We've all been there, it's the end of the semester and all the projects, papers, presentations, and performances are coming at us all at once. It feels like we're being suffocated by a workload that does not seem to get smaller no matter how much we finish and our levels of stress skyrocket through the roof.

Right now is when we feel the most stress, but what about throughout the semester?

People juggle their work life, personal life, and school life not all exactly in the healthiest or most balanced way. I recently sat down with a long-time friend of mine who graduated with a bachelor's in Marine Biology at the University of New Haven and she said she often experienced several stress-based panic attacks. Her older sister told her that she was glad she had not gone somewhere like Cornell where she was afraid that a panic attack would be the least of her worries. I looked at my friend confused wondering what she meant. Did she mean that she was glad she didn't go because it's more competitive and stressful?

The answer? Yes and no. It was more than that.

According to her older sister, the revered Cornell University had one of the highest suicide rates in the country. Words cannot truly formulate how strange it is to hear such a statistic and not be surprised but actually totally comprehend why. College students now feel the intensity of stress and overbearing amounts of work than ever before, and the worst part about it all is that a college diploma might not even ascertain a job after graduation anymore. We literally slave away with the hopes that our degree will not do us a disservice. Taking what my friend's older sister said to mind, I took it upon myself to look up the correlation between higher education (college), specifically the most competitive high-end schools, and higher suicide rates. What did I find? Well...

Based on three research studies conducted between 1980-2009, The Boston Globe found that Universities such as Cornell, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) allegedly have above-average suicide rates.

The national average for college campuses is between 6.5-7.5 suicides per 100,000 undergraduate students. For those who attend smaller universities such as Rider University like myself, I did some math to see what the average would mean for us: Rider University has an average of 4060 undergraduate students which means that in one year there is a 26% chance of a suicide occurring.

This, in turn, means that it would take approximately 4 years for a suicide to likely happen. Harvard reported 11.8 per 100,000 and although Cornell did not want to provide data, from 2009-2010 six students committed suicide. At universities such as MIT, their suicide average has increased over the last 5 years to an astounding rate of 12.5 suicides per 100,000 undergraduate students. In 2016, the university reported 11,376 students so let's do some math one more time. This means that in one year there is a 143% chance of at least one person committing suicide. Statistically speaking, someone will take their own life by the end of the school year.

Looking at all the results, it's a little ironic that the schools people dream of getting in are the ones that have higher suicide rates.

Although experts say they cannot find a direct causation for the higher suicide rates, we can speculate. One reason I personally believe the rates are so high are from the level of competition found in those top college environments. Everyone is trying to outrank the other and the pressure you experience studying at a well-ranked institution can be overwhelming. Imagine the expectations one has as a college student already, and then try to increment that by the factors that come into play at being at the top universities.

I actually studied abroad at one of the best technological universities in Costa Rica and it was no joke. I had a nervous breakdown, moved back to the United States, changed my major from computer science to digital media and basically restarted my university path. The stress of trying to be the best version of yourself while putting up appearances for family and friends is a huge burden that some people aren't able to lift. One other reason for the higher suicide rates could be because of the rise of social media and how easy it is now to fall victim to cyber-bullying amidst other things. If you gather social media issues with intensified school environments, and personal health, it can become an inescapable deadly mix.

It's hard to create a solution for something that only keeps rising.

Right now, we're at a difficult crossroad on how to approach this matter. Perhaps, universities that are known to be better and at the top should have stronger counseling services and stress-relieving activities to prevent the rate of suicide from increasing. Mental health is serious and being able to assist those in need of attention should be a priority for all schools, but especially the ones with above-average suicide rates. We cannot allow pursuing higher education to leave us brittle from stress and work. We must begin assessing these issues with care and in-depth methods to save lives. Pay close attention to the people around you and analyze yourself as well.

If you need help, let someone know because your life is precious.