Dear Unmotivated College Students,

Every semester, when I would register for classes, I would be reminded to take at least fifteen credits to stay on track for graduation.

Since sophomore year when I had a better idea on how scheduling works, I let myself take twelve or thirteen credit hour semesters and had an "I'll make up those two to three credits later" mentality just to allow myself a lighter workload. I wasn't motivated enough to stick with a full semester of fifteen credits. It eventually added up to where I was NINE credits behind on graduation. I got sent into panic mode during my second semester of junior year.

Taking lighter semesters gave me a lot more free time compared to my friends sticking with the fifteen credit semesters, but now I'm the one stressed out during the summer. I am currently making up a lot of my credits before my senior year begins, and on top of that, I plan to register to take more than fifteen credits for my final two semesters. There's even a possibility of having to take one more class after I walk in graduation, which will be even worse than what I'm doing now.

I may not be taking as many credits this summer as I would during the school year, but let me tell you, with this summer being my first with academic responsibilities, the disassociation I had between those two things really led to me being unmotivated to not wanting to do any schoolwork whatsoever. I fully regret the choices I made with taking lighter semesters because of how great of a toll summer classes took on me, an individual with a full-time job (working fifty hour work weeks) and an attempt at a decent social life.

So, to the unmotivated college students out there who are failing credits or simply lightening up their semesters, don't do it. You'll end up with even more work for the following semester, or even worse: summer school.

Sincerely,

A Year-Round Stressed Out College Student