Fourth-year Mount Royal University public relations student Sindy Hassas is not a stranger to balancing a full course load.
But she says this semester has been more challenging than she is used to, and she is experiencing academic stress unlike anything she has felt before.
“I’m doing my stuff at the last minute. I literally sent my essay that was due yesterday a couple of hours before it was due. And I felt so accomplished,” said Hassas. “I kept telling myself, ‘Oh, I’ll get ahead of my work, I’ll get ahead of everything,’ but life just gets in the way.”
Hassas is not alone in her experience.
Universities Canada reported that 89 per cent of post-secondary students feel overwhelmed by their responsibilities, and 70 per cent of students believe their academic performance is negatively affected by their mental health.
For Hassas, the all-consuming course load has a wide range of adverse effects. She finds herself neglecting her physical health.
“I skip meals, I completely forget. And sometimes I am so into my work that when I look out the window, it’s bright, and by the time that I submit my assignment, it’s pitch black,” said Hassas.
Michael Huston, a registered psychologist and counsellor at Mount Royal University, says one of the leading causes of burnout he sees among students is the combination of their academic course load and part-time jobs, relationships, and other life factors.
“There are all these things that are pulling on them, and everyone has a limit,” Huston said in an interview with the Calgary Journal. “And I think burnout is when you’ve been dealing with unrelenting demands for a long period of time. The students are vulnerable to it in the winter semester and in the early part of the spring semester because relief is a long, long way away.”
Hutson says the first step for students should always be to see if they can reduce any of the demands coming at them.
“If you’re working 20 hours a week, could you reduce it to 12, to 15?” said Hutson.
Another concern, Hassas says, is that she and fellow fourth-year students face is deciding which career to pursue post-graduation.
“If you’re doing something relentlessly every day, especially when we look at something like a job search, it’s a lot of work, it’s a lot of time, it’s a lot of effort that goes into that,” said alumni program specialist Jennifer Hampson.
Hampson says students who strive for perfection often end up putting extra stress on themselves.
She says it’s essential for students to remember that university and graduation are just a small chapter in their lives and careers.
“I’ve worked with thousands of students in multiple universities, and the percentage of them that go on to work in the space that they studied in and stay in that space is so, so, so small.”
For Hassas, the easiest way to stay motivated, despite burnout, is to know that her assignments need to be completed regardless of how she feels.
She says she knows she has a responsibility to hand things in on time, and the only way to move forward is to do it.