A funny thing happens when you become a college student. Summer is no longer a vacation. A typical college student may have to take summer classes, work a job, or even have an internship. And sometimes, students have to juggle all three! Believe it or not, summer can be equally as stressful for a college student as the fall or spring semester. However, all this can be overcome with careful time management and planning, and even leave extra time to maintain your social life.
If you're like me, hanging out with your friends and family is one of the most important aspects of your life. This can be incredibly difficult however when trying to juggle summer classes with working, like I currently am. The key is planning. Know when you have to dedicate time to school and work, so you can allow yourself time for a social life.
For example, I'm currently taking a hybrid course at Rutgers University. This course meets once a week on Monday nights for four hours, and the rest of the course is online, to be done on our own time. Now on top of the summer class, I also work four days a week -- on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday -- until 5 p.m. This leaves me with two days entirely free (Wednesday and Sunday), as well as almost all nights of the week free. Now take your free time, and decide what you're going to do with it. I use Wednesdays as my day to do the bulk of my online classwork. I try to do as much work on Wednesdays as possible, to allow me maximum free time during the rest of the week after work. Sundays are reserved for friends and family for me. After work every day I hit the gym, get some dinner, and maybe put some finishing touches on online class work before hanging out with friends. It's a busy lifestyle, but I'm getting everything done, and am relatively stress free.
As you can see with my schedule, the key is time management. Figure out a schedule that works for you, and go with it. You don't have to stick to it 100 percent, but sticking to your schedule is the best way to guarantee you will have a stress-free summer.