By Idressa Melvin—

“The Happiest time of your Life!” This phrase is often bellowed to you in a repetitive fashion through the entirety of your college career, but is it that glamorous? Endless nights of breaking dawn in an attempt to finish a huge assignment; reading countless pages that you forget as soon as you lay eyes on them; or how about the always enjoyable group project with that classmate that has no idea what he’s doing? This, in combination with social pressures and the common desire to “find yourself” in college, actually causes this to be the most stressful time of your life.

So now that graduation approaches, one would assume that those annoying stresses that have plagued you throughout the years would mellow out or become easier to cope with, but in fact, they have a tendency to intensify in the months before the big day.

So how do you deal with it?

First of all, file for graduation clearance! The sooner you apply the better, and no later than November (if you are expecting to be done by May, for December it is a different deadline). It has become an NJCU tradition for students to assume that they are fine to graduate in May and are shocked to find out the list of credits they’ve missed. So make life simpler and easier for yourself and get your clearance as soon as possible.

Prioritize your School Work Organization is key to stress reduction. Write down your assignments and the dates they are due. Do not make the mistake and rely solely on your memory, because with a list of things to complete, this almost always ends in disaster. Pick out those assignments that will take the longest to complete and get a head start. If you know exactly what is due, and when it has to be turned in, life will be a lot easier.

Stop the procrastination There is nothing more stressful than having to cram at the last minute to complete an assignment with little to no time, especially when you knew it was due a month ago! However, this is one of the most common practices of college students who deem the infamous “all nighter” a normal college experience. But it doesn’t have to be! Get a head start on assignments, even if you do not completely finish them, so that you will not end up starting from scratch the night before. Take advantage of the gift of time and do your assignments whenever an opportunity arises to limit the amount of late minute stress.

Go to sleep We all know that having a social life is very important in college and there is nothing wrong with that, but the human body needs between seven to eight hours of sleep to be able to function properly during the day. So save the partying for the weekend, and allow yourself to get the sleep you need so that your brain is fully functioning when it’s time for class. There is nothing worse than staring at your professor as he is lecturing and not being able to retain any of the information because you are drifting in and out of consciousness. So get some rest and go to class with your best foot forward.