Major senioritis

[closetgeek]

For some reason this semester, I have had an incredibly hard time focusing...and I'm blaming it on the itis..the senioritis. Is anybody else dealing with this? How do you cure it?? Waiting for grad school decisions is driving me nuts...one would think that I would try to distract myself by being productive, but I've been doing just the opposite..I just sit in my room netflixing during the weekdays, then going out during the weekends..To make matters worse, I don't have monday or friday classes -- 4 day weekends, just adding to the procrastination! I only need 4 hours to graduate, political science and p.e, but I'm also taking virtual reality and human computer interaction, just because. I think the fact that I don't need these classes to graduate is adding to my lackadaisical approach to school .. help me care!

[UFGator]

Pick up a new hobby! Working out can help relieve some of your stress and re-focus you.

[Poppet]

Actually, I'm having the same problem. I've been so driven for so long and working so hard that now that I'm almost done I feel like I've lost all my drive. I am lethargic and lazy and not as interested in my final courses because I almost feel like they don't count anymore, even though they are clearly necessary and I need to work equally hard on them as I did on all my previous courses.

But I'm almost at the point of not caring anymore.

[SimilarlyDifferent]

Yes, I feel like everything I'm doing is sort of a waste of time because it isn't part of my grad program. I'm actually to the point where I'm annoyed at what I see as pointless assignments and I feel like I just want to get on with it already.

I was chalking this up to just being annoyed in general about waiting on grad accept/rejects and high stress. If it is senioritis, then I hope that when I enter a grad program that my drive and motivation comes back!

[neuropsych76]

Add me to this list as well. Last semester I was incredibly stressed/busy with finishing my honors thesis and collecting data for it, taking 4 upper level courses, studying and taking the GRE twice, and of course applying to 12 grad programs. Now this semester, I have two easy sociology classes, a PE class, and nothing to do with grad school stuff except wait. I have so much free time that I don't feel like doing anything at all. All I do is check my email and wonder about what the future holds in regards for grad school.

[closetgeek]

Interesting that you should say that, UFGator. I actually did start exercising and this has helped me regain some of my energy back...but it doesn't quite distract me from my grad school thoughts!

I also randomly bought a book on pastels (complete with a pastel kit!) that I've barely used ..me + new hobbies are a bad idea. I have a tendency to start something and then get bored with it and move on.

I agree with the others...It sounds like last semester's application processes drained all of our energy! But hey, we've worked hard. I think we deserve a little laziness , as long as it doesn't mess us up!

[Poppet]

I think what depresses me most is that last semester I was also taking a very heavy course load while trying to complete my applications. I ran myself into the ground so hard that I had a mono relapse, so I vowed that this semester I was going to give myself a break and take it easy. I was going to let myself coast for once and relax and actually read for pleasure, paint, exercise, have a social life... And instead, I'm just so nervous about grad apps and sick of school that I spend all my days being a sloth and checking grad forums. I'm completely wasting the first opportunity I've had in a long time to actually enjoy my life. But I just don't even feel like putting the effort into THAT anymore.

It sounds worse than it is. But I think I'm going to go for a jog now...

[2am_frosty]

If there were a senioritis club, i'd be the founder and president.

i'm taking ONE class and one seminar, and i can hardly take it. i thought my senioritis in high school (post- college acceptance) was bad-- this is by far the worst its ever been. school is barely even a blimp on my radar.... i went from being overly ambitious freshman year, to "i'll be happy if i just pass" senior year. i am really hoping i don't screw things up last minute.

so how have all my fellow seniors been spending their time? i mean i don't think i've been totally unproductive. i've definitely been spending more time in the lab and going to seminars, but i am absolutely loathing formal coursework at the moment. can't wait till grad school where grades aren't the end all be all.

[SimilarlyDifferent]

I started going to the gym and I picked up a job as a tutor at my undergrad. I really need to be working on my honors thesis, but I can't bring myself to do it. I'm not usually a last minute type of person, and my course load is light this semester. I've taken courses straight through undergrad, summer, winter session, you name it. Now I'm at the home stretch and I just can't bring myself to do it anymore.

[gradgirlwannabe]

I am definitely in the same boat. Last semester I took 19 credits, the GRE, and the English Lit subject test, in addition to applying to all my schools and working part time. I was hoping that I'd have a chance to recoup over Christmas break, but I spent it working on grad apps and working, so it wasn't very relaxing. THIS semester I've got 20 credits (most of which are in upper level classes) plus work, and I have NO motivation. I've been running myself hard for the past few years, and now I just want to be DONE. I have plenty of work with which to distract myself, but have absolutely NO interest in it.

If anyone has a cure....

[mscongeniality1]

I am feeling the senioritis as well! I'm taking a courseload which puts me at full-time status (13 hours) but none of my classes are really required for graduation...I should have graduated last semester, but I digress. Anyway. One class is jazz dance, one is British literature but I'm taking it pass-fail, one is a pretty straightforward adolescent development class, and the last is a grad-level class in my department...that ends at the 8 week mark.

I'm busy now with those things and my lab work and extracurricular activities, but still I am not too motivated to do much else, and once my grad class ends, I only have Tuesday and Thursday class. Granted, MWF will become hard-core lab days, but still. I'm bored and constantly thinking about my impending letters so don't worry, you aren't alone, OP.

[Poppet]

My senioritis is getting worse. :/ It seems like a lot of us are feeling this way - is anyone else worried about the consequences this will have on their applications?

I've already delayed graduation until the summer so that I could give myself a break, and now I'm even seriously contemplating moving to part-time status and dropping another class. Whereas before I was obsessed with getting A's, I'm starting to not care even though I'm heading towards a low mark, one low enough that it doesn't exist anywhere else on my transcript. I'm wondering if it's better to just drop it now and become a part-time student and be a full-time student in the summer, when I'm more likely to do well. (I do my best work in the summertime when I can write in the sun.)

The single only reason I haven't dropped to part-time is because if I do that I won't graduate until the end of August and if I end up going to Europe or something for my graduate studies, that's not going to leave me a lot of time to pack up and go... And if I stay in Canada, where class registration usually starts in July, I will end up being one of the very last people in my entire cohort to register, leaving me with few class options. I'm so afraid that I end up being so burnt out and fed up that I decide not to do my MA next year after all, and then when I reapply I won't be able to get IN anywhere because I was too burnt out this semester to function, or that if I try to take a break by going part-time I will have such trouble registering that next year will be worse and I'll be even more miserable..

[jedi76]

I graduated in December...was super busy with my thesis, GREs, grad school apps, graduation forms, ect. Now I'm unemployed and not in school. My friends have been giving me the occasional part-time work but it's only like 10 days a month if that. I signed up with a temp agency in December and they've gotten me a whopping 6 days of work so far. I feel like my life is ENTIRELY on hold until I know where/if I'm going back to school in the fall. Then I can start the moving plans (didn't apply anywhere in my city) and go get settled. I hate being in limbo. Especially with no serving experience in a service industry town whose economy has yet to start rebounding. And it won't stop raining...but that's besides the point. Bah.

Anyways, best of luck to all those with senioritis! Try and enjoy the down time before we're all (hopefully) bombarded with grad school work in the fall!

[Veta]

Whereas before I was obsessed with getting A's, I'm starting to not care even though I'm heading towards a low mark, one low enough that it doesn't exist anywhere else on my transcript.

Tell me about it. In order to look better on my applications, I decided to complete a math minor in my last semester (mistake!!). I know that once I accept my offer, it's just going to get worse too. I just take solace in the fact that undergraduate GPA doesn't mean much once you're already in grad school.