Finals. Finals. Finals. That's all anyone in college ever talks about. Just the word can strike fear into the heart of any undergraduate. Wanna hear something even scarier? Midterms. Why does no one ever talk about midterms? IMHO, they're even worse than finals, and I'm gonna tell you why:

1. They sneak up on you

The first thing every student does on FDOC when they get a syllabus is flip to the back and check to see when the final is. The university has finals week labeled on their calendar years in advance. It's all scheduled down to the hour. Midterms are not like that. There is no "midterms week". You'll just be flipping through your planner and wonder "Why do I have 5 tests and 3 papers due next week?!" BECAUSE IT'S MIDTERMS AND NO ONE TOLD YOU.

2. You still have to go to classes and do other assignments

In my opinion, finals week really isn't that bad, because all you have to focus on is finals. You're not going to class and you don't have any other assignments or things to worry about. Also, there is nothing as orgasmic as the feeling of walking out of a final, knowing you never have to do anything for that class ever again. Midterms week has zero of that. No joke, one time I had three midterms in one day, and I couldn't really study for them because I had to go to all my classes and all my extracurriculars in the days preceding. Because midterms aren't scheduled out like finals, you can have three midterms in one day, and because you still have a full class load, you can't move them around or take them with another section. I actually broke down crying outside the elevator on the 7th floor of the library, and a cute boy got off said elevator and did a real-life double take at this girl clearly in the middle of a real crisis, and I just stared at him through several layers of bodily fluids and said "Midterms, right??"

3. There's no free food in the library

The university knows that finals are the worst, so they have a lot of special "please don't harm yourselves because the school is liable for you" events for our wellbeing: free subway, free candy, free stress toys, general free goodies. Midterms, again, have none of this. No one gives a crap about you during midterms. Maybe if you're lucky, your RA will buy everyone pizza.

4. You have no practice for them

Usually, midterms are the first big test or paper of the semester, so you have no idea how this teacher grades or how to prepare. By the time the final rolls around you will have taken the MIDTERM as practice or several other tests and papers, so you have some frame of reference for what is expected of of you. Also, if you blow the midterm, you have to work extra hard on the final, so.

5. They're the only thing standing between you and the first break of the semester

Midterms usually fall right before fall "pause" and spring break, which are the first breaks of the semester. A lot of people will have not seen their families, their pets, or the sun TBH, in months and this break is the only thing that will allow them to hold on to their sanity for the rest of the semester, if midterms don't get to them first.

In conclusion, midterms are the absolute worst thing in college that no one ever talks about. True life, I still can't go in to the library because of the stress caused by midterms second semester of my freshman year. I actually get hives. Happy studying everyone!