Maintain a high GPA, attend all of your classes, work so that you can spend your money when you go out, keep your room clean, pay your bills –sounds like a piece of cake, right? This life of a typical Monmouth University student calls it the norm – and finding a balance between it all can be extremely stressful.
When I began at Monmouth as a transfer student over a year ago, I had already tried to “balance” my life. Working 30 hours a week, going to school, and trying to maintain a social life was hard. Coming to Monmouth, it was even more difficult.
Many students nowadays, college students in general, are feeling the same way. There are such high expectations for us –get good grades, keep your GPA high so you can move out after college, get a job, keep your job until you can afford everything you want, but I have something to say about that: why? Why stress yourself out when you still have your college experience.
Our generation has been exposed to a new sort of college environment. When our parents went to school, there was far less pressure and far more partying. Now, college is something that really can actually determine the rest of our lives which is an intimidating thought.
My advice to all of you is this: if you do not need to work, do not. Or if you do decide to work for some extra spending money, just take it easy on the hours.Coming from someone who is a workaholic, this is big. However, I feel that because of the fact that I missed out on so much of my time here a Monmouth because I was working so hard at my low-paying job. You do not want to look back at your college experience and just remember slaving away! So I stress to you: enjoy your time here and really work on finding that balance! Your time here will fly by before you know it!
Want to know what to do in the meantime?
To help find your ballance, follow these tips:
1. Get a planner – it will help you with remembering all you need to do and has saved my life multiple times.
2. Learn time management – for example, before working all weeked (usually) I try to get all my homework done- that way I’m not scrambling around Sunday night/Monday morning.
3. Spend time in the library instead of Netflix binging, homework binge! I know it is so tempting to watch a full season of some show that you got hooked on! But you have to rememeber, two hours in the library can help a lot and get a lot of work out of the way so that you can watch that full season and not feel guily about it!
4. Don’t procrastinate! Coming from a procrastinator, this is a biggie – getting your work done early eliminates stress big time.
5. Don’t stress! Juggling college life is hard, but real life is much harder.
Luckily, Monmouth does offer a wide variety of help that we cannot forget about. There is the tutoring center, the writing center, the math learning center. There’s also student services including therapy. There are so many resources to get you through the tough days of college and help students find that balance that we are all striving for.
They say college prepares you for the real world, and I find this to be one of the truest statements said about college. Most of us will have a second job when we graduate, and if you’re like me and work and go to school, it’s good practice. Balancing college is hard – but once you get it down, juggling the real world will not even be a challenge!
