Congratulations, you’ve finally made it. Thanks to a countless number of late night study sessions, coffee and support from your fellow struggling students, the end is near. There’s only a short four months standing in the way of you and your diploma. It’s your final semester but life is a bit different this time around.

Senioritis has never been more real.

Let’s be honest, some students have suffered from a bad case of senioritis before they even started college. But, there’s nothing like final semester senioritis. It’s an entire new animal, where all motivation is lost before the semester has even begun. You think to yourself – “I’ve procrastinated so much over the past three years, what’s the point in trying at all?” – and that’s okay because all seniors have those similar thoughts. Some days you’re at the point where you’re procrastinating your procrastination and that’s fine because May is oh so close.

You’ve completely given up on coming prepared for class.

Freshman year: woke up early to get to class 10 minutes early with an organized binder and a fresh pack of highlighters to color coat your notes.

Senior year: woke up five minutes after class has started, shows up late and doesn’t even have a pen.

What’s the point anyway? You won’t be here in a few months.

You feel like you’re on an emotional rollercoaster.

Some days you wake up and you think – “Oh my god, I’m graduating!” – and then other days you wake up and think – “Oh my god… I’m graduating…” You can go from pure excitement about starting adult life to crying about how expensive life is in just a blink of an eye. Graduation is such a bittersweet moment and it’s difficult to not overthink every moment until that day comes. You just have to try to sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.

You’re busy making big post-graduation vacation plans.

You’ve been stressed out, sleep deprived, and haven’t been able to relax for the past four years, and you certainly deserve a vacation. Plus, you need to sneak in that European adventure or tropical island vacation before full-time adult life begins. It’s your last hurrah, and you may be broke, but some fun in the sun is well deserved.

Graduation is all you can think/talk about.

You use any opportunity to bring up the fact that you’re graduating soon. Even in mundane conversations with people you’ve just met, you causally slip in “yeah, it’s my final semester” or “graduation is so close” just so everyone around you is aware that in a few short months a college graduate will be among them. And why would you want to think about anything else? It’s a milestone you’ve been waiting to reach for your entire career as a student.

You can’t stop thinking about what to put on your graduation cap.

Especially if you’re someone who wasn’t permitted to decorate your high school grad cap, this is a huge deal for you. Do you make it serious and thank your parents or do you put a quote from one of the dozens of shows you binge watched during your college career? It’s a big decision and remember, it will be in your graduation pictures forever.

You have a graduation day countdown.

Some students may have set this up on the first day of freshman year, but nothing is more exciting than seeing the days countdown until the big day. And yes, you check it everyday just to remind yourself how close you are. It’s almost over and you can make it.

A final semester is filled with excitement, countdowns and some anxious thoughts, but we’re all going through it. Good luck to all my fellow seniors.