College is a busy time for students. There can be so much going on during this time, such as applying for jobs and internships, completing assignments, and having fun with friends, and it can be hard to have a healthy balance between our different commitments. That is why I decided to survey some upperclassmen who have a few years under their belt of balancing college and ask for their tips and advice.
In the survey I sent out to St. Catherine University students, I asked various questions regarding work and school life, such as “How do you balance your job(s) with academics, extracurriculars, and making time to study?” to better understand how fellow students balance college. In each section below, I summarized the responses I received from my survey in correspondence to the question.
Do you have an on-campus job or an off-campus job? If you have more than one job, what made you decide that? What are the benefits of it? Any cons?
All of the respondents answered that they had an on-campus job; however, there are many students who have jobs off-campus. In addition, I asked the ones who had more than one job what the benefits and drawbacks were. The benefits include having more money if they work more hours, money for tuition and having fun, having a job in their field to gain experience and skills, flexible hours, and saving up money. Some cons they mentioned were having a hard time finding study time and hanging out with friends because of their busy schedule and difficulty running around between many jobs.
How many hours do you work weekly?
Everyone worked different amounts ranging from 7.5 hours to 25 hours a week.
How many hours do you recommend a student to work?
There was also a range of what respondents thought would be best for a student. There were votes for 8 hours, 10 hours, 12 hours, and 20 hours. One student recommended 8 hours because it would be best for first-year students who are trying to develop a balance between college obligations.
In addition to this survey, I researched and concluded that 20 hours a week is an ideal maximum amount for how many hours a college student should work. Anything less than 20 hours is good too. If you want to read more about working as a college student, you can read this article from the Honors Society.
How do you balance your job(s) with academics, extracurriculars, and making time to study?
Three-fifths of the respondents wrote that having an up-to-date Google calendar tremendously helped by reminding them of things to do, events, deadlines, and scheduling. Also, creating to-do lists helps them track what needs to be completed. Another thing is allocating time throughout the day for different things that need to be done; for example, a student said, “Due to both of my jobs being on-campus, my working hours always end before 4:30 pm because that’s usually when offices close. In this way, I can focus on school work from 5 pm to later evening.”
Here is an example of how your Google Calendar may look:
Please provide any advice you would like to give to those struggling to balance a job and school and how to obtain a healthy work/school life. List any tools that helped you and you think would help other Katies!
Balancing the different aspects of college life can be challenging, so here is the advice students had to give:
“If you are struggling, I would recommend setting aside specific time for homework. Besides that, I would also note that it’s ok to reduce working hours in order to make more time for yourself and your social life. You should still enjoy college!”
“Make sure you eat well and get enough rest! You need to fuel your body!
Also, use a calendar/notebook/schedule/any other tool to help plan out the things you need to do.”
“Block out your fun time, too! Color code works for classes and other things.”
“Be careful not to spread yourself out too much. Too much on your plate can make you feel very stressed. Also, let your supervisor/manager know if you need to cut down on hours to focus on school; they (some, not all) might be understanding. I tend to write my schedule out either in my planner or on printed calendar sheets where I can write what days I have work or class.”
“I find that having set times of day and places for homework helps me the most. I think developing a weekly schedule (on Google Calendar) helps me visualize and map out my time in a week.”
Overall, having a system and a tool, such as Google Calendar or a physical planner, to map out your schedule and commitments can help you balance college better. Hopefully, the advice provided above by other Katies will make balancing college easier.
