You’ve heard about it, but never had to experience it; you’ve seen others suffer from it, but never understood the damages it can cause. I am talking about the illness deemed “senioritis.”
Every student remembers their first day moving into college: the big welcome wagon, moving into your “new” dorm in Heritage and the first day of class. But what everyone will fail to prepare you for is the longer you are in school, the larger the affliction of senioritis grows.
This affliction is most commonly spotted among those who are one to two semesters away from graduating and leaving college. There have even been cases of students having senioritis up to four semesters away from graduation. Like the flu, senioritis affects students more often in the spring. Symptoms can include lack of motivation, skipping of classes, lower grades and a stronger desire to wear sweatpants wherever you go. If left untreated, consequences can lead to grades being so low that the university may not allow you to graduate.
Unfortunately, there is no one cure for such a disease. Every student tends to find that the cure for themselves could be different than another fellow senior, so there is no prescription you can find at your local Walgreens.
To really understand the effects of senioritis for students and how to fight it, I have gathered some prime candidates that are graduating this semester to ask how they handle the pressure of the disease: Jeff Walker, a senior TESL major; Hanna Mead, a senior social work major; and Tamara Friesen, a senior digital media communications major.
How do you stay motivated while dealing with senioritis?
“I have friends in my classes that swipe for me in Cobo,” Walker said. “So yeah, I go to my afternoon classes.”
“Honestly, the deadlines are what motivate me,” Mead said. “Like I just go deadline to deadline and just try to get it done. So I’m not going to start something a month, week or even a day in advance; but when there’s a deadline, I’ll get it done and it is onto the next one.”
“In my case, what’s motivating me is if I don’t get good enough grades then I can’t graduate this May,” Friesen said. “I can’t pay for another semester.”
Just in these responses, you can see that there are a few different ways to combat senioritis. For Walker, it was food; for Mead, if there are no deadlines, she does not get her work done; for Friesen, it’s the cost of another semester.
What’s your usual state of emotion since this is your last semester?
“I’m usually in a state of denial, spending a lot of time in McAfee pretending to be a freshman again,” Walker said.
“I don’t know if ignorant bliss is the way to describe it, but I’m not thinking about the fact that the real world is going to hit,” Mead said. “I’m going to graduate school, so I’m still going to be in a school setting.”
“This is not an emotion… but exhaustion,” Friesen said.
When dealing with senioritis, you have to look further than graduation and think about life after college. This is just one chapter out of many in your life, so don’t allow the laziness to take control of how you perform.
When did the senioritis first hit?
“Well I was born March 18, 1997… so sometime around then,” Walker said.
“Can I say senior year of high school?” Mead said as she chuckled. “I’ve always been a procrastinator, so I feel like I’ve always had senioritis but it’s just more intensified now.”
“It hits more whenever I get overwhelmed with the amounts of projects, homework and internship stuff due all at the same time,” Friesen said. “It becomes a lot and I know I need a break from it, but I know the only break I’ll have is when this is all over.”
Were you properly prepared for it?
“I’m not going to lie, it’s been a lot to deal with,” Walker said. “Being late to everything, settling for mediocrity, skipping class for a day in Memphis with the boys…I wasn’t prepared at all. But I’m learning to live with it.”
“Everyone always talked about it, so I almost feel like it’s a rite of passage,” Mead said. “Did you really graduate if you didn’t have senioritis?”
“I don’t think so. Just because for the past years I’ve been here things have been fairly organized, but now I have so much to do this semester in so little time,” Friesen said.
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While seniors in college and high school are known for struggling with senioritis, we tend to fail to recognize others who are also in their last semester at Union.
Dr. Web Drake, professor of communication arts, is in his last semester with Union and has had his own dealings with senioritis.
What were the first signs of senioritis for you?
“For me, it was a gradual process of coming to grips with the fact that I was leaving,” Drake said. “I discovered halfway through my interpersonal communications class that I’ve taught dozens of times that this will be the last time that I teach that class and the same for my last debate trip with my team.”
What would you say your cure is for senioritis?
“Just a self-motivation of wanting to finish strong,” Drake said. “Especially if you’ve had a really good academic career. If you started with a 4.0, you want to finish strong. You want to finish in the same way you started. You want to finish out right.”
While interviewing Drake, he used the metaphor that this part of a student’s life is like a marathon. “When you see the finish line, you want to give it all you have and sprint for the finish. Don’t leave anything in the tank.”
Based on all of these responses, it’s safe to assume that as long as you are staying prepared for the future, students will be able to cope with senioritis.
