Should you get a job during University?
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As a university student, one of my biggest worries is money. We all want enough money to do everything we want to do with friends, afford the perfect study materials and technology, eat good food. Somehow, we never have enough of it and the ideal solution is to work. But, with school being a big responsibility, you can imagine that it gets quite hectic managing everything. Studying, working, social life, family life. Its a lot.
During the first year of University, I did not have a job. In fact, I refused to have a job since I wanted to embrace the full university experience and focus on my studies. In the second year, I decided to go out and get a job with the mindset that life is only going to get harder, and by having a job and school going on, I will learn time management
Here is my experience
During the first year of university, I found that I had a lot of free time. I handle my studies the best I could, but I was able to find time to relax, hang out with friends and have a social life. It was because I had this free time, I also procrastinated a lot and did not do the best in school. For me, I find that I always need to be busy in order to get things done, not only on time but being busy allows me to put in my best work. To add, money was not really a problem. I lived on residence with a meal plan so I did not spend a lot of money going out to eat since there was a lot of food options on campus that I took advantage of (Thanks mom and dad). I rarely found myself in a position desperate for money (maybe once during the holidays buying presents for anyone).
So, the first year, I did not have a job which gave me a lot of free time to spend with friends but, surprisingly, reflected poorly on my studying.
It was because I had a lot of free time that I decided to use that time effectively going into second year by getting a part-time job and earning money. And that is what I did.
So, I went into the second year with a job, new courses, and a new apartment which meant new expenses.
From a school perspective, surprisingly, I was doing better in my classes. I managed to increase my average while working roughly 15–20 hours a week in a mall. But, this came at a cost. I missed out on a lot of social events with…
