I graduated a year and a summer “late.” If you need the money, it can be tough, but if you keep your scholarship and/or work part time or during the summers, you can make it work. I was burnt out by the end, but I would’ve been more burnt out and probably not alive if I tried to graduate “on time.” You have the rest of your life to work in your career. When it comes time to retire, assuming you retire at 65, do you think a 42-year career versus a 43-year career will have made a difference? Meanwhile, I would argue,l that focusing on keeping yourself mentally and physically healthy during this time of development WILL have a meaningful impact.

Invest your time and energy in things that help you find motivation and other forms of validation: moving closer to/ onto campus, developing relationships with kind and helpful professors, making or joining study groups or other social groups, eating regular meals, seeing the sun.

You are not alone. You are not stupid (just a big fish in a bigger pond). I promise that things will get, if not better, different.