Pressure Working on College Students

Pressure Building on College Students

College is not always a breeze as some students might expect. While the studies themselves are stressful, what really builds additional pressure is a variety of tasks that need to be done within 24 hours of the day such as research assignments, coursework, quizzes, take-home exams and not to mention all domestic activities as well. Fitting everything in 24 hours is not easy. On top of all this, students are also expected to maintain a respectable grade point average while not neglecting their social lives. Most students feel that if you can survive college, you can probably survive everything in life. This is certainly not an exaggeration since rate of depression and suicide is very high among college students. "Suicide is the second leading killer of college students - with an estimated 7.5 deaths per 100,000 students per year, according to a study of Big 10 campuses from 1980 to 1990." (Lamas, 2003)

While stress continues to rise and students find themselves pressed for time, what adds to their problems is teacher's expectations. They are expected to maintain good GPA or else risk being removed from the course. This factor plays a dominant role in multiplying student's problems at the campus. Pressure ends only when the studies finally comes to an end because while freshmen face particular daunting task while trying to fit in everything, even Graduate students complain of moderate to high level of stress during final semester. According to a study conducted by Kranz (1999) that involved Graduate students of Tennessee Technological University, it was learned that stress can be successfully minimized if professors are supportive. Students maintained that thesis writing is particularly stressful task: "Almost all of the students reported moderate to high levels of stress concerning the writing of their thesis. The predominant reason provided for these feelings was that this was a new and notably important experience for them. Additional concerns included: criticisms encountered when their thesis was edited, the process of defending their thesis, the fact that the defense was an unfamiliar experience, perceived special pressures to perform, the tremendous amount of material that they were responsible for, questions often asked in a public venue, performance required in front of professors, and realization that their degree was contingent on their performance." (Kranz, 1999)

Other sources of stress include worries connected with finding a suitable job and a life partner. Various studies show that 'regardless of the year in school', most students worried about finding jobs and potential partners. It is also found that not every students reacts to stressors in the same manner which reveals that the impact of stress may be closely connected with a person's ability to cope with it. The studies show that if stress is not adequately controlled or managed, students can develop symptoms of depression including 'feelings of loneliness and nervousness, as well as sleeplessness and excessive worrying'. (Ross, 1999)