UCF student Ryan McKeel didn’t think college would be difficult, until he was introduced to fall semester and football season.
“Fall semester is definitely the hardest semester for me to get through,” McKeel said. “Tailgating always gets the best of me.”
Sometimes UCF football games are during the week, such as a Thursday night, and sometimes they are on the weekends on Saturday’s. Regardless, having football games during fall semester is just one of the many things students look forward to attending during their time at UCF.
In comparison to spring semester, when basketball season is the main sport in season, and summer semester, which can be as short as just six weeks, McKeel finds fall semester to be the hardest to maintain good grades.
“There has definitely been times I should’ve studied but instead I just went to tailgate,” McKeel said. “I’ve taken a handful of tests after a game weekend and have not done so well, but I guess that is because I rather tailgate then study.”
Although McKeel maintains a B average in his academics, he believes that if he wasn’t such a huge football fan he could likely have a higher GPA average.
“A lot of my test grades end up being a C after game weekends,” McKeel said. “But I bet if I didn’t go tailgate and focused on studying, I could easily have gotten a B or maybe even an A.”
UCF student Josh Poffenberger is a huge fan of football, but finds football season non- detrimental to his academics during fall semester.
“I love football. I live for football. I go to as many UF games as possible,” Poffenberger said. “In fact, I travel to Gainesville almost every time there is a home game for the Gators, and when I don’t go to Gainesville I am at Memory Mall.”
Poffenberger, being married and having a three-year-old daughter, knows that doing well in school is vital to finding a steady career to provide for his family. He handles his football season and grades as best as he can, but he admits that sometimes he slips up.
“I try to do all my studying days before any football game weekend,” Poffenberger said. “My family and I will travel to Gainesville for the game and then stay with friends for the rest of the weekend, so there really isn’t much time to study or even cram for my test during the weekend.”
With being so proactive when it comes to studying during the fall semester, Poffenberger can’t say he does the same for spring semester.
“Spring semester is the hardest semester for me to get through,” Poffenberger said. “The way I see it, it’s just a few more months ‘til summer vacation and being able to relax for a few months. Plus there is Spring Break, enough said.”
Poffenberger is not only a football fanatic; he is also a huge basketball fan. During spring semester, both the NBA and NCAA basketball seasons are on going which makes it tough for him to study.
“Basketball season kills me more than football season does when it comes to studying. With the NBA and March Madness going on, all I do is watch every game possible on TV,” Poffenberger said. “I also love watching the top collegiate teams battle it out.”
Grace Madsen, a third year student, believes that handling school and a social life is difficult to handle, and that football season does not make it any easier.
“Fall semester with football going on makes it really hard for me to focus on school,” Madsen said. “The games are usually on the weekends and that’s the time I normally try to focus on studying, but when it’s football season I like to go tailgating with my friends than try to catch up on my school work.”
Although Madsen usually doesn’t attend the actual football game, she does enjoy dressing up in school spirit attire and walking around to meet new people and socialize.
“I don’t really ever go watch the games,” Madsen said. “They can get really tiring, especially after a few hours of tailgating. Plus, most times I can just watch it on TV or ask my friends who go what the score is.”
Caitlyn Rame is not affected at all by football season during fall semester in regards to her study habits and academic standing. However, there are times that football games interfere with her study habits.
“Football really isn’t my thing. I would rather study or hang at home then go tailgate or go to a game,” Rame said. “I actually don’t like football season only because of how the school reacts to games,”
Rame said. “For example, closing the gym or the SGA printing lab on game day really bothers me. I don’t think they need to be closed down because some students like me, who would rather study, aren’t all into football.”
In brief, fall semester at UCF is a busy time for all students. Whether it is with studying, working out, attending football games, or a combination of all, students work hard to maintain a healthy balance.
“I mean, football is always going to be around,” McKeel said. “But my parents money to pay for my college isn’t, so I really do need to start focusing more on my grades during football
season.”
