It’s one of the widest caught illnesses of academic careers – Senioritis. Merriam-Webster’s definition of Senioritis (yep, it’s in the dictionary) is “an ebbing of motivation and effort by school seniors as evidenced by tardiness, absences, and lower grades”. Almost every senior can say that they’ve gotten it and it’s very hard to “cure”. Once you start to slack and lose motivation, it takes a lot to get that motivation back.

Even though my senior year has only been two months long, I have experienced a bad case of Senioritis and found my way out. Here are some tips on how you can, too:

Volunteer for something you believe in

Recently, I’ve been volunteering at a local food bank. It has been re-energizing and brought back a bit of drive! I will also be trying to volunteer at the Wake County SPCA soon because who doesn’t love some animals? The point here is that volunteering can help take up time while also filling your heart with a bit of energy and purpose.

Take up a new hobby

Usually Senioritis comes along with less credit hours/easier courses, leading to a decline in care. Filling up your day with things that you like will wake you right up from that Senioritis slumber. For the first three years of college, I didn’t play quite as much golf as I’d have liked. So, when Senioritis hit, I realized that I wanted to put more time into my golf game, which kept me focused and determined on and off the course.

Take a course solely because it interests you

Too many times people get caught up in their list of required courses. Unless you try to have 6 majors and 4 minors, you should have a bit of a credit hour gap towards the end of your college career. Try filling this bit of extra time with a course that seems interesting. Usually to graduate you need some elective courses, so here’s your chance! Basket weaving? Go for it! 1800’s European History? GO FOR IT! Try something out that interests you. I decided to take on a coding-intensive class to learn some basics; it really intrigued me and kept me focused in the classroom.

Get ahead and plan your after-college life

One of things I feel like college students fear is the real world. You may hear “ugh, I wanna get out of this town and live my life,” but how serious are they? Are you ready for taxes? Insurance premiums? Emergency funds? Down payments? Yeah. Very few are. So, now that you have some time in your day, try to tackle some of those big challenges early. Talk to some people and try and understand the finances behind real life so that you can start saving and planning out your budget. My older sister has already graduated and I recently asked her to help me understand how to work my finances so that I can live the life I want to live out of college. Nothing wrong with being prepared!

So, while Senoritis might not have a prescribed cure, there are certainly things you could be doing during your last year of college to be more productive! These are just a few ideas that I have come up with, but I’m sure it’s enough to fill up a bit more of your time!