The Most Common Mental Health Challenges in Each Year of College

A therapist shares what she sees from freshman year through graduation—and how students can navigate each stage with greater confidence.

One of the things I love most about my work is having the honor of supporting UVM students through every stage of the experience. Although every student is unique, I've noticed certain themes tend to show up at different points along the journey.

Freshman Year:
The transition. Students are adjusting to being away from home, making friends, managing roommates, balancing newfound freedom, and learning how to keep up academically without the structure of high school. Anxiety, homesickness, loneliness, and self-doubt are incredibly common.

Sophomore Year:
The "Now what?" year. The excitement of freshman year often wears off, and questions about identity, belonging, and purpose become more prominent. Students may struggle with choosing a major, feeling disconnected socially, or wondering if they're on the right path.

Junior Year:
Pressure ramps up. Internships, graduate school decisions, career planning, demanding coursework, leadership roles, and comparing themselves to peers can lead to significant stress. Many students begin questioning whether they're "doing enough" or fear they'll fall behind.

Senior Year:
The finish line isn't always exciting—it can be scary. Graduation brings uncertainty about jobs, finances, relationships, where to live, and what adulthood will actually look like. It's common to feel excited and terrified at the same time.

Across all four years, I see students struggling with anxiety, depression, perfectionism, trauma, relationship challenges, feeling stuck or overwhelmed, ADHD, self-esteem, and the pressure to have everything figured out.

The good news is that these struggles are treatable. Therapy can provide a place to slow down, sort through the noise, build practical coping skills, and gain confidence in navigating these important stages of life. I don’t tell students what decisions to make; instead, I help them feel equipped to make those decisions for themselves.

College is about much more than earning a degree. It's also a time of tremendous personal growth, and no one has to navigate it alone. Stay tuned for a four-part blog post series, one post devoted to each class year.

If you're a college student—or the parent of one—and these challenges sound familiar, know that support is available. Contact me to see if it makes sense to give a first session a try.