Stress and the college student: A debate
by Kate Slaboch, Outpost staff
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Photo by Brad Horn |
CRUNCH
TIME: Ben Larson, an upperclassman at the
University of Nevada, labours over an English
paper.
This is a personal experience for me. I was recently told I have an ulcer - and was ordered to reduce my stress wherever I could. How is that possible for any college senior, I'd like to know? Here's my life in a nutshell: I have some of my hardest (and most in-depth) classes this semester, as well as mounds of debt piled up, and I have no idea where I will be after graduation, which is only a few short weeks away. Plus, how will I meet people after college? I'm not the type to want to meet someone at a bar, and yet I'm not a regular church-goer either.
O.K., so maybe that last one isn't my main concern right now. I have to apply to get my first job, choose a city, and worry about moving there. I will be leaving all my friends behind if I leave Reno, but I'm not convinced that there is work here that I want to do. Does any of this sound familiar to you? If you're a college senior, or if you've ever been a college senior, you know what I'm talking about.
But let's start at the beginning. There is a lot to be said for the first year of college being a stressful one. I remember all too well coming to a new school in a new state and knowing nobody at all. Even just getting around campus seemed difficult - how was I supposed to remember all these buildings?
So it is definitely hard to get into the swing of college. Navigating through classes in a new format while living away from all the comforts of parents is stressful. And every college student wants to be involved with something in order to further their education, or just have fun. There's lots of new opportunities out there.
UNR freshman Tiffanie Story agrees that there is a lot of stress that comes with being in college. She was recently crowned Miss UNR, and she participates in many different groups on campus while studying music. "If I don't have 15 or 20 minutes to myself every day, I feel rushed and stressed," she says.
Story remembers being stressed in high school too, when she participated in drama, choir, debate teams and many other activities. And she remembers feeling sick at each debate from having too much stress. "There are always times when you feel like just screaming or crying from so much stress," she says, "but you can't let it get the best of you. You have to learn how to deal with stress, and just take time to relax, or you'll never make it."
Freshman year is stressful, this much we've established. But by the time you're a senior, you have an entirely life-changing set of worries before you. How does a person know when to begin looking for a job, or sending out resumes? Where do you want to live? What kind of job are you even interested in, after all that training and education?
On top of that, you're fully involved in whatever groups you've become affiliated with, and you have reached many of the higher level classes, where teachers can be more demanding with their assignments. You have extra meetings for classes, or special projects to work on.
In a lot of cases, to work on that debt - or maybe just to prevent racking up any more money owed - many seniors have a job, or in some cases, two jobs. A very high percentage of college students across the country work while taking classes, which adds another dimension of responsibility, and stress.
What can be done to eliminate stress? I don't have the answers for this one. Manage your time wisely, the professionals always say. Make sure to leave yourself some time for you, and always save a little time to relax. Don't let all that stress build into something that could make you ill, like an ulcer. Speaking from experience, it's really not worth all the trouble, because worrying to the point of exhaustion is not going to change anything.
Of course college students have stress, there's no denying it. Studies may prove that one set of students are more stressed than others, but trust me, college is what you make of it. And if you set out to stay focused but relaxed, you will be much more healthy in the end.
Posted March 17, 2000
Copyright 2000 Nevada Outpost
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