It’s 12:08 a.m., and you’re still studying for the Advanced Placement (AP) U.S. History test tomorrow. As you go over the effects of the Progressive Era, you realize that you’re finding this mind-numbingly boring. You love science and math. You hated AP World History last year. Why are you even taking AP U.S. History? To make your college application more impressive, of course.

Conestoga undeniably has a very competitive culture, with many students feeling the need to go through high school with the sole goal of having the best college application possible. But this shouldn’t be the case. High schoolers shouldn’t be thinking about what their college app will look like when making decisions — they need to do things because they want to.

First of all, working too hard on things you dislike is not healthy. In addition to short-term unhappiness, there are long-term negative effects of not enjoying the work you do. A 2016 study by Ohio State researchers found that low job satisfaction among adults in their late 20s and 30s harmed their physical and especially mental health after they turned 40. The same principles apply to high schoolers. Also, a 2008 study published in the National Library of Medicine found that “sleep deprivation was significantly associated with enrollment in AP/college courses.” There is no reason to worsen your sleep by taking an AP course you don’t even like.

Additionally, the great effort it takes to slightly improve your college app (like by taking another AP) will not help you get into a substantially better school. According to college admissions counseling company Prepory, college counselors recommend that students interested in highly selective colleges take 5 to 8 AP classes total in high school. There are students at Conestoga who do that in one year. The same Prepory article states that “you should take advanced courses in subjects that genuinely interest you.” Even when cynically only thinking about college, there is no need for Conestoga students to take as many AP course as they do.

Many Conestoga students also choose their extracurricular activities by thinking about how they would look on a college application. Because of this, students often get involved in an excessive number of extracurriculars, believing that to colleges, the more, the better. This is incorrect. College planning platform College Raptor recommends, “Don’t just join a bunch of clubs or sports to impress admissions. You’ll end up burning yourself out and giving off the perception that you’re not very committed to the process.” In other words, quality is more impressive to colleges than quantity. By only being involved in extracurriculars you’re passionate about, you’ll both be happier and have a stronger college app.

College aside, you may think that taking a lot of difficult classes and participating in many extracurricular activities will help you grow. But challenging yourself is only a good thing to a certain extent. Studying well past midnight for a class you hate will only hurt your sleep and burn you out.

At the end of the day, high school is something to be enjoyed and looked back upon fondly. Students should not significantly worsen their high school experience for the sake of their college app. Personally, there were several times in my high school career when I decided not to take an AP course I wasn’t interested in, and I still got into most of my top college choices. I’m so glad I decided to focus on making new friends, getting involved in extracurriculars I was genuinely passionate about and taking classes I was genuinely interested in. If you do the same, you will be too.

Eshan Singh can be reached at [email protected].