Collegitis

During my senior year of High School, I got what is normally called “Senioritis” — the typical procrastination of a high school student toward the end of senior year. But don't think it escaped me so quickly. Now I'm in college and I seem to be suffering from Collegitis, its evil, older sibling!

When the summer of my senior year finally came, I was thrilled to not have to worry about Senioritis any longer. I could procrastinate all I wanted during the summer because I had nothing to do. I didn’t have any homework to turn in or any exams to study for. All I had to worry about was whether the pool was warm enough.

Right before classes began, I had this sudden motivation to study. I was eager to learn and I couldn’t stop looking at all the cool, new and shiny looking books I had gotten for all of my college classes. I felt so grown up.

Six weeks later, I can’t even stand going to class. Not only are they not what I expected, but it is just so incredibly difficult to even make myself go to them... let alone do any of the homework.

The first week of school, I kept checking Blackboard — the Web site where most of my teachers keep up with assignments — to see if there was any homework I could get done right away. I was on time to all of my classes and paying attention to what the professors were saying.

Now, I forget to check Blackboard and I don’t always get to class early (especially Astronomy — a class which highly recommend NOT to take). As much as I try to pay attention, all I end up doing is either socializing with the person sitting next to me or wondering what I’m going to do during the weekend.

Not only that, but sitting at home and trying to study is almost impossible for me these days. All I do is surf around on Facebook to see if I have any new comments or friends requests, check MySpace (another one of the deadly sins of a freshman) and download music. It seems I do everything BUT homework.

I’ve come to the conclusion that my procrastination is killing me. Not only is it hurting my grades and my studies, but I’m wasting money and time. We all pay for the classes that we take and if I keep this up, then what am I doing in college?

I think most freshmen feel like this and have the same problem. It may be because we tend to confuse college with high school — but with more freedom and no detentions. I'm used to the FCAT education that I was given in high school and not exactly used to “real” studies that will actually be useful in life rather than to pass a required test.

College is not high school. Teachers are not going to guide us through every single step of our college careers. But I’m used to that, which is why I keep putting things off to the last minute — because I’m expecting my teachers to tell me what I need to do to pass. Their job is to teach us, not to spoon feed us everything.

I have noticed that it is also difficult to even like my classes because they do remind me a lot of my high school days. The core curriculum is the worst. The classes are basically the same as in high school; the only difference is that teachers teach faster and there's more homework.

Frankly, I’m sick of seeing and learning the same material that I’ve been learning for the last four years, and I cannot wait until my classes get a little bit more in depth toward my degree. I want to learn something else other than algebra and English. Why not add some more interesting classes to the core curriculum? How about adding some classes that weren’t part of the AP curriculum in high school?

Procrastination is one of the worst qualities to have. I have definitely gotten in a lot of trouble because of it. It is not a good thing to do, and it is always better to get things done ahead of time. If you’re struggling like I am, here are a couple of tips from suite101.com — a Web site that touches subjects from college to the newest Britney rumor going around — on how to get rid of this horrible “disease.”

1. Balance the time that you spend with your friends “hanging out” and the time you spend hitting the books. Education should always come first.

2. Hanging out with your buddies is cool, but give your books some love. Save time aside each day, with few distractions, to get school work done and catch up on studies. It will not only save your GPA but also your sanity!

3. Pulling all-nighters seems like a great idea, until you end up pulling three in a row and end up falling asleep during your chemistry lab. Balance your time between studying and sleeping. You always have to get your beauty sleep.

4. If you’re struggling with the distractions at home, there is a 24-hour study lounge on campus, located adjacent to the library. You should definitely check it out if you keep checking Facebook like me and not actually studying.

I hope you found these tips helpful. Next time, I’ll be the one at the library studying rather than on Facebook adding people.