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You know it’s time for midterms when you arrive at Powell and find students packed into cubicles like sardines, or when you automatically mutter curses at the sight of clocks, books and papers.

You also know it’s time for midterms when daily necessities such as eating and sleeping become second – or third or fourth – priority.

From third week on, the demands of schoolwork and exams have the potential to leave you trapped in a life of midterms after papers after midterms until finals – then wash and repeat.

But with a dose of reality, this “burden” of schoolwork and stress is put into perspective by the realization that life could be worse.

Tests, papers and stress can seem to engulf our very existence. We register nothing else in between or beyond. Immersed in the academic microcosm of UCLA, it can be difficult to keep in mind the limited access to post-secondary education offered to the rest of the world.

But post-secondary education is viewed by the world as a privilege for the very few rather than a right – and this reality is reflected by the enrollment rates of post-secondary education in other countries.

According to Families.com, the average enrollment in higher education averaged 10 percent in developing nations in 1997. This figure was 3.9 percent in Africa.

Though availability of education has increased in all countries over the course of time according to Families.com, the United States still prevails as the leading nation for educational opportunities.

A 2001 educational comparisons study among the eight most developed countries in the world revealed that “24 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds in the United States were enrolled in higher education. This enrollment rate was higher than that of all other countries presented,” according to the National Center for Educational Statistics.

But even in the United States, not everyone is offered an opportunity to pursue higher education. As disheartening as it is, the inaccessibility of education is not uncommon. Because we are constantly surrounded by other students in an academic atmosphere, it’s easy to forget that elsewhere – even in the United States – folks our age are working for survival, discomforted by the privileges of student life.

I won’t deny that midterms and papers can be the banes of our existence.

The bomb suddenly hits and the workload multiplies exponentially at this point in the quarter, leading to a frantic race against time.

And the fact that each test or paper comprises a great chunk of the overall grade naturally leads to feeling overwhelmingly stressed.

Though short-term stress can be a productive and motivational factor, “long-term chronic stress is harmful,” says psychology Professor Carlos Grijalva. Grijalva stated that stress produces cortisol, a hormone that helps people cope under extreme conditions.

But consistent release of cortisol can be counterproductive, leading to potential memory and cognition impairment.

This “damaging effect” may be seen in students resorting to crazy and eccentric acts, such as the Undie Run and Midnight Yell.

But in the context of the world at large, anxiety and stress from midterms cannot match the life-and-death worries plaguing countless others.

Taking into account the poverty rates and raging wars in some areas, life as a student – cradled by Westwood’s protective barriers – is a bed of roses.

It definitely pains us to study for long hours, but this stress and work will ultimately lead to a wider range of career choices and the opportunities to gain knowledge of the workings of society.

Despite the associated pressures, learning really isn’t all that bad.

These challenges also result in intrapersonal rewards in the end.

The ambition and diligence required to surmount these academic obstacles lead to experiences otherwise never pursued. Challenge and stress lead to “self-actualization” and the “striving to broaden ourselves,” according to Grijalva.

In some twisted sense, I suppose we are privileged to be stressed – to trudge through endless hours of studying under the clouds of tension, to deal with dizzy spells resulting from sleepless nights.

Looking at the big picture in comparison to the educational accessibility elsewhere, the stressful academic life as a UCLA student seems like a delectable pie.

Oh, and of course, after a subhuman existence of poring over books and papers, the reaped reward of an awesome grade is just the icing on the cake.

E-mail Yoo at jyoo@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.

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