It’s that time of year again: many Trojan Seniors are suffering from the completely curable disease known as Senioritis. Senioritis, as defined by Urban Dictionary, is a crippling disease that only affects high school seniors. Symptoms of senioritis include laziness, lack of concern with physical appearance, and a generally dismissive attitude. The only currently recognized cure is graduation. Seniors who suffer from Senioritis generally seem to have one goal in mind leaving high school behind and moving on to bigger and better things whether that be entering the workforce or moving on to college.

“I would define senioritis as being so ready to graduate that you don’t feel like doing anything,” said senior AP student and NHS member Elizabeth Brower, “I would define senior burnout as having no motivation or actual will to do your work because you’re about to graduate. Senior burnout does seem to be more intense but I’m more familiar with the term senioritis so that, to me, means more. I am very tired and regretting taking the classes that I did because all I can think about is the fact that I’m graduating in three months and that most of this won’t matter, so it’s very hard for me to stay motivated.”

Senior Burnout is in itself a completely different monster. Senior burnout is defined as a complete lack of interest in the various things associated with everyday life at high school. Seniors experiencing senior burnout may also suffer from feelings of anxiety or stress associated with school work and the pressures associated with college applications, scholarships, maintaining GPA, keeping up with assignments, and simultaneously enjoying their senior year the pressures associated with the demands of senior year.

“I would say I’m experiencing senior burnout because of my classes maybe, not so much outside pressures maybe just college,” said Brower, “Applying to colleges was stressful because I was worried about writing my essays and I didn’t know if it was going to be good or not and I’m still waiting to hear back, which is really scary and I was just super aware of everything that I was writing and I thought that I was typing everything wrong.”

The differences between senioritis and senior burnout may not be obvious because of their similar symptoms but they seem to have very different effects on the graduating classes.

“I know that the end result of high school is just right around the corner and it makes me dread doing work even more,” said Brower “I wouldn’t say I’ve experienced anxiety maybe just stress about trying to get everything done and turned in on time and making sure its still good quality work and that I’m not just turning in low quality work.”