As classes start back up, students are once more faced with the task to readjust their busy lives to accommodate packed schedules filled with lectures, tutorials, late-night study sessions and early morning alarms. For many, the start of the term signals the beginning of a period of sleep deprivation, burnout, and academic fatigue, often accompanied by a touch of seasonal depression. Over the seven-month academic year, it can feel nearly impossible to carve out a moment of true rest. Amidst the chaos, if you manage to find a brief break with no immediate deadlines, the pressure to remain productive is ever so present. This demand urges students to seek out more work, like applying for jobs and internships, building a CV, or writing a cover letter. These tasks tend to linger at any free moment.
The harsh reality is that university life, by nature, is defined by these challenges. The college student lifestyle is a culture centered around high expectations and relentless competition. Worrying about exams, cramming for deadlines, vying for limited opportunities, and striving for the top marks are not unique to any one student; they’re shared experiences that shape the university journey. They are designed to prepare students for life after graduating where the stakes are just as high, if not higher. Once the safety net is torn away, you can either sink or swim.
Being under extreme academic pressure is not a new phenomenon. Professors haven’t suddenly decided to start overloading students with extra work, employers didn’t recently start seeking candidates with impressive resumes, and the expectation to perform well on exams has always existed. Ask almost any former university student and they’ll likely be able to recount the years of long nights, high dress, and exhaustion. The fact is, part of earning a degree is learning how to cope and manage these realities. University was never meant to be easy, if it were, everyone would do it.
Moreover, being a student in itself is a full-time job. Even if you’re employed somewhere like a pub, restaurant, or coffee shop, that is not the end goal, and therefore receiving a degree should always remain the number one priority. It is important to keep in mind the end goal, and that after these stressful years, you will graduate with a degree to get a job you hopefully enjoy, and you will have the skills to handle whatever intense situations your career throws at you.
While anxiety, fatigue, and burnout may not be new to students, our generation has an additional component that heightens these symptoms: screens. With constant access to our phones, containing most of our entertainment, it becomes impossible to ever have a clean break from work. It is difficult not to become distracted by the content on our devices, and throughout the hour of studying, students likely spend a good portion of their time taking phone breaks. A second-year Global Business student explains, “I take study breaks on my phone, and it’s become a never-ending cycle of procrastination.” When given the choice between reading old English texts and doom scrolling on Instagram reels, it is difficult to deny the screen time. Unfortunately, this means that not only does work take much longer than it should, but by the time it’s all finished, the main source of entertainment and probably the most common way to unwind in this generation has been used up and mixed in with work. Similar to how it’s not good to do work in bed because it is important to separate relaxation time and work, if your main outlet has already been used up throughout the day, alongside stressful assignments, it’s not going to feel as much like an outlet and only an extension of the work you’re trying to unwind from. Not to mention, between computers and phones, it is inevitable to experience screen fatigue, something like watching a TV show or film may not be appealing either.
Success and happiness in uni are dependent on how you manage and divide your time and work. It’s obviously much more difficult than it sounds, but it is very much possible and necessary to have a somewhat positive experience. At the same time, there will be periods where it is overwhelming and feels never-ending, but it is about how you react, whether that be seeing the bigger picture and persevering, or reaching out to ask for help, or simply panicking, letting the world crumble around you. The ability to handle these situations with responsibility and grace is what is going to matter in a career, and university teaches you how to persevere in the face of setbacks. These lessons are just as valuable as something you might learn in a lecture hall. Ultimately, the academic journey is far from easy, but it’s well worth the effort. The determination and resilience you develop are achievements in themselves—ones that not everyone can claim. And while your diploma will open doors, the skills you gain along the way are just as valuable and lasting.
