Finals: The Time to Capitalize

It’s spring again, and the end of yet another semester. The time we all dread yet fully embrace because our sights are set on summer and freedom from books. It’s during these last two weeks that I find the most interesting. It’s cram time, everyone is scrambling to finally read about what his or her professor’s been jabbering about all semester. This is the time that they turn to those things that they trust the most to get them through these tough times. In no specific order here’s a variance of what has helped students that I’ve come across (aside from notes, flashcards and textbooks of course).

-Eating healthy meals (especially breakfast)

-Red Bull, Rockstar, Monster, 5 hour energy shots and any other energy drink

-NoDoz

-Coffee. Lots of it.

-Sleep

-Solitude

-Music

-Working out

-Adderal/Ritalin

Personally, I have ADHD so the Adderall/Ritalin option is crucial for me. I also know how valuable that option is for other college students. During finals Adderall and Ritalin are hot items on college campuses. The value that students place on these drugs is almost unbelievable. I’m talking up to $40 a pill here, which is absolutely ridiculous. They essentially begin to act like crack addicts willing to do most anything for a few pills. The demand for stimulants is unusually high, yet normal for the college atmosphere.

This is the time where kids with ADHD that I know have capitalized and made out quite nicely.

I haven’t taken the opportunity to do such things so I don’t know the exact numbers but I can break it down on my own terms figuratively. My opportunity costs in retrieving my supply is going to the doctor twice a year and refilling my prescriptions every month. Out of pocket I pay $18.00 a month, which comes down to $0.20 a pill. Aside from insurance costs, I pay $216.00 a year. In theory if I opted to become a drug dealer and sold a third of my months supply (30 pills) at even $10.00 a pill I could make $300 easy. If I wanted to I could even monopolize my mini market, save more pills during regular school months/the summer and cash out during finals.

However these plans are strictly theoretical, so I’ll keep my private supply and my day job.