On Involvement: Balancing Academics and Extracurriculars
When dealing with a busy schedule, make sure to write everything down in a date book. Courtesy of Flickr/Creative Commons
With midterm season just around the corner, and campus activities heating up, the stress of balancing academic and extracurricular commitments may have already begun creeping up on students. Ambitious, and motivated by a multitude interests — the average USC student may find that their key problem when it comes to extracurricular activities isn’t finding them and joining them, but rather struggling to participate in all the activities that interest them. While it is never a bad thing to have a variety of interests, too large a myriad can leave a student overstretched, and potentially unable to adequately participate in each activity to the extent that they had anticipated. A balance between your extracurricular activities and academics is necessary for all ambitious Trojans. Here are some tips to make sure you maintain this balance throughout the semester:
1. Study with your organization
Chances are high that you’ll share classes or a major with at least a handful of students in the organizations you belong to. Take advantage of this, and study with your organization. You will be able to bond with your fellow club members while getting important classwork completed. Even if no one is studying for the same classes as you, reserving a study room and working together can be equally as efficient, and infinitely more enjoyable.
2. Choose different organizations that both align and deviate from your area of study
Participating in organizations associated with your academic studies will allow you to extend the lessons you learn in class to real world practices or interactions. Pre-med students can benefit from joining organizations such as the pre-med fraternity Alpha Epsilon Delta, or the Emergency Medical Services of USC to gain networking skills and hands-on experience. In some cases, these major-related extracurricular activities could also count for class credit or extra credit, allowing students to simultaneously work toward academic and extracurricular goals.
While students may intuitively choose activities that align with their majors or intended career paths, it is important to explore other interests that deviate from the topics covered in classes . Joining a cultural organization, dance team or sports team can help students take a break from their academic areas, and help them develop different skills or just have fun.
3. Quality is always better than quantity
Your resume may appear more robust and the list of organizations you’re involved with may run on like movie credits, but stretching yourself too thin, across too many activities may prevent you from reaching your goals within each organization. It is always better to become invested in the organizations and activities that add the most to your college experience, and allow you to grow as a student rather than sporadically participate in lots of activities and struggle to become invested in any one of them. As a plus, your resume will look even more impressive when it’s supported by your strong commitment to a few organizations that exemplify your passions.
4. Have a rest day (or two)!
While it may seem like all your extracurricular activities perfectly line up in a tight mosaic of meetings and events, having a full week of back-to-back classes and meetings may leave you too exhausted to study, finish homework or socialize with friends and family. Having rest days when you can take a breather and relax are important for mental health and happiness. Sometimes the best way to fulfill your academic and extracurricular goals is to spend time regrouping and relaxing so every once in a while remember to take a nap, eat Korean BBQ with friends or sit down with a good book!