‘Life is so stressful and there is so much work to do. I hardly have any time for social outings or time to be involved in societies or time to gym. All my time goes to job applications and catching up on all the academic work in the year’. This is the answer I get from the majority of final year students when asked how the final year is treating them and precisely how I feel as a final year student.

The pressure that stems from knowing that the last year determines where I go and what I would do in future is enough to make one activate hermit mode; poring over a book in the deepest recesses of the library. I have certainly met more people and made more friends in the library in my final year than I did in my last two years. These weeks fly by so fast that before I realise it, exam time has begun and all I have learnt in the last 23 weeks is put to a test that lasts for just three hours.

Aside from the pressure of school work, final year is the time when students have to decide where their life is headed after graduation. The question of whether to take a gap year to rest from three years of hard work or whether to do a master’s programme or whether to go into the corporate world or volunteer with a social enterprise or learn a skill comes into play. It is a year to decide one’s direction in life and make sure one is heading the right way. I might be wrong, as some people already have their plans made out even before final year, while some graduate with no plans, but one way or another, things just fall into place. However, some students do not seem to be under the pressure of academic work as they made sure they were at a high grade in their second year so less effort is needed in the third year.

I believe the final year should be a year of extra academic effort to reach that high desired grade even better than what was expected, a time to enjoy the beauty of your university and its environment for people who intend to relocate, a time to indulge in the services provided by your university that you never knew about so that at the end one can gladly boast of experiencing university.

To the first and second year students, make the best of university now, join societies, make friends, go out, get that internship and work hard to get that high grade so final year can be stress free and enjoyable.

‘MAKE THE BEST OF EVERY OPPORTUNITY AND TIME GIVEN TO YOU’!!