The Daily Campus

Issue date: 10/12/07 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Erik Kong Stress from everyday college life can be avoided by setting aside care-free, no schoolwork time.

Everyone knows college is not a stress-free experience. Whether it is running from class to class trying to make enough time for yourself to grab a bite to eat from the Student Union, or trying to overcome your writer's block in order to type up a paper that is due right before your back-to-back women's studies and biology exams (in the same lecture hall), stress is unavoidable. Add pressures from romantic relationships, time for your friends and family and making time for yourself, and you have one of the most common types of UConn students - the stressed kind.

"Faced with decision-making power for the first time, many students are overwhelmed by the sudden autonomy," according to princetonreview.com. "From choosing classes, to choosing where to party, students have their lives in their own hands and the pressure can be extremely stressful."

Here are four different sources of stress for students, and some suggestions of just what to do when you need a little bit of sanity.



Academics



Most students come to UConn in order to pursue a degree in their desired field, while having some fun in the process. Academics are a huge source of stress for the average college student, as every year the average entering GPA rises and competition between students becomes more apparent. This year's incoming class had average SAT score around 1195 and 37 percent of students were in the top 10 percent of their high school class, according to admissions.uconn.edu. Additionally, the specific time constraints on courses often provide coinciding midterms and specific "hell weeks" with multiple exams increasing stress levels dramatically.

"I would be a lot less stressed out if I didn't have four midterms and two papers within the span of two weeks," said Lauren Boylan, a 5th-semester communication sciences major.

The easiest way to account for academic stress is to plan out study hours ahead of time. If you have an exam next Thursday, for example, plug a half hour or more of time daily to look over the material. Exam weeks can be toiling, so make sure you find time for yourself.

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