Studying should not be a handicap for a person with social anxiety, until you realize that part of your grade will be measured by oral presentations, team projects and participating in class. A nightmare!
While any person may feel stress or anxiety at specific times of the day, a person with social anxiety will have a persistent and irrational fear of socializing in general. Just the thought of participating in an event can trigger you, you feel very uncomfortable and find it hard to relax and have a constant fear of being embarrassed, humiliated or rejected.
College students with social anxiety may even have difficulty performing basic and necessary tasks such as:
- Talking to professors about academic problems
- Class participation
- Presentations
- Making new friends
- Going on dates
Symptoms
Some of the symptoms that you may experience cab be physical and mental:
Physical
Racing heartbeat
Blush
Shortness of breath
Nausea or upset stomach
Lightheadedness or dizziness
Shaking
Mental
Feeling self-conscious or embarrassed in front of others.
Having difficulty meeting and talking to new people.
Intense fear of being judged by others.
Trouble with eye contact
Avoid social situations that would trigger anxiety.
What career to choose for social anxiety

It is important that when choosing what to study we do not make a decision based on our current circumstances, as you don’t intend to have anxiety all your life, right?🤔
Instead of choosing a career based on our social anxiety, it is more adequate to do it based on our personality. It is possible that even once you have overcome social anxiety, you do not like working in front of the public, not because you are incapable, but because you do not prefer it. It is important to know if you are an introvert or an extrovert when determining your professional future.
I have compiled a list of the best jobs for introverts that you can browse here. The idea is that you know yourself, your strengths and weaknesses and in this way, you know how to get the most out of your personality. This is not to say that if you’re an introvert you shouldn’t do customer service, but you should at least know that you’re naturally going to be more socially exhausted than an extrovert.
Study online or face-to-face?
I have tried both. I studied my four year degree in person and the master’s degree online. As an introverted person with social anxiety, I preferred to study online and I do not regret my decision. Of course, it requires a greater discipline.
However, there are certain careers where the online version is not recommended, like if you want to become a nurse or a doctor. Whereas if you want to be a historian, a marketer or financial analyst, you may be better of choosing the online version.
When you go to class you create a more lasting connection with your classmates and teachers, but at the same time, it is possible that your stress level is such that you end up not going to class.
Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of studying for a degree in person versus online:
ONLINE
Lower stress level
Your own time and rhythm
Usually cheaper
You need discipline to start studying on your own
Depends on the career can lower the quality of teaching
IN PERSON
Create lasting relationships
Get out of your comfort zone
Higher stress level
Failing subjects for fear of going to class
Obstacles when studying with social anxiety

This section is not meant to discourage you in the least, but at the same time I want you to be honest with yourself and take into account all the possible obstacles that you will find in your way:
Socialize with peers
For a person with social anxiety, starting conversations with strangers can be quite a challenge: to maintain eye contact, introducing yourself to someone or participating in group conversations. Even if you decide that you don’t need to make friends at university, you will be expected to socialize with your classmates and there will be projects that will require you to work as a team.
Oral presentations
I hate them. But you should expect them in both online and face-to-face study version. The good thing about when I took the online classes is that in the presentations I did not have to pay so much attention to my body language, so my anxiety went down a lot.
Mandatory participation
In some universities the participation takes a certain percentage of the final grade, and of course, the participation is oral. This means raising your hand and giving your opinion and debating. Just the thought of it can make someone with social anxiety nervous.
Living with strangers
It is possible that your university is far from your family and you have to move to an apartment with other students, which can become a nightmare. When you have social anxiety, simple everyday activities like eating in public become an internal struggle. (Recommended Reading: >>sharing a flat as an introvert with social anxiety)
Tips to survive with social anxiety in college
Enough with all the negative stuff! The truth is that if you want something and put your effort you can get it. That is why I am giving you some tricks that you can apply to your university life to reduce your level of anxiety:
- Create a hierarchy: Compile a list of important social interactions you want to master, ordering them from easiest to hardest. Focus on getting comfortable with the easier things, like saying hello to your dorm neighbors, before moving on to the more difficult things on your list, like joining a student union where you don’t know anyone.
- Practice, practice, practice. Exposing yourself to challenging social interactions will only get easier if you keep doing it. Just like learning a musical instrument or a foreign language, skill and confidence come with practice.
- Record your experiences. After every social interaction, ask yourself, “What can I learn from this?” to determine if your belief about the situation really happened. Often, we found that the anxiety was strongest in anticipation of the event. Other times, we find that our concern has come true. Either way, the report is an opportunity to learn from the situation in order to be more prepared for the next one.
- Get in touch with your new roommate, if you can, before you leave for college. This will show that you are eager to meet them and will help you start to feel comfortable with them.
- Attend as many orientation events as you can; they are created to help meet new people. However, set realistic expectations; meeting one or two new people is more manageable than trying to meet everyone.
- If you don’t feel able to tell an anecdote or tell too much about yourself, use the power of questions and listening. Not only do you show interest in what the other person is telling you, but it is also a way to practice being present in the conversation. Try to get out of your head and imagine in detail what the other person is telling you.
- Get to class early and try to sit in the same place every time; others will probably do the same routinely. That familiarity helps build relationships. Start by making eye contact and smiling at people you recognize. Add a ‘hello’ next time.
- When you’re assigned a group project, try to use nonverbal communication to let people know you want to work with them. Then invite them by saying, “Hey, would you like to pair up?”
- For class presentations, practice what you want to say, but don’t memorize it, which will give you a false sense of confidence. Use notes and PowerPoint to guide you.
Habits to reduce your anxiety
- Get enough sleep each day.
- Avoid foods and drinks with caffeine.
- Exercises such as jogging, progressive muscle relaxation, and yoga.
- Mindfulness to be present and avoid getting lost in negative thoughts that increase anxiety.
- Meditation to help you relax.
- Keep a journal
Let me know in the comments what career you are studying or would like to study. What habits do you have to reduce your social anxiety?✔👀
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