As we enter finals week, two thoughts run through my mind.

1. If I fall asleep standing up, does that make me a horse?

2. I just want to drop out and make art.

I sincerely apologize to my high school teachers for complaining about your finals and final projects. That stuff was a cake walk! I was young and naive. I didn't know that it only gets worse!

As an art major, finals are stressful. I can write a paper, heck, give me four papers and I will complain but it will be over fairly quickly. Some people say that being an art major is easy. YOU ARE VERY WRONG! Try spending weeks, before finals week making pieces, locking yourself in a studio to edit photos or to sketch.

Imagine sitting there for hours slaving over stippling one little dark section. I did a piece last year for finals and I started at the beginning of the month and spent three weeks on one piece, thus giving myself three days for the rest.

This week, I did my entire Photography portfolio in an anxiety-induced burst of panic-energy. I was editing those photos for weeks and changed my portfolio line up maybe six times. I cropped and uncropped. It was rough. I'm also a writing major and writing portfolios are about revision. We have to have a finished piece, every single draft you've ever written FOR EACH PIECE, a critique and a self-reflection letter. Basically, its a whole book bound in your exhaustion and printed over your dry tears.

I say we all drop out.

Why?

Let's weight the Pros and Cons.

Pros:

1. We can get quality sleep.

2. The weight in our chests will disappear.

3. No more mental breakdowns.

4. We'd have more time to travel.

5. We'd be less broke.

Cons:

1. We'd still have loans to pay off.

2. We spent a lot of money to get this degree.

3. We've worked too hard to get this far.

4. We're constantly preparing for our futures.

In writing this, I think, however appealing dropping out is, we should stay in school. It's worth it to stay.