College Academics Fueling Anxiety in College Students
As a freshman going into college, there are many things to stress about. This includes the fact that you are moving away from your familiar home of 18 years, the act of meeting new friends, attempting to find your way around a new, intimidating atmosphere and in general, all the freedom you are about to take on for the very first time. Freshman year is a time to adjust to being on your own and figure out who you want to be and where you fit in the overall scheme of things, not to have anxiety associated with your academics. Fortunately, there are ways that teachers and students can relieve freshmen of the stress of learning this first year at school.
Many freshman students have found themselves anxious about learning new material, the new courses they’re taking in general, or panicking before an exam or before receiving a grade back. Researchers have found that there is many ways professors can change the way they are teaching their courses to decrease stress level of their students. Since there is a lot of anxiety correlated wit...
In the essay “College Pressures” by William Zinsser, Zinsser speaks about the pressures and anxiety that plague college students, all the while wishing that they had “a chance to savor each segment of their education as an experience in itself and not as a grim preparation for the next step.” Referring to the 1979 generation of college students as “panicky to succeed”, he lists four of the following stressors for college students.
Anxiety ran throughout my entire body the morning before my first class of college began. Not knowing what to expect of my professors, classmates, and campus scared me to death. I knew the comparison to senior year of high school and freshman year of college would be minute, but never did it occur to me how much more effort was need in college until that morning, of course. Effort wasn’t just needed inside of the classroom with homework and studying but also outside of it where we are encouraged to join clubs, get involved and find a job. Had I known the transformation would be so great, I’d have mentally prepared myself properly. It’s easy playing “grown-up” in high school when one doesn’t have to pay expensive tuitions, workout a
Instructors, homework, projects, papers that are due, extracurricular organizations are attributes to college compression and often cause students to stress-out. However, college students are not only compression or stressed-out at school by instructors, projects, or organizational activities, but are at times compression by the environment in which they live. Because of schoolwork and social difficulties, students are at times generally inclined to become overwhelmed by their situation and do not efficiently overcome his/her circumstances as needed. On the other hand, compression can be a boost to procrastinators in order for them to get the task done; but as a result, the work is not up to the instructor’s expectations. There are pros and cons of college compression, and students should be aware of each. Compressions also have several positive aspects. The Pros or the advantages of college compression are sometimes effective because it gives the students the adrenaline rush that is needed in order for them to start the assignment and to complete it on time. Additionally, depending on the length of the assignment, the student occasionally is more creative with his/her work and will effectively work faster because of the attention and strength that rises when the body is under compression. Furthermore, students take stress as a replacement for self-discipline because they cannot start working without a time or date compression.
College students have do deal with moving away from home, intense pressure to keep their GPA high, working towards career goals, final exams, maintaining a social life, and the costs of college, all of which is a recipe for stress. (Reifman, 2011)
While many first year college students are over stressed and constantly in a state of panic or fear, I was able to teach my brain how to relax and keep stress to a minimum. It is because of this that my first year of college has been relatively easier then
Something most freshmen can relate to is that confusion felt throughout the first days. During that confusion is
Today a college education can overload students with too many stressful situations. Not only does Stress overload today's college students, but it is also the leading cause of personality disorders. In her essay, Cathy Bell explains that major depressive disorder strikes 5-12% of men and 10-20% of women; half of these people will have more than one occurrence and 15% of them will commit suicide ("Depression for the young"). For instance, many depressives are first recognized and treated during their years in college. For a large amount of people, depression exposes itself because of traumatizing experiences, such as leaving home and/or academic stress. For other students alcohol and drugs become a first time experience.
Moreover, there is a strong psychological connection between one’s perception of themselves, and their strengths and weaknesses (Hubbard & Blyler, 2016). Since the human body instinctively reacts to anything perceived as a threat with the fight or flight response, it does not discriminate between an individual’s perception of an event, and the actual event that occurs (Bhattacharya & Bhattacharya, 2015; Grison, Heatherton & Gazzaniga, 2016). Therefore, something as simple as the fear of failing a test can provoke the same stress response within the body as encountering a bear. Indeed, conclusions established by Hubbard & Blyler (2016) indicated a significant relationship between stress and poor academic performance finding increases in absent mindedness, hyperactivity, and most importantly; difficulties with attentional control and working memory. In a similar study, Bhattacharya & Bhattacharya (2015) observed reductions in the effects of stress when students exhibited positive self-perceptions and confidence in their academic abilities. Combined, these studies suggest that the much of the stress associated with academics can be minimized by simply acknowledging its existence. By first recognizing the biological symptoms of stress, this author has begun to understand how influential the mindset and perceptions are for increasing academic
Stress is an important problem faced by many college students, especially first year students, and it can have some large impacts on college freshmen. For example, according to Hirsch and Keniston (1970), about half of first year students do not graduate from college due to dropping out (p. 1-20). Also, David Leonhardt (2009) agrees that the United States excels at putting “teenagers in college, but only half of students who enroll end up with a bachelor’s degree” (p. 1). In addition, the level of stress seems to increase each year. For instance, the National Health Ministries (2006) claim that many college students have become “more overwhelmed and stressed” than the student generation of the last fifteen years (p. 2). Also, the percentage of first year students feeling stressed is greater than thirty percent (National Health Ministries 2006). If the problem of stress is not resolved properly, th...
Over the past few decades, there has been a dramatic shift in college experience and job opportunities: College tuition has spiked, students have to work more to pay for their education, there are new fields of study and discoveries that hadn’t existed previously, and there are new standards in order to be deemed successful in each respective field. There is no doubt that college age students, roughly aged 18-22, would start to feel this pressure as it coincides with other constant pressures such as moving out, being financially independent, and having a new social freedom. However, for some people it can prove to be too much. It was found in Brougham’s (2009) study that both college men and women are very likely to use avoidance and self-punishment
As a new freshman entering this Community College, you will be discovering and experiencing many new things about the world in which you live and yourself. The jump from high school to college can be a very scary but exciting experience. I have some valuable advice for you on how to make this transition smoother and an enjoyable experience rather than a scary and lonely one.
Advice I would give to next years freshman is do not go boy-crazy or girl-crazy during the first semester at least because you need to focus on what you really came here for is higher education. It’s hard enough to get adjusted to the college life, with different methods of teaching to all of the homework. The only emotional distress one should have, not that one should, is just stressing over school. Stressing over being in a relationship isn’t worth it. A second piece of advice I would love to give is studying or doing homework in your dorm room is not effective, you get distracted easily. Go out to the library, and get your homework done faster in a peaceful and quiet environment. I didn’t learn this until the ending of the semester, I wish I had gone to the library earlier, then maybe my grades would be better than they are this semester.
Leaving home for the first time and going away for school can be very difficult for some people. In many cases for college freshmen this is their first time being away from their home and parents. Many times they get home sick and want to isolate themselves. They have to get into a new routine of going to school, and change can be very difficult. It is definitely hard to get into the swing of college. They have to navigate through classes in a new format while living away from all the comforts of parents. A college student’s life usually consists of attending classes, long hours of studying, working at a job (sometimes), and having a social life. Some students work at a job or study harder than others, but they are all trying to get degrees so maybe one day they will have meaningful and significant lives. It is a constant struggle for everyone who is trying desperately to make him or herself into a success. And every college student wants to be involved with something in order to further their education, or just have fun. There are lots of new opportunities out there. The struggle consists of demands on time, financial pressures, parental pressure and conflicts, interpersonal conflicts, managing freedom, peer and academic pressure and the transitional period to a new academic environment (Stanford University 4). All of these factors combined can cause emotional disturbances and one of the most common is stress.
I can relate to Melanie’s first impression of college being unfamiliar, scary and life changing in college fear factor. When I started my first semester it was a lot different than what I was used to going from a one on one studying experience back to a class room full of students. Melanie states, “Individuals well outside the ‘traditional’ college age range also spoke of the stress of assuming the responsibilities of college” (24). Melanie’s point is that students of all ages experience some anxiety when first attending
Academic stress can take complete control over the student enduring it. Researchers say that the most common form of anxiety causing academic stress is achievement anxiety. This type of anxiety is likely to occur when a student has a fear of failure in an academic related situation. However a report conducted in 2000, Research in Higher Education” showed that academic stress and achievement anxiety can have a positive effect on a students grades. This is because students are aware of the fa...