College Crackup: Coping with Academic Pressure

O ODI O OOO COLLEGE CRACKUP Graduate students are facing a great deal of pressure: demanding work load, tight schedules, highly competitive environment. Prolonged exposure to such conditions poses a risk of emotional fatigue that may COPING WITH ACADEMIC PRESSURE lead to burnout. This is a look on how academic burnout affects college students. WHAT'S STRESSING THEM OUT? HEAVY AGENDA FINANCIAL PRESSURE FACULTY SUPPORT Grad students' free time averages Forty-six percent listed finances as an anxiety. Many are already in One third desired a deeper personal relationship with their supervising professor. Yet the need for individual support and to about 15 hours per week. Not excluding time for family or job responsibilities, leaving little the work force, and face the tensions of the working world as well as those of intensive study. personal time. affirmation often goes unmet due to a lack of faculty availability. TRAITS SHARED BY STUDENTS WITH STRESS-RELATED EMOTIONAL FATIGUE FEELS GUILTY WHEN RELAXING STEERS CONVERSATIONS TOWARD THEIR OWN INTERESTS MULTI-TASKER USUALLY FEELS LOVES TO DO SEVERAL THINGS AT ONCE ANXIOUS DOING A TASK UNOBSERVANT QUICKLY BORES WITH OTHER PEOPLE'S CONVERSATIONS ABOUT THINGS NOT IMMEDIATELY CONNECTED WITH WHAT THEY'RE DOING EAGER TO FINISH IT TO GET ON TO THE NEXT ONE PREFERS ACTIVE TENDS TO DO HOLIDAYS TO DREAMY, MOST THINGS AT RELAXING ONES TOP SPEED MORE INTERESTED IN FINDS IT WINNING RATHER THAN SIMPLY PARTICIPATING OR ENJOYING THEMSELVES IMPOSSIBLE TO ATTEND MEETINGS WITHOUT SPEAKING UP WHAT'S SO BAD ABOUT BURNOUT? WORK QUALITY AFFECTED Stress may produce a focus on short term completion versus long term learning. For instance, a fatigued student may cram for an exam rather than master the content. The result is that their work suffers, and they will not get the maximum value from his education. Second, many pressured students attempt to minimize other interests and limit their efforts to what is required within their field of study. This causes an unhealthy isolation. DEGREE PLANS HALTED Without change the graduate student may succumb to overwhelming fatigue which may lead to the halt of their degree plans. Dreams of teaching researching and publishing are shattered. Despite investment of years in academic training the grad will fall short of their perceived goals. RELATIONSHIPS STUNTED Time limitations, lack of social involvement, and hesitancy toward self-disclosure prevent the natural development support networks. One typical coping mechanism is to guard personal "academic turf" from those perceived as competitors. In addition, emotional exhaustion may disturb family relationships. With little time together, family members fail to meet each other's emotional needs. For married students, this leads to low self-esteem and results in depression for the couple. FUTURE CAREER JEOPARDIZED The academic life holds pressures that remain prevalent throughout graduate school and into an academic career. Yet, how often have so many struggled for so long, through so much, only because they say to themselves, "soon things will be different." source www.gradresources.org/articles/emotional_fatigue.shtml milkwhale O ODI O OOO COLLEGE CRACKUP Graduate students are facing a great deal of pressure: demanding work load, tight schedules, highly competitive environment. Prolonged exposure to such conditions poses a risk of emotional fatigue that may COPING WITH ACADEMIC PRESSURE lead to burnout. This is a look on how academic burnout affects college students. WHAT'S STRESSING THEM OUT? HEAVY AGENDA FINANCIAL PRESSURE FACULTY SUPPORT Grad students' free time averages Forty-six percent listed finances as an anxiety. Many are already in One third desired a deeper personal relationship with their supervising professor. Yet the need for individual support and to about 15 hours per week. Not excluding time for family or job responsibilities, leaving little the work force, and face the tensions of the working world as well as those of intensive study. personal time. affirmation often goes unmet due to a lack of faculty availability. TRAITS SHARED BY STUDENTS WITH STRESS-RELATED EMOTIONAL FATIGUE FEELS GUILTY WHEN RELAXING STEERS CONVERSATIONS TOWARD THEIR OWN INTERESTS MULTI-TASKER USUALLY FEELS LOVES TO DO SEVERAL THINGS AT ONCE ANXIOUS DOING A TASK UNOBSERVANT QUICKLY BORES WITH OTHER PEOPLE'S CONVERSATIONS ABOUT THINGS NOT IMMEDIATELY CONNECTED WITH WHAT THEY'RE DOING EAGER TO FINISH IT TO GET ON TO THE NEXT ONE PREFERS ACTIVE TENDS TO DO HOLIDAYS TO DREAMY, MOST THINGS AT RELAXING ONES TOP SPEED MORE INTERESTED IN FINDS IT WINNING RATHER THAN SIMPLY PARTICIPATING OR ENJOYING THEMSELVES IMPOSSIBLE TO ATTEND MEETINGS WITHOUT SPEAKING UP WHAT'S SO BAD ABOUT BURNOUT? WORK QUALITY AFFECTED Stress may produce a focus on short term completion versus long term learning. For instance, a fatigued student may cram for an exam rather than master the content. The result is that their work suffers, and they will not get the maximum value from his education. Second, many pressured students attempt to minimize other interests and limit their efforts to what is required within their field of study. This causes an unhealthy isolation. DEGREE PLANS HALTED Without change the graduate student may succumb to overwhelming fatigue which may lead to the halt of their degree plans. Dreams of teaching researching and publishing are shattered. Despite investment of years in academic training the grad will fall short of their perceived goals. RELATIONSHIPS STUNTED Time limitations, lack of social involvement, and hesitancy toward self-disclosure prevent the natural development support networks. One typical coping mechanism is to guard personal "academic turf" from those perceived as competitors. In addition, emotional exhaustion may disturb family relationships. With little time together, family members fail to meet each other's emotional needs. For married students, this leads to low self-esteem and results in depression for the couple. FUTURE CAREER JEOPARDIZED The academic life holds pressures that remain prevalent throughout graduate school and into an academic career. Yet, how often have so many struggled for so long, through so much, only because they say to themselves, "soon things will be different." source www.gradresources.org/articles/emotional_fatigue.shtml milkwhale