College final exam dates and stress

Parent Cafe
1

I just read that a Princeton student was found dead in her room a few days ago (RIP), and the article said that it was a “few days before exams”.

I have never heard of this at any other college.

Every college I went to (many LOL, I think five?) and where I teach, the final exams for the fall are the last week before the winter break. I am shocked to think that Princeton has students go home for break and then come back for final exams.

So I looked it up (you can too, search on Princeton registrar academic calendar) and yes, it is true.

I’m posting this in the Parent Cafe because I feel that as a parent, the closure of the fall semester before break gives students a chance to rest and relax before the new semester starts. And students also can change registration if they do poorly and need to repeat a class or can’t progress. They have their family’s support to get through any struggles.

I’m wondering how common this is, if anyone knows of it at other colleges, and thoughts on whether it increases stress for students (unnecessarily).

2

It used to be a very common thing to have exams after winter break. Some colleges, like Princeton, still do. Most of the Ivies did (don’t know which one’s still do) as well as the Seven Sisters. When my sister was at Smith her finals were always after winter break, iirc.

3

Both my boys finish before the holidays. I work at Dartmouth. We’re on quarters here and we used to finish up in December but the academic calendar changed so now students start a little earlier in September and the term ends before Thanksgiving.

When I was an undergrad, we always had finals after the holidays. I can’t remember that it was particularly stressful but then again, I wasn’t at Princeton. I’m so, so sorry for the girl’s family.

4

There was also a “reading week” when everyone went back to school before exams. I do seem to remember, when my sister was a Smith, that they made a change in their calender because of the oil shortage in '73(?) and to save on heating buildings in the first few weeks of January they moved the academic calender to start earlier and have finals before break, extending the Xmas break.

5

Harvard did when I was there, but they changed partly I think so that cross registration at MIT would be easier. It rather liked it as we had two full weeks of reading period after the break before exams. I rarely did any work besides perhaps catch up on some literature reading if I’d gotten behind. There were a few cruel teachers who would have papers due at the beginning of reading period, but I never had one. When I was in grad school at Columbia the final exams and projects were just days before Christmas - there was never any time to do any shopping and I always ended up coming home sick as a dog for the holidays. (One year it was whooping cough.)

I don’t think the timing of the exams makes too much difference in cases like this.

6

I think having the exams after break would give a student more time to study which could be less stressful.

7

When my relative attended law school at Boston College, they had finals AFTER Christmas break as well. He was pretty miserable, carrying his books around and not enjoying the holidays, especially his 1st year. I think he got used to it but I am glad my kids and I never had exams and papers right after the holidays. We geerally finished about mid Dec, so there was still time to do some shopping and enjoy a holiday break.

8

I think when DS was in college, the final was before the Christmas holiday. But I think he studied during both the Thanksgiving break (part of the time only) and the “reading week” in order to keep up grades.

I think his flight back to campus after Thanksgiving was when he was more stressed - because it was followed by a short week or so of classes and the reading week prior to the final. (Now we reflect on this and we really appreciate that he came back essentially for every break in college. It requires a lot of efforts on his part to do this over 4 years.)

9

I wonder if schools on quarters are more apt to do this? D is considering an engineering school where the 2nd quarter ends approx. late January. She considers it a big negative and I wonder about the comparative stress around 3 finals instead of 2.

10

Virtually all colleges used to have reading week following the holiday break and then exams and then intersession. The energy crisis of the 70’s changed all of that for the most part. It is only in the past 10 years that Harvard made the switch.

11

my college trimesters and H’s semesters also had finals after christmas break in the 70’s. it was a life saver for getting extra time to study. D1 was on trimesters but sometimes the teachers would allow you to finish your paper after the break- again helpful. D2 was on trimesters also and finished before break also. both D’s would start school right after new years to get three trimesters in. neither ever came home for the 2 day thanksgiving break as it was very close to finals. bottom line - pros and cons and you adjust.

12

Reading day variations, that’s another topic. Some schools have only one day, some schools have five days. I’m not sure if 1 or 2 reading days is more common than 3 or more. Since I expect most students to have four classes, I feel that at least 2 reading days are necessary.

And where I work, they are not strict about no exams or work due on a reading day. Most professors do what they want, and if they are tenured, they don’t get in trouble.

I checked my son’s calendar for the fall, they finish their exams rather late in my opinion, but before the holidays.

I guess this story struck me because I had a friend, one of three who got perfect SAT scores in the grade ahead of me, who went to Princeton and barely escaped alive…He had a nervous breakdown and after he got back on his feet, he went to an agricultural college.

I just looked him up, he passed last year :frowning: They actually listed both schools in his obituary. I looked up the other two - one is in my exact job at a school 50 miles away. Other is an artist and musician, not well-known. All three did go to Princeton by the way, the latter two graduated from Princeton. The first guy was amazing smart, nice, possibly Asperger’s. I look at people like him and think why didn’t I break and they did?

You adjust or you don’t, that’s the trouble. I think the mindset of a 1970s or 1980s college student was somewhat different than that of the average college students today. My son’s friends who graduated HS last year just went back to college this week, and on the weekend they were hanging out with friends before “returning to the grind”. Then again, I did feel that I needed to unwind over break and get ready to start new for the new year.

My brother went to school in Chicago, and never came home for Thanksgiving because he never flew (couldn’t afford it). He even stayed in Chicago over the holiday break his last year to finish up his senior project.

13

@mathmom‌

Everyone I knew who attended Harvard during my college years and before cited the practice of taking exams after Winter holidays as a major negative.

They felt they had to balance family time while still being in college mode due to upcoming exams or finalizing their term papers from fall term courses.

From my perspective, I prefer the system at most colleges in which final exams for fall semesters/terms end before the winter holidays. There’s more finality to the need to be in college mode and students like yours truly can focus more on enjoying the holidays with family and/or working a part-time job to make ends meet without college deadlines from fall term courses looming in the back of our minds.

Many students like yours truly never came home for Thanksgiving for some/all our college years not only for cost reasons, but also because it’s too close to final exams/term paper deadlines.

Many writing a senior thesis also tended to stay on campus and use Thanksgiving as extra research/reading/finalizing drafts time.

14

I don’t think this girl ended her life because of the finals.

15

I agree with oldfort. I would be surprised if college finals were ever the single cause.

16

Has it even been determined that this was a suicide vs. some kind of death from natural causes?

17

I never saw a cause in our local papers.

There was no indication from any article I read that she had any kind of medical condition, but there was a mention of the date of her death being a few days before finals. There are more recent articles by channel 10 in Philadelphia and the local Princeton patch.

Nothing found yet as the cause of death, but toxicology takes a little time to run.

The last death on my campus was a suicide, at least I assume so based on a “donations can be sent to” mention of a suicide hotline. Not near finals. The person had a name similar to a friend of mine, so I looked up the Facebook page, and I have to say it was QUITE disturbing (and public). Sorry I looked at it. Wonder if the parents did prior…

(I am happy to electronically stalk my son - with his permission. I clearly note all the ways I stalk him, which include logging into his Facebook. His internet is tracked and his phone calls and text to and from are listed and sent to me. He is aware of it 100%. I wish my parents cared two craps about where I was and who I was with in HS (based on the number of times I was offered drugs and alcohol). I have heard that if your child is 18, there are more serious legal implications if you track your child without their permission. Maybe I’ll have to have him sign a contract that he did approve of the tracking.)

18

How old is the son you stalk?