Some students have the luxury of going to class, taking naps and hanging out with friends and still have all the time in the world to study hard and get amazing grades. However, there are some of us lucky ones that decided to bite off more than we can chew and end up involved in more activities than we can manage.
I am one of those students that decided on top of 15 credit hours to take on responsibilities that take time and ultimately lead to one of three things- lack of sleep, lack of social life or lack of good grades.
It's always fun to be involved, but being over involved is sometimes stressful even if the outcomes will outweigh the current lack of free time.
Personally, I have an internship, two jobs and other on-campus organizations to divide up my time to, and sometimes it leads to a full on break down of my life.
1. Sleep is basically non-existent
In order to study, and sometimes hangout with friends, after my 9-5 school and work schedule, I feel obligated to take my extra time and devote that to getting my life together. Going straight from work to the library or a party is common and I end up staying awake until 2 or 3 in the morning- not a great idea when I wake up at 6 a.m. to fit in a needed workout.
2. Social Life means seeing people in the library or the cafeteria
Its not uncommon to see me walking around the library in order to get any form of social interaction for the day. Its also not uncommon to get a text from me saying "Hey! I have a 30 minute break before work do you wanna go eat?" because really, the only time I get to see my friends outside the weekend is if I make the effort to squeeze them in during my small windows of availability. Luckily they understand and make the time I have to spend with them fun and worthwhile,
3. Getting good grades is hard to do, even if you study all the time
Spending time in the library is used to get homework and studying done- but a lot of the time its also used to think about all the other things you need to be doing for other organizations. I'm often distracted thinking about all the things I need to get done and subsequently my mind wanders instead of focusing on my reading or my papers. So spending all this time studying is working- because I still do get good grades, but its not easy when staying up late makes studying harder and focusing almost impossible.
Really, being the student that's more involved in other activities than in school isn't easy- but it teaches us how to grow under pressure and also how to survive in this overwhelmingly busy world.
