A project, a paper, a performance, a play, two jobs and classes. This is Andrea Allen’s overwhelming schedule for today.
Allen, a mass communication senior, said when she has days like this one she tries to calm down and take it one step at a time while attempting to multi-task to the best of her ability.
She said at times when her weeks are as overwhelming as this one, she feel like pulling out her hair and screaming.
There never seems to be enough time to juggle everything on her busy schedule, Allen said.
Amy Cavender, Wellness Education Coordinator at the Student Health Center, said the day-to-day pressures of college life can make anyone feel the way Allen does.
“Almost everyone in college will experience times in which they feel like they have more going on than they can handle,” Cavender said.
“However, while some people are able to pull themselves out of the stressful situations, or work through them, other people find themselves bogged down and filled with a sense of despair.”
Despair can lead to depression, low self-image and negative thoughts, she said.
An anonymous student said the stress he has experienced this semester has caused him to slide into feelings of depression.
The student said going through this semester has been very tough, and he has felt that, no matter what he does, it is not enough.
The student said he has felt that he is worthless and not smart.
He has many negative feelings.
He said having a job has helped him deal with his stress because while he is working he does not have to think about his situation.
Kim Munro, Wellness Education Department coordinator, said while students can be overwhelmed by college, they will experience stress at all stages of life.
“My biggest thing is to remind folks to strive for balance,” sahe said. “When we get stressed and overwhelmed, that means we are out of balance.”
David McClure, a clinical psychology graduate student, said he tries to stay balanced by focusing on the small tasks to relieve his stress.
He said he has even less time in graduate school than he did in undergraduate school.
“I think that it is definitely harder to deal with stress at this time,” McClure said. “Everything you do in graduate school means a lot more.”
There’s just more pressure, he said.
Munro said students who experience overwhelming feelings should not be afraid to ask for help.
She said she advises that students seek counseling through a mental health service in order to get through their difficult times.
Munro said an objective person can help students get through their most overwhelming situations.
McClure said part of his graduate study requires him to deal with people who are just as stressed as he is.
He said working with these people has taught him how to successfully deal with stress by breaking situations and activities into smaller components before he deals with them.
Most people do not effectively problem-solve and cope with their situations, McClure said. This is the biggest problem students face.
“Coping is a skill, and I don’t think we are taught how to deal with it effectively,” He said.
According to the Star-Telegram Web site, a 2001 study conducted by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program found that 17 percent of first-year male students felt overwhelmed by college life. The same study found that 36 percent of female students are overwhelmed by life during college.
The Cooperative Institutional Research Program, which was established in 1966 under the direction of the American Council on Education, is a part of the higher education system in the United States.
According to the CIRP Web site, the study seeks data from 1,800 institutions and an estimated 11 million students.
Munro said she is aware of the research by CIRP, but she can not explain why female students experience more stress than male students.
“I see stress in students, period,” Munro said.
Cavender said the research conducted may have derived from the fact that females, in general, are more comfortable reporting stress than males.
Lavender said both sexes experience tension on everything – from dating to picking out socks.
Allen and McClure agree with the findings of the research.
Allen said she believes college-age males are less stressed than females because they just do not care as much.
Generally, college males do not have to stretch themselves as much as college females do, she said.
McClure said he believes females tend to acknowledge their stress and emotions, while males tend to focus their stress on social activities such as drinking alcohol.
Women are just more in tune with their emotions, he said. They also have higher expectations than males.
Bobby Magee, a psychology junior, said he believes women have factors other than school contributing to their stress.
He said believes the menstrual cycle is one of those other factors.
Cavender said some research indicates that estrogen can affect feelings on depression. This can be seen as stress.
“Regardless of whether it is a sociological or biological issue, I think that if any person, male or female, feels too stressed, it is important for them to try to control that stress and learn from it to handle it more effectively in the future,” Cavender said.
The CIRP Web site says that, over the course of the first year, freshman students feel more overwhelmed and depressed. Also, they are worried about paying for their college tuition.
Munro also said she recommends that students go to the Center for Academic Success to get help in dealing with difficult classes and professors.
She said if a student finds that he is not doing well in his classes, then a change in study habits might be necessary.
Munro said some students tend to hold on to the familiar study skills they used while they were in high school.
Students must keep in mind that these skills will not always work for college classes, Munro said. They will fail if a professor’s teaching style does not accommodate a student’s style of learning.
Magee said this semester has been harder than his other semesters because he is taking more upper-level classes.
He said one of his professors is a graduate student who expects a lot from students. It has been difficult to adjust to the class.
The CAS can teach students to organize themselves for the courses they are taking, Munro said. The CAS also teaches students new methods of studying.
She said while difficult classes can be overwhelming, students should not shy away from taking them.
“There are all kinds of courses that challenge us,” Munro said.
She said students can challenge themselves by taking the more intense classes. If we do not challenge ourselves then we will not grow as people, Munro said.
Magee said he understand how stressful a difficult major can be. He said that before he was a psychology major he was a computer science major. Computer science took a lot out of him.
Magee said he often jokes how he would have killed himself if he had remained in the degree program.
Even though he has not tried to kill himself, Magee said he can understand how a student under extreme stress would consider suicide.
“If you try your hardest and you seem to be getting to no avail,” he said. “But it has to be extreme.”
Cavender said students who feel they aren’t doing as well as they should be in their field of study should re-examine their interests and talents.
They need to see if the life that will make them happy is down a different path than they originally expected, she said.
Cavender, who has worked for a suicide hotline, said overwhelmed students who are considering suicide should contact Mental Health Services.
“The Phone,” an on-campus suicide hotline, also offers assistance to students with suicidal thoughts and feelings.
She also said not all overwhelmed students will consider suicide.
“The feeling of being overwhelmed can be used in a positive way,” Cavender said.
According to the Star-Telegram article, studying is not the only factor contributing to the overwhelming feelings some students are feeling.
Gregory Snodgrass, assistant vice president for student affairs and director of the counseling center at Southwest Texas State University, told the Star-Telegram that economic and family pressures contribute to the declining mental health of college students.
Munro said she agrees that family and economic pressure does affect the mental health of students.
“There is a lot more pressure on students now than in the past,” she said.
She said the need to maintain financial aid and meet family expectations can be overwhelming for students.
McClure said he does not have excessive pressure to succeed from his family, but one of his classmates does have pressure from his family.
His classmate tries to prove to his family that he has everything under control, and he tries to work a bit harder because he is being watched closely by his family, McClure said.
The anonymous student said he can sense the pressure his family has on him to do well, even though they have not directly addressed him about his academic performance.
The student said the pressure indirectly adds to his stress.
Cavender said pressure varies widely, depending on the culture of the student and how much “stock that individual puts into social mores and pressures.”