College students need balance.
Knowledge isn't cheap. Even with generous scholarships and federally subsidized loans, many students need to work in order to pay the rising price of college tuition, not to mention housing, living expenses and books. But at the same time, even the most serious-minded college students want to enjoy their first taste of freedom in the real world. By learning to balance life and work, you can keep yourself happy and sane enough to reach your degree without having a nervous breakdown.
Instructions
1. Find a job a job that makes you happy, or at least doesn't make you miserable. If you feel like your job is nothing but a time-sink and you dread the thought of punching the clock like a trip to a particularly sadistic dentist, you will be more likely to try to overcompensate for that unpleasantness in the rest of your life. Admittedly, college students' job options are sometimes quite limited, but you can still find working environments where your co-workers are friendly and your supervisors treat you decently. This can go a long way to raising your job satisfaction, even if you are just running a cash register.
2. Create a schedule that includes time for work, class and having fun. Make sure you have enough time after work to get your classwork done and have time left over to do the things you like. The important thing is to stick to the schedule after you have made it. Without a schedule, you are only too likely to overemphasize the things that seem most important to you at any given moment and lose sight of the big, four-year picture of your college life.
3. Save your money by cooking for yourself, letting you work fewer hours. Meal plans may seem convenient, but the truth is you can eat much more inexpensively by buying your food off-campus and preparing it yourself. Even if your room doesn't have a kitchen, there are plenty of tasty meals that can be made on a simple hot plate. Many dorms even have communal kitchens you can use. Furthermore, cooking for yourself will let you avoid the dreaded "Freshman 15" and all its later counterparts by keeping you away from the calorie-laden food you often find in campus dining halls.
4. Join an extra-curricular club or group that you really enjoy. These kinds of activities not only let you have fun, but they let you do it in a structured way so you can work your fun-time into your schedule. This doesn't mean that you can't go to the occasional unplanned get-together at a friend's apartment or dorm room --- it means won't feel like you have to overcompensate by engaging in risky behaviors when your friends aren't available. It also doesn't hurt that club activities will look good on a resume when you're trying to find a job in the real world later on.
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