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How much extracurricular work is too much?

Graduate classes + a (mandatory) internship + a job = Too much?
My graduate program requires me to work an internship. My financial situation requires me to work another job. But after the homework, the interning, and the work days -- will I miss out on school organizations, meetings, conferences, and lectures? How do I know that I'll have enough time for everything? How do I manage my time appropriately? I want to make a grad school network -- but what if I'm too busy doing everything outside of school? #extracurriculars #worried #internship #job #workstudy #organization #timemanagement

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Amanda’s Answer

Hi Kelly, I know many students are in a similar situation and it is extremely hard to do it all. I would definitely try to attend the graduate school functions. I think a huge part of graduate school is meeting a new, extremely educated, driven, diverse (the list goes on) network. I'm not sure of your age, but I recently read a book called, The Defining Decade - Why your twentysomethings matter, and there is a great chapter called The Power of Weak Ties. The whole book is amazing, but this chapter specifically focuses on why going to new events/ meetings are so important. Someone once gave me a piece of advice that even if you can attend for 20 - 30 minutes, you should GO. Set a goal for yourself before each event or meeting, so you can be productive in shorter amount of time - ex. I'll talk to three new people, then I'll let myself leave and feel really good about the event (can be less or more). I hope this helps. And good luck in your future endeavors!!
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M’s Answer

Hi Kelly! This is a great question! You're doing amazing! The more extracurriculars, the better because you will have a better competitive advantage than your peers. Also, you will have so much more and such variation of skills and experience to discuss in interviews. However, where I would draw the line of what too many extracurriculars would be are when you are feeling extremely burnt out and like it is compromising your mental health. That is when maybe it would be a good idea to take a step back from one extracurricular for a bit to see if it helps. But if you can handle multiple, that is amazing!
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Rebecca’s Answer

I think it all depends on your goals. Obviously, if you have to work to support yourself, that is going to be a priority as well as your studies. To obtain a good job out of college, it is important to spend time in an internship if you have no actual experience in the career choice that you plan on working in. Please be careful to not burn yourself out and take time for yourself or you will not be able to successfully navigate all that you have going on. You will need to see if school clubs are more important to you than internships, etc and prioritize your time without burning out.

Rebecca recommends the following next steps:

Look at priorities to schedule time.
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Simeon’s Answer

Try to figure out what your goals are in terms of grades and the essential things that you need to do at home. One of the best things you'll be able to do for yourself is learning to say "no" to things that are not a high priority. Don't forget to include fun and self-care on the list of priorities, but realize their is a difference between genuinely enjoying yourself and burning time on TV or social media.''

It sounds like you're keeping yourself active in enough ways that you shouldn't be too worried about not keeping a good network. The most important thing right now is to get through to the end of your schooling. You should have at least enough connections for now. Plus, it will be more impactful if you work on developing stronger connections with those in your network you have better chemistry with. It's not just enough to show up at more networking events; you need to find people that like you enough to recommend you for a job. Don't stretch yourself too thin.
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