To The College Student Who Didn't Have A Job During The School Year, Don't Let Anybody Shame You For Putting School First
Don't stress out about it! It's nothing to be ashamed of.
I am going to be a senior in college this fall. I have not had a job during school, but this semester might be the one where I need to get a job. And I personally don't see anything wrong with college students not having a job during the school year. One year I applied for four jobs and followed up with my application's multiple times, and I still never heard anything back. I was also granted work study to ensure I was able to get a job, and still, nothing came of it. I was annoyed and frustrated and I knew that not every college student had this much trouble getting a job. So, I stopped trying and just went on with my life.
There were several semesters where I wouldn't even dream of having a job in addition to my classes. When I was a business major, I had the hardest classes and spent hours outside of classes doing homework and group projects. My weekends were booked up with meeting with groups and doing homework I couldn't figure out. If I had a job, I would absolutely adjust to the demands of work and my studies, but right now I enjoy the extra time I have to work on assignments ahead of time and have my weekends open for hanging out with my friends.
College is hard. There are demands and requirements for every major, and there's nothing to be ashamed of if you don't have a job. School always comes first in my mind, I mean that is why we're at a university, to begin with, and if a job takes away from your studies and lowers your grades then it isn't worth it. And it also depends if the job pays or not. I had an on-campus internship this past school year, and it was one of the best jobs I've had, but it was unpaid. A lot of the internship positions at my school are unpaid, whereas jobs with dining services are paid. It depends on the student's preference: do you want the experience or the money? Answering that question can be hard because your motives are going to vary based on your major and career path.
So, yeah, I didn't have a paying job during three years of college, but I had an internship and gained experience. I personally loved getting that experience and yes, it would have been great getting paid, but it's hard to find a job on campus that relates to public relations journalism that actually pays. So, in my life, I would take experience over money. But now that I need to save money for a networking trip I want to go on, I will need to take the money over the experience. It all depends on a person's needs and what they want to do. If you have a job during your college career, congrats! That's great! For the people that don't have a job, good for you! There is nothing wrong with that! We are each just going through the motions of college, and each person's experience is going to be different, which is awesome!
