The Mycenaean

There is such a stigma around senior year. Football games, last homecoming, senior prom, senior spring break, “ruling the school”, and finally: graduation. All of these things do happen, and they are fun and exciting. But there is an overlooked factor of senior year; the stress. 

One of these main stressors is just simply what comes next. For a lot of students this means college. Second semester seniors have already gone through their application process. They have already made their common apps, compiled their extracurriculars, and taken as many SATs and ACTs as they seemed necessary. Even though the mass of the work is done, there is still a lot to be done. 

Committing to colleges is a huge decision. Many things must be taken into consideration when deciding where to go to college. Narrowing down the colleges can be difficult and overwhelming. Location, price, school environment, school sports, and even friends and family are all things that must be considered. 

Choosing the right college for you is a huge decision. Colleges are very expensive and everyone wants to do what they can to make sure that they can enjoy themselves for their next four years. You want to choose the college that is going to meet the majority of your needs. You want a college that is going to have the sports you want or the Greek life you want, a school with a location you like and an environment that makes you feel comfortable and like you’re a part of a community. You want to take the time to carefully make sure you choose the school that is going to be right for you. 

Once the decision is made, there is even more to do. Figuring out where you will live, who you will live with, if you plan on joining greek life or any other extracurriculars like clubs or sports, and a lot of other things. 

There are a lot of ways that future students choose to find roommates and suitemates. They can check student made instagram accounts where they can post themselves and view other students posts, check facebook groups, or just choose to go random. 

For a lot of students this can be the most stressful part. Finding someone compatible with you can be extremely difficult. You want someone with similar interests, maybe similar majors, similar likes and dislikes, someone who goes to bed around the same time as you, and a lot of other things you might not think about. 

Greek life is a huge commitment, and it’s definitely not for everyone. Fraternities and sororities are a great way to meet new people and branch out, however, rushing, hazing, and all the bad stigma around it can definitely turn people away. 

Reaching out to other future students and putting yourself out there can be scary and is out of a lot of people’s comfort zones. 

Having difficult classes during your second semester senior year is also a big stressor. With everything else going on in a senior’s mind, having a heavy workload can really negatively affect the student. Having school work taking up the majority of your time takes away from the fun and exciting parts of the year. 

For most seniors, “senioritis” comes into play. By second semester, everyone is pretty much done. They’re tired, burnt out, and just over it.