How to Handle Stress in College

College can be stressful. You may have thought high school was stressful, but you’ll see once you get to college that high school was easy. College isn’t bad, it’s a lot of fun to dorm and learn about things you want to learn about but there’s a certain amount of stress involved as well that you will have to learn to manage.

Classes- Your college classes are going to be a large cause of stress, whether you take the minimum amount of credits for full time or the maximum amount of credits or somewhere in between. It isn’t going to be like high school where you started at the same time and ended at the same time every day. You may have days where you start out with a morning class and have classes the entire day with a few breaks in between. When your schedule is all over the place with classes and possibly work as well, it leaves odd times for you to study and do your homework. There are no study halls or built in free periods to do homework in college and your professors won’t remind you over and over to hand in your essay and give you a lot more time beyond the due date to hand in your paper.

All these factors combine for a stressful time. So how do you manage it? If you have free periods between classes, take advantage of them to do your homework (and eat, of course!). You’re already on campus so use the resources to get ahead and save yourself stress. And invest in a good planner to keep track of when things are due. If in the first couple weeks of classes, you are finding that your work load is too much (maybe you took the maximum amount of credits allowed or close to  it), then don't be afraid to drop a class if you have to. If you're looking at your work load of classes and you're wondering how in the world you're going to handle it all (again, if you took more than the minimum amount of credits), then it's probably best for you to evaluate if you need to drop a class. Don't feel bad, it happens. You get overly excited for college and then you find a bunch of classes you want to take and then you end up with 18 credits which is around 6 classes. You may have taken 6 classes in high school, but the work load in college is a lot more than it was in high school. You don't want to overload yourself in your first semester. Also don't be afraid to talk to your professors if there is something you are not understanding. All of your professors will keep office hours outside of class for a reason. If you need more help than what your professor can do, your college may also have a tutoring center for you to use. Take advantage of these resources. No one is going to judge you- if you were the only one that ever needed these resources, then they wouldn't be provided. You're not alone. 

Roommates- Living with a roommate can be stressful. It’s going to be completely new territory for you. You may have shared your room at home with your sibling, but when you get to college it’s with someone you don’t know. The only way to get through the stress of having a roommate is to communicate with them. Don’t completely shut them out or be rude to them because they have a morning class and woke you up when they were getting ready. Talk through what is bothering you.

Not being near family and friends- Along with classes, this is the most stressful part of college. It’s completely different being away from your family and friends whether you’re an hour away or in a different country or state. It may seem like it would only make you lonely, but it can make you stressed too- you don’t have your mom to give you a hug when you really need it and when you’re stressed from your classes your family and friends may be the only people that calm you down. Call home once in a while and visit as often as you can. Don’t just text your friends and family either- call them, hear their voices. It will help.

Everything about college is a whole new territory where all of the factors can combine and stress you out. Build relationships with new friends and vent when you need to. Most importantly, don’t forget to relax once in a while! Go out once in a while or get coffee with friends. Watch movies, read a book, play video games- whatever relaxes you. Of course you can’t do these things all the time in your free time, but if you don’t make time for yourself and the things you love to do then the stress will pile up to an unbearable limit. Yes, it’s college and you need to study hard and do your homework to succeed, but don’t forget about yourself, too. 

Remember- when you're stressed about classes, missing your family and having roommate trouble just remember you're not alone. You're not the only one to have had these problems and there are resources in college that can and will gladly help you through it all.