What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.

-Henry David Thoreau

At the time, in the high school I went to, there was a thing called class rank. Out of 918 students, you could see how well you were doing in your class. Well, at least, that you could see how much better than everyone else you were…

It seemed especially prevalent in my sophomore year. I was ranked 18 overall, so I wasn’t getting worried about anything. Other people who ranked higher than me would always scoff and say how they felt that they shouldn’t be rank 5 or rank 12. I would usually let it get the best of me and think about how many AP and honors classes I wanted to have.

But, I let this immature side of me go as I thought about balance.

While I knew that being in the top ten was my goal, I also understood that balance and doing well in all of my classes is the true goal. I can’t be stuck in my room all day trying to do four AP classes worth of homework. I needed some AP classes, but only in classes I knew I would get an A in, since getting a B in one means just the same as getting an A in a regular class.

Still in the upcoming weeks, talk about rank roared in conversations in class and on the internet.

Still frazzled with more people complaining about rank than ever before, I decided to go see a guidance counselor. Who explained that most schools “don’t even use ranking anymore” and how “it has become obsolete because it doesn’t show how smart you really are”. Breathing a sigh of relief I realized that everything was okay.

He also reminded me that I should just do everything in my power to “get good grades and have fun in all the classes I choose”, and I intend to keep it that way.

Your rank doesn’t define you. It doesn’t tell you how smart you really are. It doesn’t tell you that even though you wanted to die, you managed to get a C in algebra 2/trig. All it says is that based on this grade, you are placed here. Is rank the only thing students want their college admissions officers to see? Of course not, and they also don’t want to know just grades or rank as well.

To everyone else who is peer pressured to do things that will supposedly “help your future”, I would just tell you that you need to do what you need to do to accomplish your goal(s). They’re your goals, not theirs. And, you’re going to live with the consequences of your choices.

Choose what is best for you, not what society says is “best for you”.