Senioritis is defined by Google as “a supposed affliction of students in their final year of high school or college, characterized by decline in motivation or performance”. Although it is common that during their senior year students tend to ditch school, procrastinate assignments, and attempt to maintain passing grades rather than actually trying to make their work good, senioritis is so much more than that. You may intensely burn out junior year – or even sophomore year – but you never truly experience senioritis until your senior year.
Senior year is supposed to be the most exciting, the most freeing, and the most rewarding. Students are deciding where they want to go after high school and most are excited to navigate new journeys in their lives. Especially during the second semester once college applications are finished, they find it matters less and less if they even come to school and set goals for themselves. “It doesn’t matter” because they’re graduating soon, right?
However, consistent behavior leads to a significant shift in the mindset and can easily lead to consequences. With this indifference towards school, students inevitably face tanking in grades. Yet no motivation is left nor built up to better those grades and the laziness continues to grow. Rather than being carefree, they are being careless – goals nonexistent, routines ruined, and more. Lacking these things is negative to anyone’s mental state, and therefore students fall into a hole of misery, adhering to emotional/moody states, irregular sleep schedules, severe procrastination, and intense lack of focus. These symptoms can lead to something deeper and be an indication of something as serious as depression.
While senioritis isn’t a clinical disorder, it has serious effects on not only students’ mindsets and motivation but also their future, like college admissions and even graduation. It is said that graduation is the only thing that can cure senioritis, but first, we must pass our classes to make it to graduation.
According to a study, 78% of all high school seniors across the U.S. experience senioritis. And with the decline in incentives to work, senioritis is contagious. You and your friends may begin to justify your decisions of downplaying schoolwork and the drive you once had for school continues to decrease and spread to the peers you interact with.
High school continues to get more difficult as the years progress and once you’re almost finished, it is unavoidable to lose effort, get tired of dealing with the same people for four years, and simply look forward to the day you can cross that stage, take your diploma, and never walk back into high school.
Senioritis will surely have a dreadful hold on most students, but there are ways to stay on top of it. Take this as a sign to constantly keep yourself motivated – work your hardest and enjoy every moment especially as you prepare for more difficult ones as you grow older. Have a balance of your schoolwork, social life, self-care, and everything in between. Challenge yourself, take breaks when you need them, and always surround yourself with people who will push you to do and feel your best. Put in your full effort and make the most out of every minute; not only does it set up the foundation for your future, but you won’t regret it by the time you leave.
