Sophomore slump. You’ve heard about it, talking about it, joked about it, but do you have it? Sophomore slump is defined as such:
“During a college student’s sophomore year, their GPA’s drop after having a high GPA freshman year.” Thanks, Urban Dictionary.
Essentially, the idea of sophomore slump says that you take easy classes your first year, usually only General Ed classes, and end the year with a high GPA, but when you reach sophomore year the classes get harder and more specialized, and ultimately your GPA “slumps”.
This can also be used to describe your social life, bank account, motivation, and free time. You might now be paying rent without the help of your parents, you might now have a job that keeps you working on the weekends instead of going out, you might now be only getting four hours of sleep, and not by choice. The sophomore slump is real and takes a lot of determination and hard work to avoid.
We may not have the same tolerance or ability to function on very few hours of sleep anymore, and this is especially true if we are no longer taking G.E.’s and focusing more on our major classes. We no longer have the ability to put off readings and homework or not read at all, and this sometimes takes a while to realize.
The sophomore slump begins in Fall Quarter but only gets realized throughout Winter and Spring Quarter. This is due to realizing the hit your GPA took after Fall Quarter, when Winter classes begin. The sophomore slump is depressing and can be especially horrible if you don’t realize that you have it.
In order to conquer the sophomore slump, it is imperative to accept that you have it. Once you realize that classes got harder, studying is less of an option and an actual requirement, money needs to be saved, and your social life will be okay if you stay in one night, you will be in much better hands. The first step of anything is admitting it. Take a nice long look in the mirror and ask yourself, “Do I have the sophomore slump?” And when you realize you do, feel free to shout it from the rooftops, enlighten your friends on why their GPA’s have significantly lowered, and then get cracking on those textbooks.