Hello again! The spring semester is now in full swing, and midterms and labs are now looming in the not-so-distant future. A question that comes up a lot is: How do you manage your work load and still manage to have a social life?
I’ll one up you: Is it possible to do well as an engineer, have a social life, AND have a work life?
I know some of you are considering USC now that all of your college applications are out, and this is a really important question for most students. To be honest with you, when I was considering what college to go to, I thought that maybe being a good student and having a social life was possible, but also having a work life seemed basically impossible.
To the contrary though, myself and many of my friends have successfully accomplished all three! It’s crazy to imagine, but yes, we also sleep. 🙂
This following photo that went pretty viral doesn’t have to be you!
There’s definitely a way for everyone to have a good balance with everything in college, including internships during the year, schoolwork, student organizations, AND enjoying yourself in college. For me, the most important part is to NEVER procrastinate. Especially now that I’m in junior year, assignments take much more time than they used to. Allotting yourself enough time to work through and learn will pay off in the long run. Getting assignments done as they come along will do wonders for the sleep schedule, and having a strategy to avoid procrastination will improve productivity as well. For me, I allow myself a 15 minute break to stretch and walk around every 1-2 hours. This doesn’t seem like much, but it’s refreshing and helps me focus throughout the day.
Being more productive will schoolwork will free up SO much time for you to enjoy what LA has to offer with your friends. I’ve done my fair share of exploration, and you can check out some of my favorite spots on my student page and previous blogs!
Balancing work and student life can be a challenge in the beginning, but is definitely possible if you practice good time management. I have friends who intern at NBC Universal and JPL (like me) during the year, with great results! It’s definitely not easy to juggle both, but it’s extremely rewarding. I know my friend Shayna also interned at the Aerospace Corporation last semester, so check out her blogs on that to learn more about her experience! I have quite a few blogs on my internship at JPL, so feel free to check out my blogs on that as well.
Honestly, you can do anything you want in college, provided that you manage your time efficiently and use it productively. It takes a bit of practice, and everyone has a different way of doing it, so practicing early will help you out for sure. You’ll find that your college experience will be 100x more rewarding. 🙂
Until next time, Fight On!
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