Surviving the Modern Student's Dilemma: 5 Tips for Working in College

By Jenna Rodgers on August 22, 2012

Photo from flickr.com, Uploaded by rmlowe.

With the rising cost of living and higher education, it has almost become necessary for college students to also have jobs.  Personally, I have had at least one, if not two jobs, while taking a full load of classes for most of my college career.  So, for the past 3 years, I have found what works (and what doesn’t work) to make having essentially two full time jobs actually achievable.  Here some tips that I wish someone would have given me from the beginning.

1)      SCHEDULE, SCHEDULE, SCHEDULE!         

Realize that your time is now going to be split between two very important tasks that both need your attention.  Time management will become a necessary skill to perfect to help you become successful.  Something that always helped me was to sit down with my class schedule and my work schedule and write a weekly calendar that I could look at quickly to know where I need to be at any given time.

2)      SCHOOL ALWAYS COMES FIRST.

Your education should always be the primary concern for you.  Make sure that you have enough time to dedicate to your studies and make sure that your supervisor understands that.

 

3)      BE FLEXIBLE.

Tests get moved, people get sick, things just happen sometimes.  It may start to feel like whatever can go wrong will go wrong.  Just remember that you must be flexible and take change as it comes.  Everything will eventually be ok.

 

4)      DON’T BITE OFF MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW!

Don’t feel like you need to be everywhere at once.  It’s virtually impossible to work 40 hours a week and take 20 semester hours; there just isn’t enough time during the day.  Work only as much as you absolutely need and just take a moderate class load.

 

And possibly the most important thing to remember:

 

5)      TAKE TIME FOR YOU.

You are embarking on a fulfilling, yet stressful journey.  Make sure that you take some time for yourself to recharge and relax because if you burn yourself out, you really aren’t going to be much good to anyone.

With these tips, you should hopefully be able to work and make it through college successfully!

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