Balance your Internship and Classes

1) Use your summers for career development

The summer is the best time for career development because you can dedicate more time to your internship. You can start a new internship, or you can show your dependability and commitment to a continuing internship by working more hours. If the internship will be your focus for the summer, you can still take classes and do other things, but make sure that you make time for yourself and do not overload your schedule. Remember that in the summer, assignment deadlines are closer together, so you will have to keep checking your calendar.

2) Keep Track of your Responsibilities

There are a few good ways to make sure that you work and deadlines are organized: calendars, apps, to-do lists...However, I think that the best of these is a consistent routine. We work best in consistent and stable conditions, which is what a weekly schedule of classes and internship hours provides. If you add homework assignments or other tasks into this schedule as a separate event, you will be reminded to check test dates and assignment deadlines.

3) Ask for Help

Don’t be afraid to ask for assistance from people at your internship or in your class. I’ve had conversations with my co-workers and supervisors about how to do something (like ordering software for the lab) or how to prepare for a career in this field. These conversations have been really helpful for me in preparing for the next step after college. You can also ask your professors and classmates for help in performing better in a class. There are usually forums on the class website that provide a means of communication with the other students: discussion boards, class e-mail, etc. These provide ways of setting up study groups, tutoring sessions, and group project meetings. Also, you can e-mail the professor about a specific question or go to office hours for help with the class. Be sure to use all of your resources.

4) Don’t Cram for Tests

You may have been told again and again not to procrastinate on your work or cram for a test, but science shows that there are more adverse effects than just the stress of being close to a deadline. Cramming may involve pulling an all-nighter, which will lead to worse performance on the test than if you had gotten a full night of sleep. Even if you do get all 8 hours, learning everything at once will take a toll on your memory. Cramming makes it more likely that you will confuse concepts, forget important details, and make what are known as “familiarity mistakes:” the mistake of choosing an answer because it looks familiar rather than because it fits the question. More importantly, cramming makes it difficult to retain the information after the test. While this may not seem important for core classes like History, it may haunt you for introductory classes in which serve as the foundation for more advanced information (e.g. Logic; Biology).

-Divide and conquer

Separate your notes into sections by chapter, concept, or lecture, and learn one section each time you study. Beginning to study two weeks ahead of time is highly recommended, but if that’s a bit of a stretch for you, one week will do.

-Take advantage of weekends

Share your free time with your textbook when you can study in a more relaxed mood. In between classes and internships, you may be less productive and energized than on the weekend.

References

Gillen‐O’Neel, C., Huynh, V. W., & Fuligni, A. J. (2013). To study or to sleep? The academic costs of extra studying at the expense of sleep. Child development, 84(1), 133-142.

image credit Mad Science