Richard Mondello

Going back to school is often a nerve-racking process. For me, ‘often’ is replaced by ‘always’, because I detest going back. Yes, I’m anxious to see classmates and learn new things, but the unfamiliarity is just too much to bear for a few days. I seek familiar comfort and routine, both of which cannot exist in the early days of September.

In my quest for coziness, I ran into an issue involving stress and budgeting my time effectively. After day one of school, I began thinking that I signed up for too many classes. Fairly quickly, it became evident that I had two sensible options:

1. Stick it out.
2. Drop a class.

I considered my obligations: courses I was taking, extracurricular activities, and my college admissions process. I pinpointed the commitment that took up the most time for the least benefit, and began my journey. The commitment I selected was one of my classes, which will remain unnamed.

Dropping a class is a weird thought for me. I’ve never dropped a class before, although I have considered it in the past on one occasion. In that instance, I chose to stick it out, and regretted it severely. I felt like dropping a class is giving up, quitting, and selling myself short.

As one should in instances like this one, I sought the advice of people who are smarter than I am. A guidance counselor asked me if I would be happier and more effective if I wasn’t taking this class, and I said I would. The counselor advised me to drop it. Other people, biased in their desire to see a happier Ricky, advised me similarly.

I once read that if one’s evidence leans one toward the conclusion that one wants it to, then one needs to find more evidence before making a conclusion. That’s what I did, sort of. I was about to go to sleep one night, and I received an Instant Message from Kim, insightful Exposay contributer. We talked about it, and she gave me exactly what I didn’t want to, but needed to hear: an opposing view.

When one is motivated by stress and anxiety, thoughts and actions move rapidly. Within twelve hours, I went from thinking that I would never drop a class in my life to being ’sure’ that I was going to drop one. After Kim’s considerations, I gave it more time.

After two days, however, it was obvious to me that I needed to get out of there. However, Kim made a vital point to me. Dropping that class would, in fact, weaken my transcript, one of the most important things in the admissions process. After struggling with an internal conflict between GPA, résumé, and quality of life, I decided to compromise.

I dropped the unnamed class, and took another class instead. However, the other class is next semester only, and considerably easier; I expect to enjoy it though, it’s psychology with one of my favorite teachers in my High School. Freeing up that time this semester will give me more time to work on determining where I’d like to spend my college years, and work on other assignments.

Although I ended up sticking with my original ‘gut feeling’ on the issue, I’m really glad that I gave it some time and got an opposing view, even though I didn’t actively seek it. Not ever story has a lesson, but this one has several: Gather information and advice eclectically, and don’t seek what you want to hear. Take time with important decisions, and ruminate on them over a respectable portion of time.

I feel as though this year is going to be much less stressful now. I won’t be spread too thin, and won’t stress as much. Thank you, Kim, for your role as devil’s advocate.

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