Why do they call it “dead week?” Is it because classes are dead, as in nothing is due, watch movies and eat during class and that’s all you do? That’s what the university tells us, but it couldn’t be farther from the truth. In reality, it’s called dead week because the students are actually dying––drowning in papers and presentations and stress and junk food and…and…I can keep going but I won’t.
There’s no more time to procrastinate anything anymore. Everything that’s been on the syllabus since the first day of classes is due this week. And if you’re like me, you forgot about all of it. This means zero sleep, zero motivation, and zero thought about anything but school for an entire week. You’re completely burnt out but you have to keep trudging along.
Maybe some people are ahead of their studies and are 100 percent ready for their finals. I don’t know one of those students, but I’m sure they exist somewhere. But for the average student, this is not applicable. In most scenarios, you are running around like a crazy person trying to figure out how you’re going to finish five papers, study for four finals, make 123 note cards, and still manage to squeeze in time to breathe during the week. As Christmas songs are screeching “it’s the most wonderful time of the year,” you highly disagree due to the ultimate stress and loss of valuable sleep. It’s not the best time of the year, okay?
So do they call it dead week for a reason? Yes. 100 percent yes. They call it dead week because for exactly 168 hours (that’s how many hours are in a week in case you didn’t know) you think this might be the end of you. You don’t know if you can handle it but after you muddle through all of those finals, whether you received the grade you hoped for or not, you’re free. At least free for a few months before you do it all over again. We love college!