The end of April is always a stressful time for college students. Between final papers, exams, and having to go back to your parents’ house, it’s a wonder we have time to do anything with our friends. No one has it harder than freshmen on campus, as they struggle with no longer having their parents hound on them for the first time. Despite this, Arnold Carol, a freshman English major, is the pinnacle of optimism.
“Look, I have to write this paper, do an outline, there’s this interview and homework for Math in Action, then I can sleep,” said Carol.
During this conversation, I was reminded of something Carol had said two weeks ago.
“Oh yeah, that really was the week from hell. I had to run a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, more math homework, a lab report and a six page paper. It was awful,” he said, recalling the last week he had said that his workload would decrease.
I asked him why he kept saying his workload would decrease when clearly it’s just the same amount of work for different classes. He said that it’s a “different mental load” and that “a positive attitude is the first step to an easy life.”
I think that’s a very cute thing for a freshman to believe, but it’s not realistic.
One thing to note is that Carol was under no obligation to speak with me; he actually called me to set up this interview.
When I asked him why he would set up an interview if he was so busy, he responded: “Well, I really don’t want to write that 12-page paper on toxic masculinity in 19th century literature, so I figured I’d call you up and do literally anything else.”
This strategy, I have found, is common among college freshmen because they haven’t yet had the slap in the face that is academic probation. Procrastination is a real problem for people who keep thinking that the workload will lighten up because they try to take it easy and consistently screw it up, piling more work on themselves and, inevitably, needing to let some things go by the wayside.
Overall, it’s not ideal to do this and I’d like to remind you, reader, that keeping on top of your work is hard, but once this week is over, your workload will decrease and it’ll be smooth sailing.