Senioritis. The term may sound made up; it may sound like an illness. But does senioritis actually exist? And to what extent?

For many underclassmen, senior year might look glorious. Being the oldest in the school, getting closer and closer to being “free” from high school, and the amount of freedom and independence a senior receives could appear quite appealing. What underclassmen do not see, however, is the amount of stress, depression, and anxiety that can accompany senior year. A “senior stress” survey by CollegeData displays that this anxiety comes from many factors burdening seniors’ lives. According to the survey, 21% of that anxiety comes from managing senior year workload, while 37% of it comes from applying to colleges. These factors, along with others, including college decisions and financial stressors,contribute to stress felt by seniors that may not be as visible to others.

The term, “senioritis,” can be explained in a few ways. After interviewing some of the seniors on campus, a few general definitions were offered. One senior describes it as “when your mind is finished with high school, but you still have to go physically,” confirming the drained feeling senioritis implies. Other seniors simply describe it as a lack of motivation to complete school work, feelings of burnout, exhaustion from four years of hard work, and/or the desire to do something else other than schoolwork.

A senior explains, “I pushed myself so hard during the first semester with the stress of college applications and essays that now I just have nothing left to give in terms of assignments, heavily contributing to senioritis, which in turn has made my depression worse.” Many say committing to a college made their senioritis worse, claiming they feel “the hard work is done” and “this doesn’t matter,” causing them to not worry about grades and submitting work on time. Ella Moore says, “senioritis is valid because why would we try in fourth quarter...as long as my grades are good enough that I don't have to take an exam, then I'm good.” Additionally, many are more excited to start their next chapter in life: college. However, senior Natalie Cai states that “committing to a college has made my senioritis a little better because it’s lifted the burden. I feel like I can truly enjoy school and do things that I want to do.”

To reveal the underlying presence of senioritis within the Bryn Mawr senior class, seniors were then asked how it makes them feel daily. “Senior year is the home stretch,” Cai explains. “The end is so near yet so far away. For me, I believed junior year was the most important, and it is. However, it’s not the end. It also didn’t help to see most of your friends in the year above leave you. It was this combination of feeling exhausted from junior year and not completely recovering, friends leaving, feeling disconnected, and piling on courses not because I truly liked them but because I thought they’d look good to colleges that contributed to my senioritis.” Cai’s point about senior year being the “home stretch” and the feelings that this idea induces are not just her own. Others describe feeling “slumped,” “just trying to do the bare minimum to get through the last year,” feeling “unmotivated,” or having completely lost their interest in academics. Spencer Richman says, “I’m too tired to care.” Many feel that senioritis is something all are bound to experience in their senior year. One senior states, “I think senioritis is inevitable, and this is coming from someone who doesn’t procrastinate and is always getting her work done. Even I notice it.”

When asked how teachers at Bryn Mawr can better help seniors combat this struggle, the majority of the responses included assigning less work, or at least less busy work, and to just “cut them some slack.” One senior suggests teachers be more understanding, commending English teacher Ms. Eisler for “letting us have a 30-minute break because we collectively agreed we were exhausted” in one of her classes.

But how do teachers react to this? Dr. Waters, an English teacher for grades 10, 11, and 12, offers her perspective. She describes senioritis as “a very natural reaction to an emotional transition in life,” explaining she believes it is a real thing and has been for quite a long time. She identifies the differences between her fall and spring semester senior classes. In the fall class, everyone is so consumed by the college application process, and managing that with academics is “emotionally zapping.” Here, the senioritis is more stress-based. On the other hand, in the spring semester, the nervous energies and students’ willingness to pay attention in class start dissipating as students settle into a more emotional transition, preparing to begin the next phase of their life. Therefore, Dr. Waters explains that she makes the class in the fall more content driven, while she plans the spring one to be more student-led, in order to “set them up best for the next step in their life.”

However, she explains the difficulty in completely abandoning assignments as she believes it is hard for her to completely let go of the topic being discussed in class. She wants to continue to share knowledge and promote learning. Even though seniors might be struggling with senioritis, classes still have to progress. She believes that learning does not stop even if seniors may be ready for college.

Senioritis. For every illness, scientists work hard to find any potential cure. But the question remains, is there a cure this time? Or is senioritis simply inevitable?