For many students, this Fall Term marks a period of transition that is often accompanied by stress. With impending college admissions, coupled with higher grading thresholds and greater workloads, students and teachers alike have noticed the rising pressures of academic life this year. Faculty and students discussed their experiences with fall term anxiety and ways by which they manage it.
Academic stress during the Fall Term is particularly overt for Seniors navigating the college process according to Ingrid Kupka, an Instructor in Mathematics. Kupka noted the increase in anxiety she has observed in her classes, as well as the different ways in which students may cope with the pressure.
“Those that are close to college and thinking about college are probably dealing with it the worst because they seem to think that every test or every assignment is going to make or break whatever comes next. During tests, you can feel their anxiety, which is horrible.With everyone it’s hard to know to what extent they’re really stressed. Often the ones that are most stressed are the hardest to see. People that are letting it all out are sometimes more dramatic than some people that are bottling everything in,” said Kupka.
A member of the Senior class, Rania Ali-Svedsater ’26 commented on her Fall Term experience in terms of balancing her stress levels and her mindset regarding the application process.
“What’s been really helpful is to realize that I should focus on things that I can control and I can’t necessarily control the outcome of my college applications, just as long as I’m putting in my best and adding all the things that I want to be included to represent myself. It comes in waves. Sometimes, I’m more stressed because I feel I didn’t balance my courses that well this term. I would recommend taking that into consideration to your Senior Fall. It’s nice to have a little bit more freedom, as I feel you get that every year,” said Ali-Svedsater.
Cooper Simon ’28, a new lower, reflected on the increased workload and stress he has experienced since arriving at Phillips Academy. He also highlighted the resources he has utilized to relieve this increased stress.
“This year, there’s definitely a lot more homework than anywhere else I’ve ever been, but they give you a lot of time and resources, which is really nice. It’s really helpful to take a break whenever you are stressed out and really divert your focus and do whatever makes you happy. For me, it’s just sitting and doomscrolling for a little bit. The writing centers in the math study centers are pretty good. In the future, I wish I had more time to go to conference. Being able to have more time to ask questions or not being afraid to would be really helpful,” said Simon.
Students have also observed that assignments and assessments began to increase near the midterm, often coinciding with one another. New junior Sarah Sun ’29 pointed out the various academic and extracurricular activities she has to keep track of, which has caused a lot of her stress and sleep deprivation.
“Usually the stress is from academic classes because we’ve been having a lot of tests and quizzes recently. There’s just a lot of stress for studying for those, because a lot of the time they’re overlapping or they’re all together in one specific time. Clubs and sports take up quite a lot of time, probably two hours a day. If you have to go to those commitments alongside doing your homework and studying, it’s basically like you don’t have time to do anything else, and this can be stressful,” said Sun.
Constantly working and completing assignments can often lead to burnout. Eugene Hughes, Instructor in the French Department, described how he deals with burnout and offered advice to Andover students and faculty about establishing a work-life balance.
“I have a hard time avoiding [burnout] myself, but some of what I tell students and myself and other people, [is] no matter whether they’re new, but especially new people: sometimes you just say, ‘I can’t do that today,’ or ‘I need to prioritize my sleep or proper nutrition and my health.’ Check in with someone and say, ‘Maybe I just need a bit of a reprieve from whatever’s going on.’ Take breaks, sleep properly, but also try to use any free time that you have to get ahead of things. It is a busy place. We have a lot of different things on our plates to do, and there are only so many hours in the day” said Hughes.
