Hailley Brune – Opinion Columnist
Spring semester always feels like you’re dragging yourself through the finish line. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m pretty sure most of you know what I mean. You tell yourself that you’re ready once you finish finals. That the next semester will be a little calmer and that you’re ready for it. Then the first week of classes start and you’re already exhausted.
This semester I’ve found myself being done with the semester before the first month was even over. I have more classes this semester, but they’re a little bit easier than last semester’s classes. So what’s the cause for this change in energy? I have a few theories.
My first theory is due to the fact that spring semester comes after fall semester. Revolutionary, I know. Fall semester is normally fairly busy. You’re getting back in the swing of school and work, and you’re also coming back from having the summer off. Which I assume you were doing something fun for a lot of it. So, due to that you’re a little more prepared for fall semester. You’ve had time to rest and not use your brain quite as much. While fall is normally a bit more busy, you’re prepared for it.
Spring semester you go straight from fall semester, leaving out J-term, to spring classes. You don’t have those three months of rest. You only have the one month, and not even that if you take a J-term. So people who took a J-term are probably even more tired than the rest of us. Though, if you took J-term off I’m sure there was a lot of work happening or internships. Due to this lack of a break in between semesters it’s enough to lead anyone to burn out.
Spring semester breaks are also split up differently than fall. So, a lot of the time it feels like a lot longer before you get a break. Spring break is a god send that helps pull us through the first half of the semester. It doesn’t come until the middle of the second month of the semester.
It lines up with midterms, so generally speaking you don’t get a break until halfway through the semester. While midterms aren’t exactly the middle of the semester always, they can be used as a general gauge of where you’re at. We’ve talked about timing, but there’s also other factors that timing brings along with it.
The weather is another reason that makes spring semester more difficult to get through. As college students I’m going to assume we all understand seasonal depression. There’s a reason that the library has those special lights. Spring semester starts when it’s already cold, windy, and wet. As it gets warmer it gets closer to summer, which is something to look forward to. So, we’re less likely to be feeling that seasonal depression, because we’re getting closer to that warm finish line.
Also, who doesn’t feel better not wearing a coat and maybe throwing on a skirt. It’s an instant mood lifter. Fall semester on the other hand starts warm since it comes off summer. The warm weather gives you a slightly elevated mood, so it makes it easier to have momentum for the beginning of the school year. While spring semester starts in the cold, you’re already feeling the effects of the weather in the beginning.
My last theory of why spring semester is exhausting is because of the summer. During spring you’re closer to the summer than you are to the fall semester. You have to start preparing for summer jobs, internships, or whatever you decide to do over the summer. Filling out applications, updating your resume, finding opportunities, housing, transportation, getting accepted. It all becomes a lot of stress on top of just finishing the school year off. This is on top of already being tired, and maybe a bit burnt out. There’s also the expectation to do something over the summer that’ll give you experience for after you graduate. So, finding these good opportunities that’ll be seen as useful is also stressful and hard.
I can’t tell you how much time I spend looking for good opportunities that I’m able to do. Then I have to sit back and wonder, “How will this look on an application? Will this be seen as helpful or a good experience? Or will it be seen as just random employment for a summer?” There’s a lot of extra stress in the spring semester to make up for the easier schedule. That’s assuming you have an easier schedule, which isn’t the case for a lot of students.
Overall, spring semester is students running on spite and caffeine. It’s no wonder it drags along and we struggle with it more. Don’t worry too much though, in a few years we won’t have to worry about it anymore.