Many people talk about college life as a time to learn, grow, gain independence, discover new opportunities and simply to experience life. For a lot of students, what’s not talked about often enough is how much burnout and exhaustion they deal with in the process.

Madison Diaz, a 21-year-old kinesiology major at Diablo Valley College, said attending classes has become a constant cycle of pressure and fatigue.

“[The] first semester I was full-time, fresh out of high school, definitely [with] more energy,” Diaz said. But, “now I work full-time, and I barely feel like I can handle the one writing class I have most days.”

Diaz is not alone. In a survey conducted across Bay Area college campuses, students reported having a hard time balancing their classes, jobs and personal responsibilities, often with little time to rest and recover. The situation has created a sense of burnout that many say they find hard to escape.

Southern New Hampshire University defines burnout as a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged stress. For college students, that stress often doesn’t just come from one assignment or even one bad week.

Rather, it’s a buildup of crazy schedules, late nights — and the pressure to keep up with everything while pretending it will all be okay.

In the April survey, students described feeling stress from constantly falling behind on everything from school to work and beyond. Even when they complete one task, students said, there is always something else waiting for them that needs to be finished or started.

“I started feeling burnt out when I had multiple classes and I wasn’t able to catch up on the work, and I felt burnt out when I had to stay up late to study for tests and finals,” said Angel Gutierrez, a 22-year-old computer science major at DVC.

“I started to burn out when I had to pick between work, school, or spending time with my family.”

Students said they often move directly from class to work, then go straight home to study for hours, leaving them too drained to focus by the end of the day. Over time, the routine becomes normalized for students, even as their exhaustion continues to build.

“I feel like I don’t even have time to deal with my stress,” Diaz said. “I kind of just keep putting it off until I have my day off.”

In the survey, many students reported that they regularly feel overwhelmed, with a majority of students expressing difficulty balancing school, work, and their personal time to unwind.

Diaz said she believes many students can relate to that experience, especially those having to balance work and school.

“I always feel like I should be doing more,” said Diaz. “There’s always something else that can weigh on my mind.”

Research from the American College Health Association supports this trend, showing that college students regularly report higher levels of stress and anxiety along with difficulty managing their academic demands.

For many, the pressures extend beyond schoolwork, affecting their sleep, motivation and overall mental well-being.

Even with moments of rest, some students say they feel guilty about not being more productive, creating a cycle where they are mentally engaged even when they are physically too exhausted to perform well.

“I do not feel like I have enough time,” said Gutierrez. “The only self-care I’ve been able to do is staying clean and feeding myself.”

Diaz agreed. “I have less energy to tackle the responsibilities I have for myself,” she said.

“I tend to not take care of myself as well as I should, so that I can do everything else I need to.”