By Jenna Sands Forum editor
the hardest. I get that students have to start with lower level courses in order to be able to take higher level courses, but to end up taking several difficult classes in the last year of college is a lot to handle.
It is hard to have so much work for my classes and at the same time be pressured to look for jobs while also trying to apply to grad schools so I can at least have the option.
In my perfect world, junior year should be the hardest year and senior year should be a little easier so we have time to actually focus on getting a job or applying to grad schools.
It is hard to decide which one is more important: finishing work for classes or working on graduate school applications before the deadlines. If I choose doing work for class, I might miss the deadlines for some graduate school applications and will no longer have the option to go to graduate school right after college.
I could always wait a year and apply later, but what if I decide I don’t want to wait a year and it’s too late? The option is gone. If I choose to work on graduate school applications, my grades might start to slip and then maybe I won’t get into some of the graduate schools I am applying to. Either way I feel like I lose.
My plan was to focus on applying to graduate schools over mid-term break, but I didn’t have time because I had three papers due at the end of that week. What is the point of having a break if all I’m going to do is work?
While it was nice to be home for three days, I barely saw my family. If I was a professor, I would definitely give no work over breaks and would probably cancel the last class before every break because so many people skip them anyway.
I think back to when I was a first-year, and I remember that I used to get stressed and worried about a lot of things. I realize now that I had nothing to worry about back then, and it makes me want to go back.
Last summer I thought senior year was going to be fun, but I also knew it would be a lot of work. I just didn’t think it would be this stressful. I don’t handle stress well, and it feels like it has gotten worse every year. Maybe it’s because I have more work, or maybe it’s because I’m thinking about my future too much. Maybe it’s all in my head.
I’m not trying to make senior year sound terrible, but it definitely gives me mixed emotions. Senior year doesn’t suck; only parts of it do.
The editorials of The Quill reflect the views of individual members of the editorial board. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the entire editorial board or of the university. The content of the Forum page is the responsibility of the editor in chief and the Forum editor.
