It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It’s that time of year again – college students everywhere are pounding keyboards, chugging caffeine, and burning the midnight oil to crank out those last couple of papers and presentations and absorb the last bits of knowledge needed to survive finals week. It’s a high-stress time for all involved, and I am almost certain that it is most people’s least favorite part of college. It can be tough to keep a positive attitude as deadlines are piling up and you’re tearing your hair out trying to meet them.

According to Jane Weaver, health editor for msnbc.com, good stress – the short-term kind that comes from having to meet a deadline – can actually be beneficial in a number of ways, from helping us feel more in control and productive to improving efficiency, memory, and heart function (full article available here for further reading). Researchers have also found that short bursts of stress can strengthen our immune systems and help prevent Alzheimer’s disease by constantly exercising brain cells.

Beyond the science, getting things done under stress just feels good; there is something inherently satisfying about sitting down and working to meet a deadline. Finals week provides many such deadlines, one after the other, which means countless opportunities to really feel like the productive human being you want to be rather than the procrastinator you may have been all semester.

It’s also far easier to get things done during finals week than it is throughout the rest of the year. Even though there are many deadlines piling up, there is a lot more time available to do work as well. With no classes to go to, you could potentially find yourself with a whole free day to do nothing but get caught up on homework. Even if you have a final or two, you have at most a four hour time commitment and are still free to spend the rest of the day doing work.

It is undeniable that people are much nicer to students during finals week. Administrators and leaders plan fun activities, RAs hand out candy and little encouraging notes and every email is signed “Good luck on your finals!” Even students are nicer to each other, perhaps sharing a sympathetic zombie burnout stare from across the library at two in the morning. 

And of course on top of all that there is the simple fact that finals only last for a week before they become summer. No matter how bad this last week is, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We are almost done. We have almost survived a year. And whether it’s our first or our last, I don’t think that will ever not feel good.