It's no secret that college comes with an immense amount of stress. Balancing projects, exams, work, and extracurricular activities is enough to drive anyone into internal overload. Not to mention, final exams are right around the corner. I have put together a few reasons to help us better understand what it is that makes college so overwhelming, and where the true basis of our stress lies.        

1. You cannot just skate by. Unlike high school, college courses require you to pick up a pencil and use this thing we call a brain. Whether it is writing a 10-page paper, or doing your online homework, college classes tend to require some form of effort. There is nothing about the, “sleeping in class method,” that will earn you the grades to graduate college. That being said, you need to go to class. I know from experience that being present in class and engaging (asking questions when something is unclear) is the best way to get the most out of your experience. After all, we are spending more than a little change to attend this university. We might as well make it money well spent.

2. You always question your decisions. Whether it is your major, what you want to do after college, whether or not you should go to graduate school, or what kind of experience you should get before you graduate, making the right decisions is never easy. In fact, what are the right decisions? The answer is different for everyone. College allows everyone to recreate themselves. It allows us a new start, a clean slate. We are given the opportunity to rediscover our passions, pursue new interests. We can be anything we want to be. That is why there is not a specific path laid out for us. College is a time to be selfish. This is your time to make yourself the best person that you can be. Don’t be afraid to take a few chances. We all have questions. That’s what makes these years of our life so darn stressful -- and exciting.      

3. You are given contradictory advice. While your academic advisor may say that potential employers look intensely at college GPA, others will say that it depends on your major, rigor of classes, real world experience, etc. For example, does a hospital want to hire a recent medical school graduate with a 4.0 GPA and no previous experience, or an individual with a 3.5 GPA and 100+ hours of volunteer work in the field. Most would pick the latter. This is where you are given the opportunity to prioritize. Put effort into the areas that you deem most important to your future. You will always be given different answers. You will always be pushed in different directions. Maximize your time; find a balance between academics and experience. Build other aspects of your person, because what people are really looking for is someone who has a sense of balance.      

4. Choosing a major is problematic. You are fresh out of high school, just turned 18 years old and are expected to decide what you want to study for the next four years of your life. To many college freshmen, this almost feels like an ultimatum. It did for me. You have to decide on one thing that you are interested in that you can see yourself doing for the rest of your years. You have to be good at it. You have to love it. It can’t feel like a chore, but it has to make you money. Wow, so many rules. How can you possibly find something that fits all the expectations? You can’t. Even if you do, you don’t ever really know for sure.

Your undergraduate degree can take you many places. In fact, many people do not even end up using their bachelor’s degree in their career. According to an article by CBS Moneywatch, “College students tend to agonize about their choice of major, but it turns out that for many of these graduates it probably won't matter.” In this article, several surveys were discussed that contributed to this statement. One survey, conducted by CareerBuilder, found that, “Among the 2,134 workers surveyed, 47 percent of college graduates did not find a first job that was related to their college major.” So pick something that you would like to learn more about. Find something that intrigues you. This is your chance to discover whether it is the right fit for you. If it is not, don’t panic.          

5. Balancing social life and academics. Everyone deserves to have fun sometimes, right? In college, the concept of sometimes is not always easy to grasp. There is always that inner voice that tells you to stay in on a Friday before a paper is due. Then there is your friend telling you that you will miss out on a great time and that you can always write your paper later. However, there is a middle ground. In order to do well in college, you have to find it. You are not going to be perfect; we are young. We are allowed to have some fun. Those who are able to obtain that balance of self-discipline will achieve the most success and satisfaction.         

6. Time doesn’t stop. It feels like just yesterday I was moving into my freshman dorm. Here I am, two years later, a junior in college, with absolutely no sense of where life is going to take me. That is a scary feeling. College is a constant source of pressure. It is like a continuous reminder of the fact that we don’t know what we are going to end up doing. We hear, over and over, that the unemployment rates of college graduates are skyrocketing. Isn’t that just the most comforting news? None of us know the opportunities we will be given, or the decisions that we will make in the upcoming years. We can’t predict the future. We are told that if we work hard, everything will work out in the end. So, that is what we do. Keep your focus. Be confident. When one door closes, another opens. We are all in this together.

          Although we cannot change the due date of a project, or the amount of equations we have to memorize for an upcoming exam, we can reinforce the good things in life. Sometimes, we will feel like tearing our hair out, but maintaining a positive attitude with high self-esteem can help us see that cliché glass is half-full.
Maintain a positive outlook, allow yourself to have some fun and take risks, but keep your boundaries in place. Laugh when you can, and be the best that you can be. These are the best years of our lives.