Typical November nights in a college students residence include cramming obligated to catch for papers due in December, and exams that lurk around the corner on a topic you felt up on sleep for. Deadlines and due dates are non-existent for students until the night before since the preoccupations; partying and overall good times which lack libraries and study sessions, expel more excitement than the adrenaline rush of a chemistry chronicle or a pre-cal problem. At most schools, the days of dorm rules, dress codes, and even mandatory class attendance is long gone. But while freedom can be exciting and fun, it can also be stressful because no one is telling you what to do.
You have to make a lot of decisions on your own and readjust your own values and normal life. There are bound to be mistakes, but that is part of the process. College Life is more then just going to school and making the grades that your parents require of you. This is why many students will incur an ailment called stress. Stress in college is caused by many influencing factors. One of these important factors would have to be the expectations set by parents.
Parents can be more then just an annoying voice in your ear every time you come home for the holidays. They are normally the reason you are at your present school, so pleasing them by getting good grades is almost mandatory. This thought of displeasing the parents can be detrimental to one’s thought process; meaning that it most likely would cause a world of stress for the student. Worrying about receiving good grades is just another thing that most students don’t need to add to their “to do list.” This added pressure does nothing for students but makes them think that if they don’t get wonderful marks in school that they wont be accepted at home anymore. When in reality all the parents want is their kid to get a great job, and have a future. Another major factor in adding to the stress level in during college life would have to be the almighty job.
Most students that go to a community college have a full time job they attend to after their full schedule of classes. Most jobs expect that you have no other outside life other then thinking about what you are going to do next time you come into work. Supervisors can’t empathize with you because they themselves have been working the same job for the past ten years, and have never even entered a college classroom. They demand that you always be able to work no matter what school work is due the next week. It becomes really hard for a full time student to hold a full time job and get by without stressing out every night. This stress is not something that stays at the job, it follows through to the classroom.
The most important of these causes of stress would have to be the approval from others, and the pressure applied by peers. Especially in a new environment, most people eagerly seek acceptance. That may mean conforming, whether it’s to friends’ attitudes toward alcohol, drugs, partying, studying, or sex. This change from high school to college life sometimes can lead to the altering of one’s self.
If the change is not accepted by others, it can cause internal conflict. Meaning that you don’t want to be rejected by others, but you also want to become your own person. This battle for identity can cause loads of stress on a young person’s mind. This isn’t easily solved by a simple answer that most seek for. Stress during college is something that all students will go through at sometime or another.
Stress can lead to many things that aren’t so great sometimes, and on the other hand it can create some very good circumstances; just depends on how the student takes it. Cheating is a word that all people know, but only some use. Too much of the combination of stress and pressure can lead to cheating. This normally guides the way to more stress, because most people who cheat end up getting caught. In some instances people who work well under pressure turn everything that’s negative around and use it to their advantage, and come out with wonderful grades. Don’t let your college years ‘distress’ you.
Be able to recognize situations that may cause stress; develop effective ways to manage stress and seek help if you need it.