Struggles of Being a Student and Working Full-Time

As a young girl, I always knew that I was going to go to college regardless of what it took to get there. I dreamed and planned for the day since I was seven years old. In late 2014, my dream came true, I was starting my freshman year of college at Monroe College in New Rochelle, NY with one of my closest friends, Pam. Words couldn’t express how excited I was to finally start college. I wanted the full college experience like they showed on tv. However, I didn’t realize just how unprepared I was to become independent in the college atmosphere. Not only can college be a struggle academically, but the financial burden that comes along with it adds to the madness. So here I am overwhelmed, away from home, living on campus with no job, and ordinary expenses that I had to keep up with (phone bill, grocery shopping, emergency money, etc).

I knew that my time at Monroe would be over after my freshmen year because it was too expensive to stay up there. In 2015, I transferred to NJCU which was the university in my hometown. Me coming home was supposed to be cheaper and easier but it was the complete opposite. It was like my bills doubled and I had more responsibilities back home. Working little jobs just to get by was over; I had to get a full time job which meant giving up some studying time & basketball.

While working full time, I struggled with keeping my grades up and finding time to study. My time management was terrible, and I didn’t learn how to manage it until my LAST semester in college, which in turn was my best academically. Before my last semester, I was constantly struggling with being on time for class, starting assignments at a reasonable time, and just being able to give my education my all and undivided attention. I was always tired and trying to keep up with a day’s work and schooling, only on a few hours of sleep. If I knew the importance of time management early on, I would’ve had a better outcome and probably graduated at the top of my class.

Although I finished with my bachelor’s degree, I did not get the full college experience that I was longing for! I missed out on a lot of social outings, networking and adolescences/early adulthood fun.

If you have any questions on how I did it or need advice on time management, please don’t hesitate to comment down below and ask!