This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at NMSU chapter.
Senioritis: a supposed affliction of students in their final year of high school or college, characterized by a decline in motivation or performance. This “illness” can also be described with symptoms such as laziness, an over-excessive wearing of gym clothes and mental disconnectedness.
As the end of senior year approaches, students begin to crumble under an invisible layer of pressure brought on by multiple tasks they are expected to accomplish before walking across the stage to receive their diplomas. The National Association for College Admission maintains that senioritis is a phenomenon that can only be cured with graduation.
Although there is no data or statistics on the connection between spring break and senioritis, it could be inferred that in a week’s time that a student gets a break from school, they begin to disconnect with the responsibilities still lingering upon their return. The major decisions that have yet to be made, the projects that need to be finalized and the applications for jobs that need to be sent out — these are a few of a senior’s favorite things. Even though they are not, they are still a big part of the last leg of their college career. Once spring break is over, the realization that there are two months left until graduation sinks in.
“I feel as if when we get back from spring break, it just hits us,” said 25-year-old Joseph Gutierre, from El Paso, TX. “While I didn’t have a spring break, it still hit me that this semester will be my last one. I have said time and time again that I don’t think senioritis impacts me the same, but I do feel less and less motivated to work on the projects that I have to do and more of me counting the days to be done.”
Christie Bartholomew, a 28-year-old from Alamogordo, NM., felt that senioritis can be brought on by a few different things.
“I think a lot of people get it because after four years of studying, you get burnt out,” she said.
She went on to say that senioritis can go double time for those students who go to college right out of high school, students working full-time jobs or are married and have children. The demands of college can be mentally and physically taxing, which makes these students dread the finale as the semester nears an end.
Although senioritis usually hits seniors on their last spring semester, for some seniors that is just the first half of the final year in college.
When asked about the affect senioritis has on those graduating in December, Karrie Lucero, 21, of Las Cruces, NM, said “I think it intensifies it a little because all of my friends who are the same age are graduating and finishing school and I know I still have one semester left. But I also don’t have the stress that they do about graduating and finding a job.”
Although there are many layers to senioritis, and studies have shown there is no cure, there are a few ways you can prevent such derailment: STAY ORGANIZED, GET SLEEP, DON’T OBSESS AND PLAN AHEAD.