Finals week (AKA hell week) is mentally crippling.
Students crumble under the pressure. Begging for extra credit, crying over assignments and shaking from too much coffee. Professors joke and make a mockery over our mental states as they add more and more assignments to the pile. I mean, it's not like you have multiple classes to worry about, am I right? People forget to eat; sleep is out of the question. It's seriously the worst.
My whole outlook on life changes drastically during finals week. My grades come first—health and everything else follows into a lower category.
This past semester, I pulled a grand total of four all-nighters with zero time for naps. When I actually did sleep, I literally dreamt about the outlines for the papers I had to write. Coffee (a hunger suppressant) was my best friend and combined with my anxiety being an all-time high, I forgot to eat. During finals, I maybe consumed two real meals in a span of three days. I had so much to do, it was unrealistic. I didn't see my friends for days and it's safe to say that I was tiptoeing on the line of insanity. By the end, I fell asleep in the middle of a final. My friend had to wake me up. I went full survival mode toward the end. GUYS, THIS ISN'T HEALTHY.
During the painful, but much needed, hours of procrastination, I glanced over to see my friend's Redbubble sticker and it made me realize that I've been living my life all wrong. The sticker said: My GPA won't matter when I'm in hell. At first, I cackled because it's hilarious. But when I really thought about it, I realized how right it was on so many levels.
After I realized finals was my personal hell, I kept asking myself one question: why?
Why am I doing this to myself? Why do we all care? Why do we put so much pressure on students to maintain an ideal GPA? Is it worth these physically and mentally unhealthy conditions? The answer is no. No, it's not worth it. Because GPA's don't really matter.
If you're planning on going into grad school or maintaining a GPA for a scholarship, ignore me, because you're kinda screwed. But last time I checked, GPA's don't show up in job interviews. GPA's won't determine your entire future. My GPA isn't going to gain me back those hours of sleep or those times where I could have been stuffing my face with pizza. C's get degrees and our mental health is more important than some number.
Okay, I'm not saying let's all flunk out and start a revolution (even though, lowkey, that'd be really cool). But if you're not planning on any other higher level of schooling, why are you stressing? We put too much pressure on students. In the end, what matters is a passing grade and a healthy lifestyle.
