last year Archives - DU Beat - Delhi University's Independent Student Newspaper

The last year in the life of a college student comes and goes in the blink of an eye. But it brings with it a lot of ups and downs, highs and lows.

The final year comprises more of tension and panic than enjoyment. The stress and anxieties of college ending and a newer and more difficult life coming up is always there in the minds of a final year student. Amidst this stress comes a lot of other important events. Assignments, placements, semester exams, entrance coaching’s and the last fests are among them. It is the time when we want to catch hold of everything. This article will trace the journey of a final year student and talk about some of the events that most of the students go through in their last year of college.

Spending Hours in Coaching Classes:

All those who wish to take admissions in postgrad courses or LLB or plan to give any other competitive exams spend more time in their coaching centres than in colleges. Juggling between college and entrance preparation becomes a huge task as entrance preparations are just an add on to the already busy schedules. What are your weekend plans? being the most annoying question that can ever be asked to the students who take entrance coaching. These people do not have a weekend. They go and sit through three or four hours of classes and give mock tests and mock examinations on the weekends.

Internals for the Last Time:

After giving tests and submitting regular assignments for two years, we might become habitual to it but we do not like doing it. The regular assessment system is something that just keeps on pissing us off. The deadlines of assignment submission keep on coming every week and the dates for tests are always planned well in advance. But this also leads the students towards the one last internal that they give in their undergrad college life as the clock keeps on ticking bringing them towards the end of their college life.

Semester Exams:

Amidst all the things going on, the semester exams come on their time. December and May being the most difficult months. Scoring good marks in semester-end examinations becomes more difficult for students who are preparing for entrance exams or professional courses. One brain, one body but so many things to focus on.

Sitting Through Interviews:

Various colleges have Placement Cells that have collaborations with some great companies. Most of the time in the last year of college goes by preparing for interviews and sitting through them to bag a great job. Coming out of college as an employed person is an achievement in its own. The pressure that it builds is also something that needs to be talked about. The formal wear, the anxious atmosphere and the dreams of being employed with a great package are what a lot of people aspire for.

The Final Fest Season:

The fest season never sees a dull moment. Attending college fests for one more time before the ID cards become invalid for entry is what most of us aspire to do. The fun that the fest season brings with it is something that most of the students look forward to. a lot of students wish to attend the fests of all the known colleges before they graduate and final year is like the last opportunity for them to fulfil this wish. They want to make the most of their college life and the do the most in these three years. Making sure that they attend concerts of all the famous singers becomes a point in their lives.

The Final Day – Farewell

The final day in college, the Farewell arrives sooner than people think it would. Time flies faster than anything else and there comes the day that people would remember and cherish for the rest of their lives. The ‘Graduation caps’ and the ‘Bachelor Scrolls’ shows the paths to the future. This day tells the students that what future holds for them is something very bright and they need to keep moving ahead to embrace the beautiful experience of life. Farewell tells the students to ‘Fare thee well’.

The journey from the freshers to the farewell is a short but exciting one. Final year is the time when we all want to make the most of our college lives. At this time when we realise that there won’t be another year, another semester, we wish to do everything that we might have missed upon in the first two years. This makes it more difficult. The year is full of many important events and people go through many highs and lows throughout. But what is important is that we live our lives to the fullest and work for the future as well. All you need to know is that it might be difficult but you will sail through. At this time, everything might feel to be slipping out of your hands but you will find your way out and everything that happens is going to lead you to a more beautiful side of life.

Feature Image Credits: Let’s Intern

Priya Chauhan

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Read to know about the third year’s mental and physical pressures, and what you should do to prioritise your mental sanity over every aspiration for perfection.

If someone asks me about my experience in the last year of college, my usual reply starts with “traumatic,” “stressful,” and ends with a “Thank god! It’s ending.” As much as I talk about my course being an absolute mismatch with what I had expected, it would be grossly unfair to make these incorrect statements. Rephrasing my earlier assertion – the University of Delhi (DU) has taught me everything I need to know, but my course contents. In this “everything” I found umpteenth life lessons that no school or professor could have taught me. The biggest, and possibly the most crucial, piece of information here is a simple remark – ‘nothing is more important than your mental sanity.’ A kind senior of mine reiterated this sentence enough times for me to remember for a lifetime, and I thank her for this.
This statement held the most importance for me when I was about to begin my third year in college. Right now, with college society elections around the corner, most second-years are filled with the same crippling anxiety and fear. Many have already started prepping for entrances, while others have begun campaigning for the respective position they wish to take up in the next year. For those who emerge lucky, the moment when they are elected to take up the position of responsibility of their choice becomes one of the most fulfilling memories of their college life. A fresh hope of leading the society to newer heights is ignited, and they embark on a journey of success and failure in equal measures.
In this quest to fulfill the supremely high expectations of seniors, we imbibe from them a culture which embraces perfectionism, and we develop a work thic which strives to follow procedure in a similar fashion as they did. Oftentimes, we become so invested in an association that we give priority to it over everything else – friends, family, and sometimes even our career. This blind faith in the mechanical workaholic culture and putting precedence of the society over everything is, sadly, toxic.
In this system, where graduating seniors urge their juniors to work harder and take the society to newer heights, no one utters the words “take care” with equal emphasis, or usually leave this bit in the post – script. No one says it often enough, that we need to prioritise our career and health over everything else, and that an all – consuming behaviour by virtue of heading a society or an institution is problematic at the behest. Many end up micromanaging most of the work, which leads to a toxic work environment, not only for them but also for those peers who wish to learn.
While it is important to do justice to the position one has been elected to, it is a different ball game when that individual has to juggle society with marks and all the other baggage that the third year comes with. Third year is not easy for most, and acceptance of this is the only way forward. Anyone who says otherwise is either blessed with god – gifted abilities or is simply bluffing their way out of everything. Third – year is an important juncture, which has many minute yet important decisions, and a lot of us do not possess the luxury to fail academically and rely on our parents as a back – up.
Despite all this, it comes to an end, which is when the realisation of taking unnecessary stress because of “that one error I missed out from editing” or “that one prop that I forgot to place” comes into the forefront. I am glad I had a senior who reminded me to not take extreme pressures and enjoy my last year in college alongside the work. Hopefully, more seniors can be the same guiding light for a junior who is about to take up the same, seemingly intimidating role they once held.

Feature Image Credits: NDTV

Vijeata Balani

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