By her senior year of college, Kimberly Villegas was over it.

“It” was college, classes and especially writing essays. She had a huge term paper to write, but waited until the last minute. She stayed up until 6 a.m. to finish it. After two long years of taking 17-20 hours of English and an all-nighter of writing, she turned in “the worst, most trash essay in the history of the world.”

Villegas, now an English teacher, experienced burnout, something that is now the norm among many students. Throughout her beginning years of college, Villegas changed her major at least four times. Before ending up as an English literature major, Villegas was originally a double major in chemistry and French. She was also on a pre-med track, hoping to someday become a doctor.

“I wasn’t even willing to put in the work that was necessary to get to the burnout stage. Organic chemistry was what broke me for pre-med,” Villegas said. “It turns out, you should major in things that come naturally to you.”

Villegas sees burnout in her students often. Becoming too involved and biting off more than they can chew is common, making burnout very prevalent, especially among juniors who are preparing for their college applications.

According to Villegas, sometimes it’s necessary to drop an activity, change habits, or switch your focus when facing burnout. When dealing with burnout in college herself, Villegas found that taking a fun class, like keyboard piano playing, or just changing scenery, helped her stay balanced. She believes that in order to maintain that balance, sometimes it’s necessary to take those breaks or drop something all together, in favor of what is more important.

“Focus your attention on things that you can control,” Villegas said. “What can you take off your plate?”