With graduation nearing and finals approaching, are students feeling strong enough to give it the final push? Or does the daydream of walking at Oracle Park fog the mind of any schoolwork right now?
If you’re struggling with turning in coursework, studying for upcoming finals or not being bothered to come to class, you’ve come down with senioritis. Don’t worry, you’re not alone.
The term “senioritis” is a gradual decline in motivation that students experience leading up to graduation or summer break.
Kintan Choy, a graduating kinesiology major, is exhausted but continues to hold on to a positive mindset.
“I’m so tired. I’m like ‘it’s fine, I can miss a little bit of class and have a little bit more fun,’” Choy said. “I keep telling everyone ‘I’m doing this by this time’ to make my deadline real. I’m manifesting it.”
Choy explained that she used to be able to get to her morning classes with no problem. But in her final year at SFSU, exhaustion now plays a major role in her attendance. Occasionally missing her morning classes and barely making it to her afternoon classes, Choy is busy planning her post-grad while pushing through the final stretch.
“The first thing I’m going to do is have a grad party,” Choy said while laughing. “I’m going to go on vacation to Bali or Indonesia…then find a job.”
Although the term senioritis seems like a joke, international relations professor Scott Siegel acknowledged that the “disease” is very much real and plaguing campus.
“Senioritis is a sense of overload and saturation; they’ve had enough,” Siegel said. “It’s a sense of stress, but also, ‘I’m done and I’m filled up with anticipation for it to be done.’”
Siegel prefers a 10-week-long quarter system to avoid the overload of assignments and the lack of motivation during a 16-week-long semester. Despite senioritis, Siegel continues to push his students in the final stretch of the semester.
“I think attendance is slipping quite a bit; semester systems are way too long,” Siegel said. “I come from a tradition of grit and resilience, so I’m just like, ‘Come on guys, we can do this, just put your head down and go.’”
While the risk of senioritis is real, students are still pushing themselves as graduation approaches. Keziah Rahman, a psychology major and soon-to-be graduate, described senioritis as being right by the finish line and wanting to stop running and give up. Rahman felt this sensation three weeks into the spring semester.
“As people have gotten used to the ebbs and flows of the courses, they realize they can leave around [certain] times,” Rahman said. “People leave earlier, rather than staying all the way through because they know the teachers are not really going to care. That makes one feel like ‘maybe I shouldn’t be here,’ which is unhelpful.”
Despite the temptations of nice weather and hanging out with friends, Rahman continues to push for the greater good of graduation.
“I’m reminding myself that I’m really privileged. My dad is a Marine, so I’m walking away without any student debt,” Rahman said. “If I don’t finish, then what does that mean for all the work that he’s put in?”
Rahman said that the first thing they are going to do post-graduation is work. Not in their field of study, but in carpentry, after realizing that academia is not something they’re inherently passionate about in terms of a job.
Isabelle Carrion, an English linguistics major, plans to start her master’s program in the fall, but still experiences the same feelings as her fellow graduating students.
“Senioritis is a plague. I just keep telling myself it’ll all be worth it in the end,” Carrion said. “I feel like high school was so different because if you don’t get good grades, your college could rescind your offer. I feel like that a little now, but [my master’s program] will take me anyway.”
The final weeks are dragging on, friends are inviting you to things, the weather’s been perfect for day drinking and summer is finally here. But classes must be passed to receive the diploma.
Envision throwing that cap in the air and keep it as motivation for the final weeks of the semester. There are 17 days until commencement on May 21.
