At about day three of snoozing my alarm far too much, the fourth time I “forgot” to do a reading for class and the second time I skipped the gym to take a nap, I started to realize what had hit me – the sophomore slump.
I thought I was marked safe as I didn’t feel too “slumped” during my first semester, but the entire spring semester, there has just been something off. The sophomore slump is defined as: “a period of declined motivation, academic decline or social engagement experienced by second year students.”
Often viewed as the “middle child” of the college years, as sophomores, the honeymoon phase of college has officially worn off. It’s the feeling of now having harder classes and the pressure to find internships, all without having the same motivation and support system as freshman year.
This really started to hit me during the second semester. I was stuck feeling constantly busy yet feeling like I was not doing enough at the same time.
Academically, I felt like I had fallen into a lull of classes. At least for me, my freshman year, I was so nervous for every exam, and definitely fell into the category of over-preparing. However, three or four semesters in, that nervousness started to slowly wear off, and it was hard to find the motivation to continue studying that much.
I also began to feel this pressure creeping up on me of needing an internship and a job. I love and have always loved being a political science and economics major – my entire freshman year, my confidence in that choice never changed. However, as the summer after my sophomore year started approaching, I kept going back and forth on changing my major to something that would be easier to find a good job, such as accounting or finance.
When I voice all of these concerns, I am told something along the lines of “well, you have so much time.” But why doesn’t it feel like that? I wish I had an answer or solution to all of these concerns I am having.
That is what seems to be making all of these issues worse. I know in theory what can help me feel a little bit better. The typical things – being on my phone less, journaling, going to the gym, eating healthier. When I do all of these, I undeniably do feel better, so why can’t I make myself keep up with those habits?
The advice my mom has always told me, in any situation, is that ” this too shall pass.” That’s the only advice that seems to be comforting this semester. I have no idea when or how I will get out of this slump, but it certainly can’t last forever, right?
I have no genius solutions to fix the sophomore slump. Rather than telling anyone else going through the same kind of slump generic advice, that’s hard to apply, I hope this just gives someone the comfort that they are not the only one feeling this way.