Tests. Papers. Huge amounts of reading.
It isn’t quite finals yet, but it seems like this time every semester, the work piles up higher than seems believable.
‘Definitely I have more work,’ said College of Communication freshman Lauren Rich. ‘It’s mainly reading that professors try to catch up on. I have an entire book to read this weekend.’
It is stressful for everyone students and professors and it all seems to happen the same week.
But while College of Arts and Sciences professor Richard Oxenberg agreed the end of the semester can be stressful, he said it may not be entirely professors’ faults. Because many people have to write term papers on all material covered in a course, it is natural that the end of the semester would be stressful by design.
‘The nature of the course is such that students can look at the course as a whole,’ he said.
But CAS professor Kathy Malley-Morrison said she tries not to give her students extra work at the end of the semester.
‘I space my work over the semester so they can avoid the crunch,’ she said. ‘I think [students] get fairly frantic and feel overwhelmed.’
For those who do have inordinate amounts of stress, however, Malley-Morrison said it is important to keep in mind that ‘it is almost over.’
Still, while CAS freshman Daria Berkowska has been trying to get ahead with other schoolwork in anticipation of a tough final week of classes, she said she has several papers to write this week anyway.
‘I have papers, which drive me crazy,’ she said. ‘[But] I actually have less work because I’ve been trying to get ahead the last few weeks.’
Berkowska said that she is trying to ‘focus on schoolwork more than going out.’ Her greatest worry, she said, comes after classes end she has two finals on the same day.
Other students said they actually have less work at this time of year, after getting much of their work out of the way over the last few weeks.
College of Communication sophomore Mike Guaspari said he is not stressed and does not have more work than usual.
But for CAS sophomore Leo Amoruso said that for him, ‘hell week’ has lasted more than one week.
‘[This week] I don’t have more with than usual, but the past month was intense,’ he said. ‘It’s a lot of stuff that culminates at the end of the semester. I try to do the easier work first.’