After a long four years, you’ve graduated from high school and you’re off to college. The moment you have been waiting for is quickly approaching: being released from the shackles of your parents’ house. You’re finally free! Soon enough, you’ll be settling into a dorm room or your first apartment watching your family car drive back to your hometown. Now you’re able to move when you want; free to come and go as you please.
However, the power within freedom comes with a responsibility that’s often overlooked. The further you get into your college career, the more difficult it will be to effectively balance out your social life with your academic standing. I mean, just think about it, how can you type a 200-page paper with the temptations of getting “wya” texts from your friends every five minutes?
Well, hopefully, you aren’t faced with a paper that lengthy, but you get the point. To help yourself avoid being in those types of situations, take heed of these tips to balance your academics in social life in college!
Prioritizing your responsibilities is the first step to balancing both aspects of your life and for good reason. How else could you fulfill your obligations in both areas if you first can’t decide what’s important enough to complete?
This step may take a bit of time management as well, which is another key element you’ll need in college, but that’ll naturally come with time. Our suggestions are that at the beginning of each week, figure out what will be expected of you in the forthcoming days, both academically and socially. Write out your academic tasks, and if you have plans with a friend made already, write those too, then plan accordingly.
Although procrastination is more than real is college, if you have the willpower to get things done ahead of time, you’ll quickly start to see the benefits of doing so. In college, there’s almost always something you have to compete academically, so you could understand why the feeling of getting things done and being able to do whatever you want with the remainder of your day is unmatched.
Even if you can’t work on things days in advance, try to knock them out early in the day. The most popular time to hang out with friends is at night anyway! So dedicate your mornings to your studies, then go out and have fun without the worry or sense of guilt of neglecting your academics!
At times, college can overwhelm you with the amount of homework or material you’re required to study for a test. In those instances, don’t hesitate or feel bad for having to lock yourself in your room for however long you may need to get yourself together. Sure, you may feel tempted to slam-close your books and toss them across the room in efforts of going out and forgetting about the stress class causes you, but just think about how worse you’ll feel when it’s test day and all you can remember is bitter-tasting tequila shots at the bar.
As previously stated, college is about time management and the responsibility of completing your priorities, and this is where it kicks in. I’m sure straight A’s and a flourishing social life is your ideal college experience, but unfortunately, sometimes it doesn’t happen that easy, and if your grades are potentially compromised in the process, don’t be afraid to tell your friends that you’ll catch ’em another time.
After all, you’re there for a degree, not friendships. Without passing grades, you likely wouldn’t be there at all!
With that said, be sure to follow the five P’s: proper preparation prevents poor performance. Prioritize, handle them early if you can, then answer those “wya” texts. Work hard, then play harder!
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