When you enter junior year, youâre convinced that this is going to be your best year yet. Youâll ace all your exams, hit up the hottest parties and maybe have a romance or two. But realizing that you only have two years left of college is going to hit you hard– whether youâre ready for it or not. Every student experiences a mid-college life crisis sometime during their university career. Here are the 12 stages that you are going to go through once you get to that halfway mark.  Â
1. The Denial Stage
At first you wonât believe you only have two more years of college left. That still seems like a lot of time, but at the same time it means your college career is halfway over. Youâll try to start off your junior year stress-free and innocent, just like your past two years, but the denial will catch up to you.
2. The Crying Over Pizza and Netflix Stage
Once it hits you that youâre at the halfway mark, youâll feel an overwhelming flood of emotions. You only have a few more semesters to embrace the joys of campus dining halls and sorority events. Youâll binge-watch your favorite season of Greyâs Anatomy while stuffing your face with greasy pizza to try and cope. Â
3. The Looking at Your Transcripts Stage
Youâll take a peak at your grades to see how all your studious efforts have paid off, and youâll feel nowhere close to med school. Getting good grades is not as easy as pulling a couple all-nighters and drinking ridiculous amounts of coffee — contrary to what the movies make it seem. Youâll feel defeated.
4. The âWhat Am I Doing With My Life?â Stage
Youâll feel like you havenât done anything productive with your time in college. All youâve been doing is suffering through papers and midterms and labs, and that wonât feel like itâs paying off. Youâll feel like thereâs more out there than the inside of the library that you need to experience ASAP before itâs too late.Â
5. The Partying Every Night Stage
What better way to live-up the last few years than with a good olâ kegger? Youâll probably try to embrace a âwork hard, play hardâ mentality and test out the party scene that you thought you left behind after freshmen year. Youâll quickly watch yourself become a regular at the campus bar and will come to know all the frat boys by name.
6. The Refusing to Study Stage
Youâve probably developed a fear of your textbooks by this stage. Between your constant hangovers and the defeat after seeing your transcripts, you canât put yourself through anymore pain. Youâll refuse to study, even though you know that is not the right thing to do.
7. The âIâm Going to Be a Hairdresserâ Stage
Since you feel like your academic career is over, youâll be looking for other job options. You might try cutting your friendsâ hair in a bid to prove you can be a hairdresser. Or maybe youâll take over the dorm kitchen trying to be the next Rachel Ray. All youâll know is that itâs time to reinvent yourself.
8. The Calling Your Parents at Midnight Stage
Although youâve been partying it up, ignoring your academics and trying to learn the ways of Martha Stewart, things still arenât going right. Youâll call up your parents at heinous times of the night to vent and have them tell you what to do.
9. The Realizing Everyone is Going Through the Same Thing Stage
Eventually youâll realize that all your friends and classmates in junior year are going through the same mid-college crisis. Everyone is scared of the unknown and is questioning if the past few years have been worth it. Itâll be reassuring knowing youâre not the only one who feels like theyâre going insane.
10. The Feeling Guilty Stage
Ignoring the reality of college hasnât been helping — itâs only made you feel worse. You feel bad for putting your grades to the side (especially if you actually do want to get into med school) and drinking more than you ever thought was possible. Itâs time to stop the madness. Â
11. The “I Need to Focus” Stage
Youâre finally getting back on track! You have set up camp back in the library (thankfully right before midterms) and are determined to ace everything that comes at you. Itâs no use trying to run away from your problems; youâre determined to face them head on. Â
12. The Realization That You Still Have Two More Years
Two years is still a long time. While graduation is creeping up closer, youâll finally reach a sense of peace that you still have time to accomplish everything on your bucket list. The world isnât as scary as you thought it was, and youâre ready for it.
In the end, every student goes through the same panic of being almost done their degree. Make sure that you have a strong support system behind you, and work to get yourself back on track ASAP. Itâs okay to take time to process all the emotions that come with entering your junior year, just make sure to do it in a healthy and safe way. You still have two more amazing years to go, and, believe us, that is still a lot of time.Â