College is a stressful time in your life. Most students feel like there is not enough time in the day — you're plagued with late nights, pages of assignments, piles of reading, and anxiety.
By the time you reach graduation, you are a completely different person than when you first started, both physically and mentally.
There are two ways to look at college: As a whole or by semester. I’m going to look at both because they have the same sequence of events — one on a smaller, semester-based scale and the other on a larger scale, encompassing the whole college experience.
The first-year freshmen walk through the doors bright and excited to be there. Freshmen are so innocent and have no idea what they are getting themselves into. But sophomore and junior years open your eyes to the reality of college life.
You gain experience, learn and grow into yourself. Then you buckle down and push through to the end.
Senior year comes before you know it and changes everything.
By the time you reach finals at the end of the semester, it feels like you’ve been put through the wringer. Your brain hurts, your eyes hurt. You’re hungry, tired, cranky and feel like you need to sleep for a year.
Once finals are finished, your nerves are shot, your anxiety is through the roof and you are so worked up it's hard to concentrate and even sleep — even though you want to sleep for centuries. Though you still feel that you have a million things due, you don’t.
It’s bittersweet when you get to the end of the semester or graduation. Some people know exactly what they want to do after college and others have no idea.
Everyone experiences college in their own unique ways, but these relatable college memes perfectly explain the experience.
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1. "Freshman Year / Senior Year / College life in a nutshell."
2. "First year of college. Final year of college."
3. "My thoughts during finals week: A lot of people go to college for 7 years."
Pinterest
4. The life of a college student, freshmen year, sophomore year, junior year, senior year, looking for your first job and realizing your degree is worthless."
Daily LOL Pics
5. "Me starting my first semester of college vs me starting my last."
Pinterest
6. "When u are graduating and u don't even remember what u studied."
BuzzFeed
7. "College in four pictures. I have $3."
BuzzFeed
8. "Expectation: Freshman year: a whole new world! Sophomore year: Watchoo wanna do tonight?? Junior year: Let's get down to business Senior year: Hakuna Matata Reality: Freshman year, Sophomore year, Junior year, Senior year."
Pinterest
9. "Me fall semester: wakes up at precisely 6am each morning, uses a planner, color codes notes, interacts with peers, has an overall positive outlook for the future. Me spring semester: lying face down on the floor surrounded by overdue assignments, fiber one brownie crumbs stuck to my face, not sure if it's wednesday or sunday, waiting for the sweet release of death."
Pinterest
10. "My teacher / Me / the project I did midnight last night."
11. "We're dead! We're dead! We survived but we're dead!"
9GAG
12. "Stress level: Princess Mia driving the stang."
RedBubble
13. "Freshmen year: Senior year: I can't be worried about that shit. Life goes on, man."
Pinterest
14. "Brags about skipping class four times. Brags about going to class four times."
Pinterest
15. "Freshmen vs. Seniors."
Pinterest
16. "Do you like my paper, professor? I wrote it with my tears."
The Funny Beaver
17. "When you know you did a bad job but you're just proud you finished your assignment."
Daily LOL Pics
18. "Final exams are right around the corner. Are you ready to go crazy? I'm already hearing voices."
The Meta Picture
19. "Last five minutes of exam."
Askideas
20. "Soon I will rest. Yes. Forever sleep. Earned it I have."
Grade Calculator
21. "Incoming Freshmen: I'm going on an adventure!! Graduating Seniors: It's over, It's done."
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