Senioritis is defined as a supposed affliction of students in their final year of high school, or college, characterized by a decline in motivation or performance. Senioritis tends to appear in the afflicted during the second semester of their senior year, although cases have been reported as early as the first day of a senior’s last year of school. Senioritis also spikes after a senior in high school is accepted into their college of choice, or after a senior in college has accepted a job or graduate school plan. Senioritis can affect people in many different degrees, with some cases being very mild and others being extremely severe. Some cases of junioritis and sophomoritis have also been recorded, although these are more rare.

Symptoms of senioritis include a serious lack of motivation, trouble remembering common things such as formulas or assignment due dates, and excessive sleepiness. Because of this, behaviors of those with senioritis might include forgetting to do homework assignments, sleeping through class (or skipping entirely) and choosing to do the bare minimum of work required in any situation.

The look of those with senioritis might change, as the effort put into their physical appearances might diminish. Grades of those with senioritis are also prone to slipping. Senioritis is considered very common, as it can affect anywhere from 50-100 percent of seniors nationwide. Students who slack regularly are said to suffer from more serious senioritis than those who are enrolled in honors or advanced courses. However, all who have senioritis are prone to the same symptoms.

Senioritis is caused by the severe lack of motivation felt once seniors realize that their grades and academic performance don’t matter as much as they previously did. Some scientists believe that senioritis can also result from warmer weather as it can remind seniors of summer and decrease their desire to work in school.

Senioritis can only be totally cured by a graduation of the senior from school. Before that, treatment can be mostly successful, or a failure depending on the senior in question. Some with mild cases may be treatable with the incentive of getting into college or graduating with a certain scholarship or grade point average, but these will not help all cases. Some are untreatable until the senior graduates. After graduation, 100 percent of high school seniors are cured until the disease comes back around in their senior year of college. For collegiates, senioritis is completely cured after graduation.

I will admit, I suffer from senioritis. For me, senioritis first affected me after my acceptance into the University of Alabama in the fall. It began with a mild case and continued to afflict me from the beginning of winter onward. Since then, my senioritis has only gotten worse, peaking in severity around spring break.

I can speak to the fact that senioritis drains your motivation, as mine is nearly gone. It also afflicts many of my friends and peers, as you can often find people discussing all of the homework they either don’t want to do or plan to skip. Something I find interesting about senioritis is that the more difficult a class is, the less likely I am to want to try, although it should be the opposite. In any case, senioritis is very real and can be very debilitating to those who still hope to do well in school at the end of their educational careers.