by answering this poll:

And…..we’re introducing a new guest blogger feature. Want to write something for the blog? Check out the submit page on the sidebar to submit your own blog entry. We’d love to hear what other people have to say.

In more exiting news, now that it’s October, applications for the class of 2016 will be opening soon!  Two months in, and next year’s juniors are already getting ready. alright. thats ok. yeah.  i dont have to do college apps… yet…. D: im not graduating yet.

Two months in, and I already know how much I’m going to miss my seniors on graduation day.

Hearts and Sketches

Okay, I’m going to make a generalizations.

Nerds don’t really get a lot of suitors. Guys don’t like girls who are smarter than them, smart guys know that girls are trouble.

Did I mention I’m a guy?

Slightly sexist jokes aside, this doesn’t tend to be as much of a problem at NCSSM. Suddenly, everyone is a nerd. Well, most of us are nerds. And we like other nerds, generally speaking. Everyone’s moving from being undesirable to being the only option, and combined with a new start, that means relationships.

Whee. Relationships. And you have a lot of time to spend together when you live together. For some people, this means that they can take the relationship faster. For others, it just means more drama, faster drama. And it means more relationships, and more sketching.

And for others, still, it doesn’t matter. They still rock solo. Generally by choice.

If you’ve ever heard that there’s no drama here, that was false. There is, just not as much. You find the right people, and there will always be drama.