College is an exciting time. You get to explore your independence, study something you (hopefully) love, not to mention joining campus organizations, participating in events, make new friends and attend all the college parties. But along with all that fun comes one big downfall: the beginning of adulthood. This means you have to buy your own groceries, cook your own food, clean your apartment/dorm and maybe even pay some bills. Most college students, on top of going to school full-time, also have part-time jobs. One of the hardest parts of adjusting to college life is learning how to manage school, work, clubs and extracurricular activities. Here are some helpful tips to get you through those four years with (a little bit of) ease.
Choose class times around your work schedule:
Make sure you choose classes in a time frame that allows you to still have availability at work. If you know you work evenings, choose all morning classes or vice versa. The benefits of living in a college town and working part time is your employer will more than likely be lenient with your scheduling, but the more hours you are available the more hours you will get. Try taking all of your classes on set days, for example take all four classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, leaving the remaining five days a week available for work. You more than likely won’t be scheduled to work all of those days, but having that availability looks good to your employer.
Don’t schedule class and work too close together:
If your class ends at 1:30, don’t make yourself available for work at 2:00. Give yourself some time to relax, have lunch and get ready before rushing into work. This gives you a bit of study time, time to meet with professors or even take a quick nap if needed. Rushing from one to the other will wear you out faster. Don’t join too many clubs:
Sure, it looks good to have a few organizations on your resume, but don’t take on a load you can’t handle. Some clubs have mandatory meetings, a set number of hours needed to participate or even membership fees. Make sure you’re able to commit without driving yourself crazy. If you’re really busy and still want to join a club, look into ones that don’t have requirements. If you’re set on a specific club with meetings at scheduled times, make your work availability around those times to ensure you are available to attend.
Make some time to socialize:
Between a hectic work and school schedule, it may seem like you have to give up hanging out with your friends. While finding time to fit that in may seem challenging, it is a much needed form of stress relief. Set an hour aside on one of your less busy days to grab some coffee or lunch with a friend.
Make sure you have time for studying, also:
Although you would much rather be partying than studying, remember that you are there for an education above all. Try studying a little bit every night. Review your notes for each class for ten minutes. If you have a paper to do, write a paragraph at lunch everyday leading up to the due date. Most teachers give ample time to work on these before the due dates, so utilize that. Waiting until the last minute will do nothing but stress you out.
DO NOT sacrifice sleep:
Sleep is vital to your health and your ability to function. An hour of studying and a full night’s sleep is more beneficial than an all-night cram session. Lack of sleep can result not only in decreased performance in the day, but also affects your health in serious ways. Make sure you are getting an appropriate amount of sleep. Make a weekly schedule:
Map out your daily activities on a weekly calendar so you can keep track of your time. Everyone operates on different schedules, so it’s important that you manage your time well. It’s the only way for you to be able to not overlap tasks and to make sure you are giving yourself adequate time.
