Graphic by Nate Barton
As many seniors’ final semester will be coming to a close, a syndrome arises that spreads throughout the student body. This syndrome is commonly referred to as “senioritis.”
Senioritis is when the amount of effort and motivation by seniors drastically decreases, and this could affect their grades, tardiness, and attendance.
Students saw the development of these symptoms during their senior year of high school, around the time they started getting college acceptance letters. However, these were relatively minor compared to the onset that happens during college.
The threat of having a college acceptance letter revoked was greater in high school than it is now. A 2015 NBC News article reported that in 2009, 22 percent of colleges revoked admissions letters for high school students. With this danger no longer hanging over a college senior’s head, there is little motivation left to get out of bed in the morning. It might affect seniors interest in graduate school to a lesser degree since a this hazard continues to be there.
Some seniors with 8 a.m. classes find that for the rest of the semester their bed is a more comfortable place to be during the early hours of the morning. They then find that afternoon classes are better spent away from the classroom and in the sun on their favorite beach. If class is attended at all, it could be considered a minor miracle in and of itself, as arriving on time can’t always be counted on.
Assignments are completely ignored in favor of graduate school and job applications. Test dates might be forgotten until only a few days before the exam and essays are written the night before. This may cause grades to dip, but soon they’ll all be out in the working world where their grade in courses that were put off until the last semester of college will no longer matter.
Students of all grade levels may say that they already experience these feelings, but the difference between them and seniors is that seniors only have to look at their GPA for one more semester.
If students are wishing to avoid the pitfalls of senioritis, all is not lost. Pepperdine does offer services that can help. The Student Success Center offers tutoring while the Seaver College Career Center offers career coaching, resume and cover letter review and many other services to help ease the pain of senioritis.
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Follow Duncan Hilby on Twitter: @dhilbs
