Finals hit hard: Stress levels rise
For college students, managing classes, projects, and working jobs can be challenging when struggling with time management.
By Valentina Contreras and Harper Crowley | Reporters
Stuck in a cycle, working for too long, burning out and then doing it all over again.
Freshman Elenya Lynch is one of more than 40,000 undergraduates at the University of Minnesota who live this reality, especially toward the end of the semester. While the holiday season is meant to bring rest and relaxation, it often has the opposite effect. Students are scrambling to make it through the final stretch.
“I feel like there’s too much to do sometimes, like, too much for the amount of time in the day. So I just kind of feel like I’m behind, like, all the time.” — Elenya Lynch, freshman
Lynch shares her experience during finals as a psychology major.
The pressure to do a certain amount of work or studying every day can make it seem like there is no recovery from falling behind. With classes like Introduction to Psychopathology having exams that are worth over 90% of the grade, students are feeling the stress.
“I feel like there’s too much to do sometimes, like, too much for the amount of time in the day. So I just kind of feel like I’m behind, like, all the time,” Lynch said.
For Lynch specifically, her major adds an extra layer of pressure. With a psychopathology exam accounting for almost her entire grade, the stakes are raised during finals season.
Along with Lynch, other students are feeling the pressure that comes with wrapping up the semester.
According to Cornell Health, the goal is not to eliminate stress entirely. Instead, students benefit most from learning how to respond to stress and replenishing the physical and emotional energy drained by it. But during finals season, that is often easier said than done.
Cornell Health lists various ways stress may show up in students’ lives. Emotionally, students may experience feeling overwhelmed, anxiety, irritability, while they can physically experience headaches, muscle tension and sleep disturbances. Students can also experience academic symptoms including difficulty to read, poor concentration and deterioration in quality of their work.
“I feel even more behind, and it’s just feeling like you need to push through all of that, regardless of not having the capacity for it.” — Yashodhara Jayawardena, sophomore
Sophomore Yashodhara Jayawardena, an elementary education major, believes as students move through college, it becomes more stressful. At the same time, it all depends on courses and professors’ flexibility.
She experiences this cycle where she stresses about an exam or project, overworks and puts all her time into it and eventually burns out. The next day she will be less efficient because of it which makes it harder to get through her other work.
“I feel even more behind, and it’s just feeling like you need to push through all of that, regardless of not having the capacity for it,” Jayawardena said.
Jayawardena has seen how burnout has become normalized.
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“Even for me, it’s obviously not something I’m trying to avoid, but it’s, like, it feels almost impossible to avoid it during finals,” Jayawardena said.
“I picked the one that was like Earth, and then in front of you there’s like a floating woman in the mountains, and she’s basically guiding you, telling you, like to breathe in, to breathe out.” — Delina Fitwi, freshman
Although the University offers wellness resources year-round, during finals season there is a greater effort to support students’ wellbeing. One of these events, a virtual reality stress relief session at Walter Library Nov. 4, drew in a student looking for new stress strategies. The event took place in the library’s Toaster Innovation Hub. It offered students the chance to try out VR relaxation scenarios that included breathing exercises, nature simulations and guided meditations designed to reduce anxiety.
Freshman Delina Fitwi tried out VR meditation, a new tool for managing her stress for the first time at this event.
“I picked the one that was like Earth, and then in front of you there’s like a floating woman in the mountains, and she’s basically guiding you, telling you, like to breathe in, to breathe out,” Fitwi said.
According to the 2024 College Student Health Survey, 45.9% of students reported they were unable to manage their level of stress.
Boynton Health offers many other stress management resources. In response to rising stress in students, campus groups try to provide short-term interventions and breaks with pop-up events such as Pet Away Worry and Stress, a therapy animal event, extended library hours, free snacks and more to support students through the final stretch.
Sumitra Madhuri Ramachandran advises and guides students as part of Boynton Health’s Let’s Talk Program, which offers free informal consultations where students can get same-day advice on how to navigate stressors. Students can get directions to other resources or just have a space to talk it out.
“It depends, if it is just something that they want to talk about, or it’s just things that they are experiencing or, want some resources about, or sometimes it’s just about like, okay, I’m feeling stressed because these things are going on, so I just listen,” Madhuri Ramachandran said. “That helps a lot, because it’s just like having a safe space to kind of vent things.”
UMN Student Mental Health & Wellness: Programs and Resources
- Boynton Health Mental Health and Wellness Resources: Offers physical and mental health care, including counseling, therapy (individual & group), and specialty care.
- Boynton Counseling Services: Provides appointments and walk-in counseling; also runs group workshops, educational groups and affinity-space groups for support around mental health, social connection, stress, personal issues, etc.
- Learn to Live (online self-help program): Free for UMN students — evidence-based online modules focusing on stress, worry/anxiety, depression, insomnia, and social anxiety.
- Effective U stress & time management resources: Online tutorials/resources to help students with stress and time management, study skills, test prep, life balance, etc.
- PAWS (Pet Away Worry & Stress): Animal-assisted interaction: therapy animals (dogs, rabbits, etc.) on campus for stress relief and relaxation.
- Wellbeing Services (quiet/meditation/prayer/telehealth rooms): Free private spaces on campus for relaxation, meditation, prayer, telehealth, etc., to support students’ mental or emotional needs.
- Care Team brief case management & support: For non-clinical support, helps students experiencing stress or crisis, offering resources and support to navigate the university and life challenges.
Graphic by Harper Crowley.
