Sarah Pape is a first year student at the University of Virginia. Surrounded by academic rigor, a beautiful campus and cheers of 'GO HOOS!' can leave you to wonder why she might want to leave.
Sarah left U.Va in October after returning home for a weekend. After mentioning leaving once or twice and bouncing the idea off of her parents, she made her way to an alumni event at her high school and returned home before heading back where her mother told her she wasn't going to finish the semester.
"I think I picked the wrong classes ... I was just not used to this many people because I went to a small school," Sarah said.
She felt as if it was difficult to fit in at U.Va as well and she was not in a good place mentally to continue her semester.
Leaving was easy and essentially just entailed of going on medical leave and singing a form or two. After withdrawing all her grades from her transcript, Sarah went into her dean's office and told her she was leaving.
"It was very casual," Sarah said.
Sarah did not receive negative feedback from peers and teachers, and even a few kind souls reached out to check in on her.
On her break, she decided that she could handle going back and that it would be better the second time around, so Sarah re-entered U.Va for the spring semester.
Now finishing her second semester, Sarah is optimistic heading into the future. She didn't consider transferring for the fall semester or 2017 because the deadline has passed and she doesn't feel the need to transfer right now.
Sarah's experience brings up the question: What's going on in college? Why do students feel the need to leave?
Sarah's week to week work load includes (for one class) three articles, two or three chapters in a textbook, two articles to read with reflections and typically a test or a paper. Sarah is currently taking four classes. She spends about five to seven hours a day working during the week.
"I think like, with college in general, if you get behind with one thing you're kind of screwed. I always have something else to do and I could always be doing something more," Sarah said.
The key for students like Sarah to succeed may be just as much academic rigor with less busy work. However, that doesn't seem likely in the near future, so learning to cope seems to be the best option.
Sarah plans to double major in Sociology and Foreign Affairs and minor in Indigenous Studies.