Senioritis

Senioritis

“What's going on with our students?,” administrators are asking, “and what is this Senioritis that everyone claims to have?”

Senioritis is defined as the “decreased motivation that seniors can experience as they approach the end of their studies,” according to the Grand Canyon University. This condition, though it's been discussed since as early as the 1950’s, has grown in popularity recently and the term is now used more than ever. Senioritis is experienced by nearly every student in regards to their studies, and it can be detrimental to their final year of schooling. 

The “colloquial term,” as described by The Department of Education, encompasses every feeling and experience that high school and college seniors go through as they near the end of their adolescent careers. After adjusting to a daily and yearly routine for 12 or more consecutive years, it can be difficult for these seniors to grasp the idea of those routines being broken and new ones being discovered. Though it seems for many that graduating couldn’t come any sooner, deep down, some are experiencing conflicting emotions.

The most common and noticeable “symptom” of Senioritis is the overall decrease in motivation to get work done, or to make the effort to show up to class. It can be inferred that since most high school seniors are already committed to colleges, they feel that they do not need to exert as much effort into their assignments anymore (but this is not true). Students also feel anxious and The Department of Education notes that students deal with “irritability in the classroom.” Exhaustion, procrastination, laziness, dissociation, self depreciation, and stress are all common emotions tied to Senioritis as well.

Not only does Senioritis describe the decrease in their motivation and the negative shift in their emotions, but it can describe the point in a student’s life where they question their identity and their future, which introduces higher levels of anxiety and even depression into their lives. Many high school seniors have worked their entire lives in order to get to a higher level of education, which will eventually lead to working in a professional setting. For students who are interested in going to college, the end of their 12th grade year can be the most overwhelming time in their careers, as they have to choose the right school for them that offers the major they want to study, which they will refer back to for the entirety of working in their occupation. These thoughts can induce feelings of panic as it becomes easy to second guess all of the academic choices that these kids have made. They can easily undergo an identity crisis because of this. These feelings can be even more severe for college seniors as they have to find a job, a place to live, and create a new routine appropriate for their adulthood. It can be difficult to grasp such a drastic change, and the thought of being pushed into the real world where they have to keep themselves afloat is terrifying to some. 

Though the coined term is specific to seniors, other grades tend to have their own version of Senioritis, and sometimes it’s at higher levels. Juniors experience early-onset Senioritis, also referred to as Junioritis. Junior year is known to be the most difficult out of the four years in high school. The workload is intense: kids have to begin meeting with counselors to discuss college, they have to tour colleges and do research, keep up with their grades and assignments so that their GPA doesn’t drop, discover what they are interested in going to college for, discover if they even want to go to college, take classes that will “look good for college,” take classes that are required by colleges, participate in extracurriculars, and keep up with their daily lives all at the same time. Students are exhausted, but they can’t not show up to class like seniors do. They lose motivation to keep up with homework and complete assignments, but they have to in order to maintain their grade. They can’t procrastinate because late assignments pile onto new assignments creating a never ending cycle. Senioritis and Junioritis encompass two completely different experiences, though it doesn’t sound like they would.

Senioritis eats away at a senior’s final moments in high school, when they should be enjoying the last bit of childhood they have before moving onto bigger and better things. Though this circumstance is not permanent, the period of time that it is experienced can be very troubling and overwhelming, as these kids are in a vulnerable position. Senioritis can be difficult to deal with, so bare with the senior (and junior) class, and they are already strung tight with all that they are experiencing in their final semesters.