The spring semester is slowly coming to an end and students are diligently studying for all of their finals. From studying in Harry A. Sprague Library until 3 a.m. to getting to class on time – this time of year is hectic for students. Whether it is a biology or film course, students are focused on passing all of their finals. However, a few professors have something else in mind.
When the year winds down to its final four weeks, a few professors wait until the last minute to squeeze in an extra assignment into students’ schedules. The one thing that these professors do not realize is that students have finals to study for and final projects to work on. There is an art to balancing the end-of-year madness that is the spring semester.
Procrastination does not just lie with students. There is a common stereotype in which people believe that students are the only procrastinators, but that is not true. Professors can also procrastinate with handing out assignments that could have been completed before finals. This leads students to stress even more.
While there are professors who do not take into consideration all that students have to balance, communication studies professor Scott Hebert believes that he does not carry procrastination qualities.
“As a former professional TV writer/producer, I have no procrastination genes,” Hebert said. “That career and those genes just don’t complement one another. I’m sure that there are professors who procrastinate when handing out assignments, but I don’t know any.”
Students can be greatly affected when trying to rush and get assignments done. It can affect students’ final grades, their GPA and mental stability. If a student happens to be a senior, one large assignment that was assigned last minute may affect the student’s overall grade and later affect their overall GPA. As many students know, our GPA matters for those that want to attend graduate school as well.
Roula Ramadan, a sophomore English major, gets frustrated when professors assign late projects near the end of the semester.
“When professors wait to give us a specific assignment that they know is going to be very time consuming, it aggravates me because they act like their class is the only class that’s on my schedule,” Ramadan said.
For Ramadan, late assignments from a professor can affect her entire schedule.
“It makes me have to rearrange my priorities when this assignment easily could’ve been given a week or two before because nothing would have been assigned [then],” Ramadan said. “It affects my time management. It affects my stress level because now I’m getting this high standard assignment that I didn’t know I was going to have.”
Mental health is also an issue when it comes to crunch time during the last month of school. Many students are struggling to balance out time for group projects, studying and time to de-stress. To have enough time to take a deep breath from all of the worries that accumulate at the end of the semester is a gift.
A question that this topic of conversation poses is if there’s a deadline for professors just like students when it comes to assignments. When asked, speech professor Patrick Hill said he is not aware of any deadlines given to professors.
“For us, the later the assignment the later we have to grade it and most of us don’t want too much at the end of the semester,” Hill said.
All professors need to understand that students are under an immense amount of pressure near the end of the semester when it comes to schoolwork. When students are struggling to complete final projects, the addition of homework assigned late does not allow them to put their best foot forward.
