You've been dreading this since you declared your major. You knew you had to do it, but it seemed distant—until now. Senior project, capstone, research study, showcase or whatever title is associated with your final undergraduate endeavor may take a semester or the culmination of your entire major. It is also one of the most stressful and time-consuming things that stand between you and your bachelor's degree. Here are 10 stages that you may experience as you navigate through your senior capstone project.

Stage 1: Initial impact

You walk into your capstone class on day one and are given the syllabus and calendar for the semester. While the professor goes over the assignments and requirements of the project, this is how you take it:

Stage 2: "I'll get ahead while it's still early"

After you've digested the initial impact and panic of your senior research study, you decide to get ahead of the game and organize everything down to the very last detail. Your planner is all decked out, filled with due dates and reminders of things you need to accomplish for your project. You start to collect sources and read over all of the requirements so you know what to expect. You say to yourself:

Stage 3: "I have plenty of time"

This is the black hole of senior project when you actually accomplish nothing because you think you are so organized and have time. For some reason (senioritis) you lose your motivation, start to slack off, and bury the project away, as if you did enough of the work during the planning process. It usually is associated with you saying stuff like:

Stage 4: Progress checkpoint

Your senior capstone class likely has a time when professors check in with you to see how you're doing so far. Considering that you have done a whole lot of nothing, they start to remind you that "this capstone isn't something that can be done in a short amount of time" and you think this:

Stage 5: Panic, pure panic

Panic sets in because you go over all of the project documents and realize that your professors were right—senior project is a ton of work that has to be spread out over a period of time. You freak out and do this:

Stage 6: Game time

Once you're calm after your meltdown, you start to get in the zone. There is no turning back now; you need to get this done in order to graduate. You pack up your stuff, pour yourself a thermos of coffee, and hit the library for the next five days. You read, highlight, study, interview, collect data, transcribe, analyze, memorize, cite, write, proofread, rewrite, and continue to work until your brain is fried and your eyes are crossed. You start to scramble, like this:

And this:

Stage 7: Writer's block

You've been working yourself ragged to complete this capstone and are struggling on a specific part of the project that you can't seem to get past. You know you need a break but can't afford to waste any more time fooling around, like you did in stages 1-4. You start to lose hope and look like this:

Stage 8: Sudden wave of energy

Then out of nowhere, you get this brilliant idea that you can add to your project and a burst of confidence with it to carry you through the rest of the composition process. You have no clue where it came from, but you don't really care how/where/why it surfaced. You knew you could do it and celebrate to yourself appropriately:

Stage 9: Submission

You somehow managed to crank out the bulk of your senior project and now it's time to hand over your work and/or present it. For some reason, you are weirdly attached to it and don't want to hit submit or let others see the work you have done. You quickly get over this notion, mainly because you're working on a deadline and need to receive a grade for your senior capstone class to graduate. After your presentation and/or submission, you're like:

Stage 10: Celebration

A huge weight has been lifted off of your shoulders after you finish your senior capstone project. You don't have to worry about it lurking in the back of your mind anymore or taking up your time and energy. You are officially free from the capstone life—that is, until you start grad school and have to write a thesis. Whatever; you have plenty of time!