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“˜Senioritis’ impacts college students, study says

By Daily Bruin Staff

May 17, 2001 9:00 p.m.

By Hemesh Patel
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

High school seniors around the country are feeling apathetic
toward their classes during their final semester, which often
carries over and negatively affects their freshman year of
college.

The epidemic, commonly known as “senioritis,” is the
topic of a recent report authored by Michael Kirst, professor of
education at Stanford University.

The report indicated that students suffering from a
“senior slump,” are often those who have already been
accepted to the school of their choice.

The study found that the college admissions calendar encourages
students to excel in their sophomore and junior years, but provides
no incentives for them to study hard during their senior year.

“We can’t really blame the students for not working
hard in their senior year,” said Thad Nodine, director of
communication for the National Center for Public Policy and Higher
Education.

“Right now, students in high school are obsessed with
admissions to college and once they are admitted, they think they
are prepared,” he continued.

But officials at UCLA disagreed, saying that undergraduate
admissions are provisional and depend on the successful completion
of a student’s final semester of high school.

“If grades during the last semester have dropped off
significantly, then students will not be able to attend the
university,” said Thomas Lifka, assistant vice chancellor for
student academic services.

For example, if a straight-A student received a B average during
their final semester, their admission could be revoked.

“If they slack off in their senior year, they could pay a
big price for it,” Lifka said.

Officials involved in the admissions process at UCLA say they
weigh the classes a student takes during their senior year very
heavily.

Students who choose to take challenging courses at this time
will be better prepared for college, Lifka said.

A main complaint the report made was that there is a lack of
communication between college officials and high school
counselors.

The report advised officials to set explicit standards for
senior-year performance in all courses and withdraw admissions
offers if those standards are not met.

Nodine said senioritis could be avoided if college admissions
officers clarified what students need to do to prepare for higher
education.

First-year biology student Rubina Mohamad’s teachers and
counselors did not stress the importance of working hard during
senior year.

Instead, she said they nonchalantly informed her “not to
do bad” and hence she experienced a final year in which
students were not the only ones stuck in a slump.

“I studied so hard my junior year and after that I was so
burned out that I started getting lazy,” she said.
“Teachers became more lenient senior year ““ I kind of
wish they were more rigid to snap me out of it.”

Because of this mind-set, the study stated students should
understand that access to higher education is only one aspect of
their senior year and not the sole goal.

For third-year psychobiology student, Diane K. Lee, senioritis
was a condition that carried over to her freshman year of
college.

“I was really hard working up to senior year,” she
said. “Senior year didn’t matter because my
applications were already in ““ the only thing I would
have done differently is not have senioritis extend to
college.”

The report showed that the senior slump carries over past high
school, as more college freshmen enroll in remedial writing, math
and science classes.

Some students were able to overcome the condition and continued
to study hard up to their final days of high school.

“I worked harder senior year than junior year because I
had the goal of being valedictorian,” said first-year
neuroscience student Kelly Gougar. “Senioritis was more
prevalent to those who went to junior colleges and colleges of a
lower standard.”

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