Drawing vs. School

Life at Duke is beyond hectic, especially this semester. Even though this is my senior year spring, I feel like I just can't catch a break. Classes continuously pile homework and labs and exams until my days seem to blend together in one giant pile of school. I don't know if other people feel like this, I don't even know if other classes have this much work, but it's unbearable for me. I have little time for hobbies, little time for drawing, which is one of the reasons that I think got me into Duke.

I was being interviewed by colleges by alumni, and trying my best to differentiate myself from other students who also wanted to get into university. My art isn't anything special; I had started drawing "for real" in high school, and I only took a couple of art classes throughout those four years. But, it just so happened that one of my pieces was selected by my art teacher to hang in our local Starbucks. When my interviewer asked me what made me different from other applicants, I simply pointed to the art hanging on the wall.

When I received my acceptance letter, my interviewer called me, complimenting my abilities but also my art. Apparently he had especially emphasized my well-roundedness to the recruiter, but the only thing that he really remembered me by was my "partnership" with Starbucks.

I would like to assume that my art really boosted my chances of getting into Duke. But now that I'm here, outside of art classes I never have the time to draw. Every time I do try to sit down to work on art in my free time I become more stressed because all I can think about is my piles of school work. The only way for me to relax is to know that I'm doing art for a class, for homework.