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...
Glenn says that “A 1999 UCLA survey of 683 colleges and universities showed that 30.2 percent of freshmen acknowledged that they frequently felt overwhelmed.”(Atschuler, 2000) This increase is what he says has led to the need for more psychological services and counseling. The fact that many college students travel far from home to study is also a large factor in the increased amount of stress. Glenn points out Dr. David Fasslers conclusion in his book “Help Me I’m Sad”, “Many live far away from their
A first-generation college student is someone whose folks didn’t attend or graduated from college. Many times, students face this reality and have no one to rely on. Some of the challenges this students face are unique psychological challenges. Although there is upportive staff in college, one of the most important roles of a family is support. Their family may see their entry to college as an insult or misunderstood their reason for wanting to have a major. In families, role are assign to each member such as working, cleaning or taking care of others. When one of the family members decides to interference with this system to attend to college, this one leading the student to a loss of personality.
Everyone has experienced some type of stress in their life. Whether it has been from work, school, or trouble at home, stress is stress. If anyone had played sports in high school, you know the challenge of balancing school and sports. Imagine that stress, then multiply it exponentially. Everyone knows that college is a much more rigorous version of high school.
The stress of applying to college, on top of all of the work that seniors are expected to do in class, can be overwhelming for some. Nervous breakdowns, sleep issues, isolation, none of these are unheard of.
In view of this “illness,” junior year also takes a toll on individuals. There is the ACT and the pressure to obtain a certain score to receive a scholarship or to be admitted into a dream school. As a matter of fact, the college application process is exhausting in itself. The stress seniors build up before they click
Many first year college students face problems as they enter a new educational environment that is very different than that of high school. However, the common problem is that many first year students become stressed. For many students, college is supposed to be the most fun time of their life; however, their fun can be restricted if it is limited by stress and other mental illnesses. According to the National Health Ministries (2006), stress is caused by “greater academic demands,” the feeling of being independent from family, “financial responsibility,” homesickness, being exposed to meeting new people, peer pressure, “awareness of one’s own sexual identity,” and the abuse of drugs and alcohol (p. 2). However, the causes to first year students’ stress mainly include academic demand, parents, finance, and peer pressure.
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
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.
Students with academic anxiety are self-engrossed and lead to their own academic demise. Test anxiety does not only affect a student's performance on a test, but Huberty (2009) asserts that test anxiety over time tends to contribute to more common underachievement. He describes the consequences of constant test anxiety including lowered self-esteem, reduced effort, and loss of desire to complete school tasks. Students who have academic anxiety also have a higher risk of developing depression, and often feel deprived of confidence (Cunningham, 2008). Thus, academic anxiety can become extreme, and have negative effects on students’ well-being.
Going to college can be an exciting new experience that can challenge a person more than he or she thought was possible. Attending college, especially for the first time, can be a very stressful time in a person’s life. Some of the stress that is associated with attending college are living in a new place, having to meet new people, having new responsibilities, and of course the homework that goes along with taking classes. If a person does not learn to cope with these stressors in a healthy way, that person may become very overwhelmed and possibly depressed (Hoeger & Hoeger, 2010) .To keep one’s body and mind safe from the overexposure of stress, they can practice the following techniques.
A significant percentage of college students spend their time on campus with a lot of stress. This is due to a tight schedule that requires them to balances class time, assignments, tests, projects and extra curriculum activities. Other students are attached to the corporate world notably adult education offered in our campus. The working lot fined it challenging to meet extra workload in their courses. The final exams have a difficult feeling for the candidates due to anxiety of passing.
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
Most freshmen like me that enter the school are scared. I think the first week of the school is the easiest since there would not be a lot of homework and what you need to do is to listen to what you need for the class and know other people well in the class. But I am wrong, as soon as you get seated on your assigned seat, new teachers start to introduce themselves and start giving tons of homework. As the bell rings, I start rushing to my next class hoping that I wouldn’t be late. The first day of school is always the hardest since you don’t have any new friends and you have to sit in the cafeteria alone when it is lunch time. As day starting to go by, I found myself getting earlier and earlier to class. Talking starts to increas...
Academic stress, which is something I believe students struggle with the most is what I will be focusing on in this paper. The idea I wish to address is how students can get organized with their work to reduce stress. The purpose is to inform GGC students that creating a schedule and a quiet study space that works for them can go a long way in minimizing stress in order to encourage them to learn ways they can manage stress in school. Making a schedule and creating a quiet study space will help students to stay on track and also to study effectively, which is why I have decided to get this information across to my audience by making a colorful flyer with pictures and procedures on how students can get organized to help them reduce school stress.