Confronting the Sophomore Slump

Adia Watts, Culture Editor

Usually referring to the lack of success on new artists’ second album, “the sophomore slump”, as I’ve come to know it, now refers to the lack of success in my second year of college coupled with an early onset of senioritis. After my first year of working hard and maintaining a stellar average, my second year is already seeming to drag.

With everything crashing on top of me—significantly more boring classes, more papers, the looming College Writing Exam and the fruitless quest for the perfect off-campus house for my junior year—my sophomore year in college is proving to be just as stressful as it was in high school.

Usually it takes more than a few weeks for me to completely check out, but I’ve noticed it happening more often this year. I’ve also noticed that I’m not alone in this struggle. My roommates, friends on Facebook and Instagram and even the anonymous people on Yik Yak have all been commenting on how unusually difficult it is to keep up with everything this semester.

Countless times a day, usually as I’m contemplating whether I should skip a class for the second time in a week, I question whether this is the life I want; I could just as easily drop out and pursue a much easier life as a professional couch potato or a high class “companion” for politicians and billionaires. But then I think that maybe that’s not the life for me. (Just kidding, it most certainly is not the life for me.)

Of course, the first suspect in this crime of lethargy is always procrastination. This silent time killer is probably the biggest problem among college students because there are so many other things to do that are much more appealing than reading a 25-page article on male infertility in Denmark or five chapters on ancient western civilizations. In that respect, we can blame no one but ourselves for wasting the days away when things could be getting accomplished.

However, perhaps it’s not all our fault; I was told by one of my professors that the college has required teachers to give more papers and other writing intensive assignments this year and as a result, we’re all drowning in essays. There are also some instances when multiple tests are scheduled on the same day, which makes for intense cramming sessions the night before. (There’s that procrastination again.)

Whatever the case may be, I’ve quickly realized that this college thing isn’t getting any easier. And for someone who skated through their entire education career mainly on luck, charm and good looks, this realization has sent me careening down a hill and crashing into a bunch of thorny bushes.

But now I know that I must do away with my previous idea that “college is not as hard as everyone makes it seem.” I’ve got to take my work seriously and pick myself up by the bootstraps out of this sophomore slump. Next year, I’m aiming for a junior jubilee followed by a senior success story.