As I’ve previously mentioned in another article, this is my last semester here in undergrad. I’ve talked about some of the mini-lessons that I’ve learned over the past four years, but haven’t really discussed how I’ve been feeling this school year. The answer is: a lot. I’ve been feeling a lot. Truthfully, getting myself to be productive has been incredibly difficult. My brain is exhausted, I still have to work and make money, and somehow I have to start preparing for life post-grad (something I haven’t really dug into yet). And yet, I know that there aren’t any other options for me but to continue moving forward. There are some days where I suddenly remember that I wrote an entire Honors Thesis last year and did a fantastic job on it, and now I feel as if I can barely string a coherent sentence together in class. The only explanation that I have for this good ol’ senioritis. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been wondering if there are any ways to mitigate it, or lessen its intensity. So, I reached out to Karl Bailey, professor of psychology, to see if he had any thoughts or words of wisdom to impart.
He shared an article written for The Journal of American College Health by Joanne Medalie entitled “The College Years as a Mini-Life Cycle: Developmental Tasks and Adaptive Options.” In this article, Medalie discusses how individuals undergo a mini-life cycle in college, beginning with divestment in old childhood ties and investing in college life during freshman year and ending with anticipation of the future during senior year. She emphasizes that during senior year, students are having to maintain a routine of staying on top of classes and grades, they’re reminiscent of their past years in undergrad, and they somehow have to begin planning for the future. The leap from undergrad to “adulthood” is fast approaching and many people feel as though they’re not ready. In his description of the article, Bailey shared “Part of you needs to do your daily work, but part of you is navigating an unknown future, and another part of you is trying to save up the last pieces of your current life in memory as a gift to your future self.” In short, it’s a lot of stuff to think about. On top of that, our brains are exhausted from all of the academic work we’ve done up to the point of senior year, especially during junior year. Medalie describes junior year by saying,
“At this point the students can meaningfully confront the task of making a realistic assessment of their own abilities and talents. Whether willingly or not, a student is now looking ahead to his/her place in the adult world. If this development is proceeding in sequence, the student can see a connection between the present level of achievement and the future prospects . . .”
In short, junior year is supposedly when students get a handle on what they want to do with their major and where they want to end up, generally speaking. I remember my junior year as my toughest but most memorable time in college. All of the academic work really stretched my brain capacity but it also taught me valuable tools for future writing projects. I felt like I finally knew what I was doing. It’s not like I don’t know what I’m doing this year, only that I’m faced with so much uncertainty which is causing a lot of anxiety. At the end of the day, I know that I’ll find a job and be OK. It’s just scary because I’m leaving the place where I’ve begun to form my identity. This article actually helped validate some of my fears by putting senioritis into a temporal context, especially because all of the other years make sense. If any seniors are struggling with the same thing, I hope this helps a bit!
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.