Theodore
How do you find the best solutions for balancing work life and school?
Im Theo and I am currently studying Social work at Eastern Michigan University. Sometimes its very hard to balance the two and still have a little fun. #any
3 answers
Daniela Silva
Daniela’s Answer
Hi Theo,
Balance school and work with this list of handy tips for students.
Students today have a lot to juggle: attending classes, writing papers, taking exams, extracurricular activities,an active college social life … and then, a job?!
Balancing school and work can be challenging. But it’s possible to achieve – without losing your mind.
- Get organized.
Make sure you have some kind of organizer, whether it’s a fancy electronic calendar app on your iPhone or an old-fashioned, ring-bound agenda planner. Enter everything you need to do into it, even if it’s a weekly event you’d be unlikely to forget, like your Monday afternoon drama class.
If you add items to your schedule on a regular basis, it will be easier to balance school and work as you’ll have your entire schedule visually represented. Also, be sure to add major events like exams, paper deadlines and work meetings.
- Prioritize your study time.
Holding down a job during college is a great idea. It looks fantastic on your resume and, of course, the cash flow doesn’t hurt! However, your school work shouldn’t suffer as a result.
Be sure to schedule time for reading, writing papers and studying. Treat it like an appointment that you can’t break and make sure you use that time for text books — not Facebook.
- Don’t overbook your schedule.
If you want to balance school and work successfully, you want to be sure you don’t overbook your schedule. Double-check your planner/agenda before you add any new tasks or events that might cause a time crunch.
Also, make sure you don’t take on too many extracurricular activities. While extracurricular activities can look great on a resume, they won’t look so great next to a failing GPA.
- Ask for time off.
Achieving an effective balance between school and work may require you to sometimes choose one over the other. As soon as you recognize a time when you will be especially busy with schoolwork, like midterm week, ask for time off from work.
It can be nerve-wracking, but if you ask for time off well in advance and are otherwise diligent about balancing school and work, your boss should be okay with it. It’s better than saying you can work a shift and then fail to show up because you had to cram for a final!
- Make time for sleep.
Sleep is a common casualty of the scramble to balance school and work. Adequate sleep should be a non-negotiable item on your schedule.
Cheating on sleep comes at a price: studies have shown that people who haven’t gotten enough sleep take longer to do tasks and perform less efficiently.
In: https://www.universitylanguage.com/blog/14/balance-school-and-work/
Good luck in this journey!!
Kobe Kou
Kobe’s Answer
Do you have any time management tips? Additional info can help the student maintain balance in their life
Gurpreet Lally, Admin
Shelby Steuber
Shelby’s Answer
This is for sure a question that even people who are well into their careers and still studying are asking, so I think it is an important one. As someone who spent her whole high school and college life studying, doing homework, and getting good grades, I had to actually learn how to take time for myself. Currently, I am in my last year of university (for now haha), and I have begun taking time for me. Here are a few tips I can offer:
Make sure to bring up your schedule upfront to your boss/manager. If they ask you how many hours you want, be honest! Earning money is important, of course, but limiting your schedule so that you're not overworking is even more important. I have had times where my boss asked me to come in when I had a class that day, and I refused. To me, school was much more important, and I had already set up my expectations that I would prioritize my education over work.
Take time for you. Yes, school and work are both important. But doing solely the two every single day will burn you out, and then you won't be doing as well of a job at either. Make sure you have somewhere between 3/4 to 2 days each week for resting, recuperating, studying, and taking care of yourself. I usually use a small amount of one of these days to get stuff I want/need to get done, like chores, errands, playing video games, etc.
Finally, don't take yourself too seriously. I mean this in the most empathetic way possible. If you act like every single grade and day at work is the most important thing in your life, then you'll be stressing over nothing. Truthfully, unless you are going into a super competitive market or you want to progress in your job, you only need to do your responsibilities just well enough. If you have an off day and miss an assignment or need to call off from work, the world is truly not going to end. I had a hard time realizing this, and I know it is not easy to unlearn if that has been your mindset for a while. But, if you practice, you may learn to be not so hard on yourself.
Hope these tips help, and good luck!