During your college tours, you’ve heard about all the opportunities to meet new people and socialize with over the 200 clubs that each school offers. You’ve also heard about the different curriculums that each school offers that are all equally rigorous. With all that ahead of you, it can be really overwhelming, especially when you’ve just left home and are living alone for the first time! But don’t worry - AdmitSee understands and got some college students to share their advice on how to balance it all:
Smileysabrina: The ability to balance the social and academic aspects of college life is definitely an acquired skill! It’s really easy to get caught up with all the social activities that are part and parcel of the college experience when you first get there. From frat parties three days a week to just hanging out with your new friends all night long, there’s nothing quite like the independence (you can do anything, and nobody will get you in trouble!) that comes with moving out of your parent’s house for the first time. But after a semester or two, the novelty does wear off, and you realize that spending time with friends 24/7—while fun—isn’t the reason you’re paying thousands of dollars a year to attend school! For me, what helps me allocate enough time to my academics is physically separating where I play and where I work; that is, I’ll normally go to the library or a study cafe when I really need to get work done, whereas my apartment is where I’ll hang out with my roommates when I don’t have as much to do. Another helpful thing is to physically write down the most important dates for your classes on paper. Yes, I use iCal and Google Calendar like everyone else, but something about having test and paper due dates physically written down on a giant calendar taped to my wall makes those tasks impossible to ignore.
Pam.gu: What I have found to be the easiest way to balance social life and academics is to combine them! Find friends that value academics and care about getting good grades. These friends will be willing to spend hours on end at the library, will go on study dates with you and their motivation will likely encourage you to study as well. It’s the perfect balance of getting things done and getting a little time to socialize as well. On top of social and academic lives, eating healthy and getting exercise are also important priorities, so don’t forget about those too!
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