Orange skies. Poor air quality. Increased screen time. COVID-19 case spikes. The fall semester in the Bay Area has proven to be one crisis after another, and UC Berkeley students are feeling overwhelmed by the endless cycle of bad news. Transfer students especially are experiencing a tumultuous introduction to UC Berkeley amid all the chaos.
Certain counties in the Bay Area and the students who live there are becoming accustomed to annual evacuations due to the threat of wildfires and the idea that their homes might be reduced to rubble when they return. COVID-19 is just the icing on that dystopian cake.
Most transfer students haven’t had the chance to establish residency in Berkeley and have been learning remotely from their often crowded homes, thus leading to stress and overall burnout.
Art history major and transfer student Margaret Smith, 20, has been feeling the pressure.
“It has been really hard to push myself this semester. I’ve been having to really focus on time management to stay sane,” Smith said.
Students all over the country are feeling the weight of the world impact their ability to feel passionate about the future, as the one in sight remains grim. According to research done by the Journal of Medical Internet Research, 89% of college students are having difficulty concentrating, 44% are having increased depressive thoughts and 71% have felt their anxiety increase. And that’s just from COVID-19 alone.
The burnout phenomenon is real for UC Berkeley students and transfer students alike. We are all candles burning the midnight oil, and how do we cope with that? In light of this, what are people looking forward to?
Smith, who is from Santa Rosa, has decided to take the next semester off and reapply when classes resume in person and when the world seems more hopeful.
“Currently, I have been looking forward to taking spring semester off and knowing that I will get that extended break,” Smith said. “Doing online has been extra challenging motivation-wise.”
Smith is not alone in her decision to take a gap semester. This is evident in newspaper headlines across the United States, such as this one from The Daily Pennsylvanian: “COVID-19 pandemic leads to approx. 300% increase in gap years for incoming Penn students.” Staring into the endless abyss of pixels on a computer monitor all day is becoming increasingly less appealing to students and might lead to an early onset of burnout.
Most transfer students haven’t had the chance to establish residency in Berkeley and have been learning remotely from their often crowded homes, thus leading to stress and overall burnout.
While Smith is looking forward to her gap semester, she has been turning to exercise in the meantime to add balance to her life.
“I try to get some form of exercise in at least 20 minutes every day. That way, I have time to myself and can really set the tone for working hard throughout the day,” Smith said.
Political science major Emma Hegenbart, 21, is just one of the many UC Berkeley students staying at home this semester to do remote learning. In terms of burnout, Hegenbart feels adamant that since it’s her first semester, she has something to prove.
“It’s hard to find a balance between life and school when everything’s at home,” Hegenbart said.
Like Hegenbart, fellow transfer student Eziah Napitan is feeling the effects of online burnout. Napitan, who spends about 25 hours a week doing school or school-related activities on his computer, shows up to lectures not for himself but out of respect for his teachers.
“I attend because I want to show I’m present, not necessarily because it helps me understand the material, but mostly to show respects to my teacher,” Napitan said.
Napitan admitted that he originally coped with his overwhelming school load by spending an unhealthy amount of time on social media and watching TV. After that got old, Napitan turned his energies toward reading books and exercising. He’s looking forward to being able to spend time on the UC Berkeley campus for the first time and make friends, whenever that may be.
Down south, transfer student and UCLA history major Alex Nunez feels content, which he attributes to being one of the lucky students living on the UCLA campus this semester. Nunez takes in the empty campus and city as a whole throughout his day, using his GoPro to capture the scenic streets. However, Nunez said if he were living back at home in the Bay Area, this semester would be a different experience.
“If I was at home I’d be experiencing burnout. It does change the way you go to school and your mental health,” Nunez said.
In terms of the future, Nunez wants to pursue law and spend time traveling in 2021. With that said, the uncertainty of the future still leaves him feeling uneasy.
The state of the world may be taking its toll, but transfer students are still striving to work on their personal goals amid the chaos.
“It mentally affects me because it’s like, what is going to happen? When can I go out to eat without a mask? I just want s— to be normal. Knowing that it won’t get back to normal after this is stressful,” he said.
Smith, Hegenbart, Napitan and Nunez are feeling different pressures due to different circumstances; however, they all have their different coping mechanisms and are looking toward the future. Smith seeks the solace of her gap semester, Hegenbart immerses herself in her studies, Napitan awaits the return of campus life and Nunez finds comfort in his ambitions.
The state of the world may be taking its toll, but transfer students are still striving to work on their personal goals amid the chaos.
