The Silent Struggle: Student Survival Guide to College Burnout

In recent years, college burnout has become an essential factor affecting students’ mental health. Therefore, it is no longer just an adult phenomenon. Studies indicated that stress is a significant predictor of psychological distress in college students and can manifest as anxiety and depressive symptoms leading to what is so-called academic or college burnout.

According to GITNUX REPORT 2024 , 75% of college students report experiencing stress frequently, with a whopping 50% of high schoolers feeling stressed daily.

Moreover, A 2021 Boston University study found that more than half of the 33,000 surveyed college students experienced anxiety or depression. And 83% of respondents said their mental health hurt their academic performance.

College Burnout is a mental crisis

Some factors act as stressors for students during their academic journey such as peer pressure and competition, limited socioeconomic power, and distance from home and family, as such they may fall victimized by burnout.

Experts ensure that by identifying specific life stresses associated with academic burnout among students, it may be possible to prevent or diminish burnout, thus improving students’ overall academic achievement.

However, chronic burnout might require changing majors, moving to part-time enrollment status, or taking a semester off from school.

In this blog post, we will reveal that the academic battlefield is saturated with overwhelmed soldiers and burnt-out warriors who are struggling silently to overcome the dangerous hidden enemy, College Burnout.

What are the common causes of College Burnout?

Taiwan scholar Yang Huizhen defined academic burnout as students’ emotional exhaustion, lack of humanization, and low personal sense of achievement due to academic pressure, academic load, or other personal psychological factors in the learning process.

Beyond all the mentioned disorders, there are some common causes of College Burnout:

Overwhelming Workload

Overwhelming feelings and over-commitment are pushing students to their limits and, in some cases, beyond. Some students undergo multiple deadlines coinciding across different courses. Others struggle to maintain high GPA for scholarships. In addition, almost all of them are involved in complex group projects that require extensive coordination. All such overwhelming workloads may drive students to college burnout.

High Expectations

Seeking perfectionism and Internal pressure to achieve perfect grades. Moreover, what adds salt to the injury is the parental expectations for academic excellence. Those factors leave students in a competitive academic environment fostering comparison. Such stress caused by high expectations is considered one of the common reasons for academic burnout.

Financial Stress

With the rise in tuition costs and student loan debt, many students had to find a way to balance part-time or full-time work with their studies. Those fighters may face fear of future financial stability in their chosen career path. Such a feeling of instability leads them toward burnout and maybe failure sometimes.

Comprehensive Solutions to Overcome Academic Burnout

Task Management

Prioritizing tasks and classifying them into urgent and important helps students to manage their tasks properly and track their progress in pace. They may handle that so easily by creating a done list alongside their to-do list. So that they can focus more on their assignments.

Lifestyle Adjustments

It can be achieved by establishing a consistent sleep schedule, maintaining a balanced diet, and daily exercise. Such lifestyle adjustments help in enhancing physical well-being. As such, a limited chance for stress and burnout may be on the route.

Study Techniques

Depending on multiple learning modalities (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) help in simplifying the studying process as a whole. Many students tend to use mind maps and podcasts besides reading for better comprehension.

Make Time for Fun

Setting aside work to make time for fun helps students avoid burnout. Prioritize connecting with friends and family, whether that means scheduling regular dinners with friends or a weekly phone call with family.

Ask for Help

Utilizing campus counseling services and considering academic coaching for better study strategies is a guaranteed solution to avoid academic burnout.

Conclusion

Academic burnout is not just a personal struggle—it is a systemic challenge that affects countless students in higher education. By implementing effective coping strategies, and most importantly, being willing to reach out for help, students can navigate their academic journey more sustainably. However, students must remember that worth isn't measured solely by their grades or academic achievements. As they work toward their educational goals, they must prioritize well-being alongside studies. So that they can avoid college burnout and move ahead smoothly in their academic journey.