After I moved out of my parents' home for college and began living as independently as a young adult can whilst still being on the family phone bill, I quickly learned that it was nearly impossible to get by without getting a part-time job. Pretty much every college student can bond over the fact that we're all broke and trying to be as adult as possible while still waking up on time for our morning classes. While many students have help from their parents or family members to varying degrees, it's definitely not how it used to be when we could come home from high school and rely on a home cooked meal. And in addition to the typical struggle of being a student, living in Manhattan has definitely been more of a challenge than your standard college dorm experience. Between groceries, going out to eat, public transportation, and overpriced coffee, making my own money proved vital. While I was lucky enough to find a job just a 20-minute walk away from my dorm, I quickly had to adjust my work ethic and find a somewhat healthy balance between work, class, homework, friends, and, God willing, a decent amount of sleep.

Last semester, before I began working part time, I was able to devote the majority of my free moments to my schoolwork (call it nerdy, but I actually enjoyed parts of it), and any time that I wasn't in the library, I could spend with my friends. By the time finals rolled around, I was able to achieve the grades that I was aiming for. I finished my first semester with a strong sense of accomplishment, and was thrilled when I learned that I was going to begin working when I returned from break. That is, until all of the free time that I had formerly devoted to school was occupied by my job.

When the semester first began, I had made a feeble attempt to do it all, and continue to allot the same amounts of time to school and friends that I previously had, now with the added commitment of working. And I was able to keep it up... for about two weeks. I remember during this brief time period one of my professors had reminded our class to "take care of ourselves," and I scoffed at the notion of being simultaneously emotionally, academically, socially, and financially stable. In the end, something had to give.

I compromised my work schedule by dropping a day, and while I'm going to miss the extra cash, it was well worth it to have that free time, which I've been using to catch up on homework, sleep, or to see my friends or family. But still, I can only pick one. I might be able to do some writing or hang out in the courtyard with some pals, but I'll be exhausted. I can take a nap, but when I wake up, I'm usually chastising myself for wasting that time sleeping when I could be doing more productive things. I'm really not sure if it's possible to find a cohesive balance for all of the responsibilities that come with being a working student. There will always be something that's off, and for me, that's usually the amount of sleep I get (as it usually is for most students).

All in all, however, I would absolutely rather be working than not working, because it's ultimately taught me so much about how to manage my time and be as organized and well prepared as possible when managing so little free time. The reward definitely makes itself known when I don't have to crawl to my parents every week asking for money.