Cassie Wade
ONLINE REPORTER
University of Nebraska at Omaha students trudged back to campus on Monday, Jan. 7 for round two of the 2018-19 school year.
While spring semester is a step closer to summer break than fall semester, it’s actually the worst semester of the school year. Here’s why:
1. The weather
Spring semester is called spring semester for obvious reasons, but there’s really not all that much “spring” in said semester. For the most part, spring semester is bitterly cold and speckled with days that should be snow days but won’t be because of university policies. That means students have to drive to campus in risky conditions then slog through an icy wet blanket to get to class. It’s not fun. The weather in 2019 so far has been an exception, but doesn’t really count since things can change quickly. It’s Nebraska, after all.
2. The pressure
Students are under more pressure during the spring semester. Seniors are a step closer to graduating, which means the job hunt is on. Hopefully, they’ll be squeezing interviews for their dream jobs in between classes, but cramming a packed schedule with more stressful activities is a recipe for creating a stress monster of a human. Undergraduates are also under pressure to find an internship that’ll set them up for success in the coming years. This too, is a daunting task. May the odds be ever in their favor.
3. The lack of newness
Fall semester is always a blast. Students are back together with their friends, classes and books are shiny and new and homecoming activities provide ways to make exciting new memories (because who doesn’t love laughing their you-know-what off during the hypnotist show?). Spring semester, on the other hand, is a drag. Students see their friends plenty, classes and books equal homework and there are no homecoming activities, just sadness.
4. The extraordinarily long stretch between breaks
Anyone who’s set their peepers on the academic calendar knows the stretch between days off of class during the spring semester is long. Like, seriously, ridiculously, painfully long. Class started back up Jan. 7. No classes are held Martin Luther King Day (Jan. 21), but students then have almost two whole months before spring break, which starts March 17. That’s a long time to stick to a regular schedule with no breaks. It makes skipping class more tempting, which isn’t great for students’ grades.
5. The weather: part two
The cold weather at the start semester is rough, but the nice weather towards the end of the semester is equally difficult to deal with and also makes the spring semester the worst. No one wants to sit in a stuffy classroom on a beautiful spring day. Students would rather hangout in the pep bowl or chill at a picnic table than stay indoors for class, but alas, students have to do what they have to do to get their diplomas.
