Stressed over exams? Trust me, I get it.
By Emily Francos — Written on Feb 16, 2021
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.
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."
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."
5. "Me starting my first semester of college vs me starting my last."
6. "When u are graduating and u don't even remember what u studied."
7. "College in four pictures. I have $3."
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."
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."
10. "My teacher / Me / the project I did midnight last night."
11. "We're dead! We're dead! We survived but we're dead!"
12. "Stress level: Princess Mia driving the stang."
13. "Freshmen year: Senior year: I can't be worried about that shit. Life goes on, man."
14. "Brags about skipping class four times. Brags about going to class four times."
15. "Freshmen vs. Seniors."
16. "Do you like my paper, professor? I wrote it with my tears."
17. "When you know you did a bad job but you're just proud you finished your assignment."
18. "Final exams are right around the corner. Are you ready to go crazy? I'm already hearing voices."
19. "Last five minutes of exam."
20. "Soon I will rest. Yes. Forever sleep. Earned it I have."
21. "Incoming Freshmen: I'm going on an adventure!! Graduating Seniors: It's over, It's done."
22. "Professor: "Good morni... Freshmen: Write that down, write that down!"
23. "College students be like: 4:00- wallow in self-pity. 6: 30 dinner with me. I can't cancel that again. 7:00- wrestle with my self-loathing. I'm booked. If I bumped the loathing to 9:00, I'd have time to lay in bed, stare at the ceiling and slip slowly into madness."
24. "Not sure if I miss my family or just want real food."
25. "When you need milk, but it's not in the meal plan."
26. "When your parents ask how you're doing financially."
27. "Student Special!! $79.95"
28. "I wish college had coupons. Buy one semester, get one semester free."
29. "When you can't afford your electricity bill."
30. "How am I supposed to have a lit summer with $4.50?"
31. "I'm looking forward to the Apocalypse since it's apparently the only way that I won't have to pay back my student loans."
32. "Truck carrying Ramen noodles crashes, estimated loss to company, $38.00."
33."Applying for scholarships like ...pls"
34. "Look at all these things on sale I cannot buy."
35."Go out tonight? Let me see if I can."
36."Parents: What happened to all of your money? Me: "
37."My wallet is like an onion. When I open it it makes me cry."
38."I'm graduating. Alms for the poor..."
39."No lunch for me. I'm on a new diet called 'I have five dollars till Friday."
40."My face when I check my bank account."
41."My other car is a student loan."
42."Hey look, a penny. It's mine!!"
43."That's my secret. I've been broke my whole life."
44."Why the f--- do inmates get free food, but school kids don't?"
45."Swimming in debt doesn't count as cardio."
46."No sir, I don't have any experience, but I'm a big fan of money. I like it, I use it, I have a little. I keep it in a jar on top of my refrigerator. I'd like to put more in that jar, that's where you come in."
47."I'm your B.F.F.: Your broke friend forever."
48."When you find a PDF for your $5000 textbook."
49."Nobody screws you over more than the university bookstore."
50."Housing: $2,980. Meal plan: $1,457. Books: $1,457. Enrollment: $983. Air: $3,274. Grass: $4,284. Sidewalk: $5,284. The sun: $3,381."
51. "Professors be like/ A) only A/ B) only B/ C) both A & B/ D) neither A or B/ E) a sprinkle of A with a dash of B/ F) 3/4 cup A & 6 fluid oz B"
52. "If the girl with 4 highlighters & 78 colored pens says she's screwed for a test then you probably are too"
53. "When you're confused as hell in class and you want to ask the teacher a question but you don't even know what you don't even know"
54. " Me: omg wow I'm drowning in homework and responsibility. I have so much to do in so little time. Also me:"
55. "Why do you write like you're running out of time? Because this essay is due in 6 hours and I just started it."
56. "me: can you please round up my grade to an A?/ teacher: you have a 55% in the class/ Well, I'm going through a little bit of a rough patch. /The whole year, actually."
57. "'How do you describe college?' I'm teaching myself a class that I'm paying for"
58. "When you stay up all night in order to finish an assignment only for your professor to extend the deadline"
59. "Teacher: Did you do your homework?/ Student: Did you grade my test?/ Teacher: I have other students tests to grade./ Student: I have other teachers homework to do./ Outstanding Move"
60. "'Describe college in three words./ That's due TODAY?/ No Sleep November/things fall apart/ WHERE DREAMS DIE/ Four year distraction/ HA HA NO/ study cram fail/ Paying for hell/ 'D' equals DEGREE"
61. "When you realize as of today you have 15 days to make a D+ into an A-"
62. "Me at the beginning of the school year vs me at this point in the semester"
63. " Me panicking over due dates and then panicking over lack of time and them panicking bc I'm panicking"
64. "High school teachers: 'Your college profs aren't going to be as lenient as are'/ College profs: 'Sorry I'm late I didn't want to come"
65. "High school teachers vs. college professors/The bell does not dismiss you. I do. / IGHT IMMA HEAD OUT"
66. " I love college because people can cry or sleep anywhere they want and everyone just kind of understands"
67. "Thank you student loans for getting me through college. I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you."
68. "Why aren't millennials buying diamonds?/ Sorry, I was too busy paying $485 for a campus parking pass."
69. "i just watched a girl in class look confused during the lecture then literally open up her laptop and change her major"
70. "College Logic: A Stranger in the library asking you, another stranger in the library to watch their stuff and protect it from other strangers in the library"
71. "I submit one assignment and I feel like I deserve the degree."
72. "When you're taking a test and hear the teacher explaining an answer to another student."
73. "Me freaking out about the amount of homework I have vs. me 10 minutes later."
74. "'Who hurt you?' Bro all these assignments."
75. "Nobody: ... Every single report card: 'easily distracted and distracts others.'"
76. "These topics won't appear in the exam. Them topics:"
77. "Me struggling for 20 minutes on a simple email to my prof"
78. "Me during my exam:"
79. "When my laptop turns off before I save my 3000-word essay."
80. "I don't know what this cat is going through but I can relate."
81. "Me every time I have a compulsory class at 8."
82. "Me discovering that you don't automatically get a good job after graduating from college."
83. "The difference between freshmen and seniors."
84. "When u r writing an essay and u have already used 'because' too many times."
85. "College: A Summary"
86. "Me after failing two exams in the same week, slowly getting fat, and drinking until my liver is pure mud."
Photo: Reddit
87. "How was the online class? What did you get from it?"
Photo: Reddit
88. "Starting the semester / first exam / midterms / finals week"
Photo: Reddit
89. "Me 2 seconds into studying:"
Photo: Reddit
90. "Adulthood vs. what school gives you to prepare yourself."
Photo: Reddit
91. "Me rewarding myself with a 4-hour break after writing the title of my assignment."
Photo: Reddit
92. "Me, an undergrad, applying for internships."
Photo: Reddit
93. "Me watching TV and playing video games for 10 hours straight vs. me after 1 hour of online school."
94. "What I learn from group projects:"
95. "Me studying for my first finals in uni"
96. "When you see the first question on your final and already know you're going to fail."
97. "Me: *has been procrastinating for hours*"
98. "Getting into bed after a long week of failed exams and noticeably worse mental health."
99. "I pay 20k to go to school and all I get in return is PTSD."
100. "When u got like 15 essays 4 assignments and 6 exams to study for and you just chill in bed contemplating ur whole life."
Photo: Reddit
101. Google searches in college
Photo: Reddit
102. "College students: I don't know why I'm so tired"
Photo: Reddit
103. "College: you can only choose two."
Photo: Reddit
104. "Uni has you in bed by 11pm or 4am there is no in between."
105. "College group projects be like:"
106. "Hey do you have anxiety prime?"
107. "Me thinking about my dream job vs. me studying for my dream job."
108. "Being in college is so weird bcus its like yea i'm grown but ma can i please get $20?"
109. "Me imagining myself rich, famous, and successful after I studied for 3 minutes."
110. "I'm in a toxic relationship with my education."
111. "When your essay is due for tomorrow and you run out of references."
112. "I just realized..."
113. "When you sit down to study and actually realize how much you need to do."
114. "My last 3 brain cells trying to write the introduction paragraph to my thesis at 2am."
115. "When you realized that you reviewed the wrong topic at the start of the exam."
116. "Dont let anyone scare u of those 4 years of uni because those 6 years will be the best 8 years of your life."
117. "My toxic trait is being productive for 20 minutes and then giving myself a 2-hour break."
118. "I work well under pressure. *Me under pressure*"
119. "Me after opening any exam paper and reading the first question."
120. "College students when they receive their diploma after Covid-19."
Photo: Reddit
121. "My brain."
Photo: Reddit
122. "My new mixtape is called GPA and it's about to drop."
Photo: Reddit
123. "Me in class taking a picture of the notes that i'll never look at again."
Photo: Reddit
124. "Me: i have an online lesson tomorrow morning. Also me:"
125. "When your teacher doesn't round your 25.3% to a 90%."
More for You:
Emily Francos is a writer who covers astrology, pop culture and relationship topics.