Reaching your senior year of college is undeniably bittersweet for most people. After four years filled with sleepless nights studying, stressful deadlines, and boring lectures I expected myself to have senioritis at this point in my college career. Surprisingly, I feel the opposite. Senioritis is defined as a decline in motivation or performance as seniors in school approach the end of their studies. There is no word for its opposite/antonym, so we’ll call my case reverse senioritis.
Since senior year hit, I’ve realized that I will no longer have access to all the resources my college offers very soon. All of the perks of being a college student are coming to an end (which somehow makes me want to embrace the suffering of being a student even more?). Knowing that my time is limited now puts pressure on me to do all the things I told myself I would do at my college but haven’t yet. There are so many clubs I haven’t gotten involved in, so many events, activities, workshops, fairs, and free things I have yet to take advantage of. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that I am feeling more motivated now than I was before to be a part of my college.
When it comes to studies this applies as well. Although I have experienced many classes that I have found boring or too easy and therefore slacked in over the years, this year, whether the class is interesting or not, I’ve wanted to get the most out of it. Knowing I only have 8 more classes to experience makes me want to learn everything I can from each course before I am shoved out of the classroom doors and into the “real world”. This is making me take my studies more seriously as a senior.
The fear of leaving college and not having the knowledge or connections I should have gotten is a scary thought. Maybe it is this fear that is motivating me to spread myself thin as graduation approaches, or maybe it’s because I just want to make sure I squeeze the very last of the juice out of the (super expensive) lemon that college is. There is nothing wrong with wanting to make the most out of your last year of school, but if you are also feeling like me, it’s important to remind yourself of what you’ve already accomplished. I must face the reality that I can’t do it all in one last year. That is okay, because I have done enough already, and the rest should be enjoyable!
People always make students afraid of the real world by saying things like, “Stay in college as long as you can!” So, yes reverse senioritis makes sense! What we need to remember though is that the truth is the real world already exists for us. We exist in both the real world AND with the stresses of being a college student, and that is a hefty weight to carry. Once college is over, there will be both a loss and a new beginning. I am glad I am recognizing now the benefits of being here at my school, but I also need to remind myself that there are even greater things after too.