Working at CollegeWorking at college Work is one topic that is always a question mark as students and their parents contemplate starting college. Should I work during the semester? How much? Off-campus or on? These questions, and many more, are major considerations as college starts, are more critical questions now than even a year ago, and require both flexibility and understanding from both students and parents.
Work can be a tremendous compliment to your college education, and, if chosen correctly, can both help fund college and help to build your resume. At the same, time, some work can be counter-productive, conflict with school, make you look like a slacker, and hurt your grades. The trick is choosing employment carefully and thoughtfully, and knowing how to make school and work work together. My most important piece of advice on this front is to only work as much as you have to. I don’t mean work only as much as your parents force you to, or don’t work hard when you are ‘at work’. I mean work as much as you have to in order to earn the money you need to go to school – and not more. A lot of things happen in college besides going to class, studying, and earning your degree. Things like building a network of contacts, developing leadership skills, broadening your experience, etc. Make time for these things. In all but the most dire of financial circumstances, you should have time for school, work, and extracurricular involvement. It is particularly important for everyone to remember the difficulty of the transition to college, and take that into consideration when making decisions about employment during the first year, semester, or weeks of college. Some allowance must be made for getting your bearings, figuring out just how much time must be spent studying, and acclimating to every aspect of a new location, culture and schedule. This takes some time (different amounts for different people), but should only be necessary for a while. Once that is mastered, the biggest issue becomes communication - between the student and both parent and employer. In college course schedules change every semester, sometimes majors change, occasionally, course requirements change. Provided students communicate about these requirements ahead of time, they stand a much greater chance of maintaining a positive relationship in this area. There’s nothing bosses like less than being surprised by a change in their employees’ availability. And parents don’t exactly like hearing you’re out of money because you couldn’t work this semester. Usually, plans can be made to accommodate most anything, but planning ahead of time is the key. Additional considerations:
Back to Articles List |
Main Menu |
|
Also from College Answer Guy -
©
Copyright 2017 CollegePrep-101