Ducks @ Oregon - University of Oregon

The Great Juggling Act of College

Trafton B.

October 14, 2009 - 7:00 PM

If there's one piece of advice I could give to prospective students and incoming freshman, it's the following: learn to manage your time well, because that is an invaluable skill in college. There are so many things you have to juggle while being a college student, so learning those skills early will really benefit you in the long run. I'm not trying to boast or anything, but I was fortunate to graduate from a high school that stressed the importance of time management. We probably had a workshop on it once a year, and our homework load was pretty large to begin with so we we're always unconsciously testing our skills. Now that I'm in college I'm very appreciative of what my high school prepared me for. I'm going to take you through my week so far to act as sort of a case study in time management.

Sunday night, I finished up a take-home test for PPPM 325, which I'd started last week. It was only three questions covering two readings and movie we'd watched in class. I knew that I would spend less time on the test if I'd answered the questions right after the movie and after finishing the readings, so I only needed to read the article for Monday's class and answer that final question on Sunday night.

Then I realized that the application to become a Planning, Public Policy & Management major was due Wednesday afternoon. I could have put it off until Tuesday night, but I remembered that the undergrad advisor for PPPM had her office hours on Monday. So, I put off reading my Chinese Lit homework until Monday afternoon before class and I stayed up a little later than I would have preferred to finish writing my personal statement for the PPPM application. That way I was able to bring it into Emily, my future advisor (fingers crossed), to proof read. She also pointed out some things I needed to fix on my application, which I'd overlooked, which was much appreciated. Then, it was off to read Chinese Lit before class at 2 o'clock.

Monday night, I finished revising my application and then had to write a response for my Environmental Justice class and finish a project for my Landscape Architecture class. These classes we're until 2pm and 4pm respectively on Tuesday, but I was giving a nature tour at Mount Pisgah in the morning, which meant I had to get them done that night. Also, I looked ahead at the forecast and saw that I was probably going to rain on Tuesday, so I caught my roommate before he went to bed so see if I could borrow his car. Thankfully, he obliged. That made life so much easier, and I'm sure my immune system was happy as well.

Tuesday night, I wrote a quick PPPM paper due today. You might be noticing that my week has been a little paper-heavy so Tuesday night I made some time to relax with my roommates over a game of Ken Griffey Jr's Major League Baseball. It sounds silly to you I'm sure, but all work and no play makes Trafton a dull boy.

One mistake I made, however, in my planning happened today. I'm heading up to Portland on Friday to visit my aunt and uncle. I have a Chinese Lit discussion until 4pm on Friday, but I really wanted to make it on the 4pm Greyhound. I thought I was in the right, by asking my GTF if I could attend today's discussion section instead, but I forgot that I had work this afternoon. It was too late to change any plans, so I headed to work and I'll have to go to Friday's discussion section and catch a later bus out of Eugene. Sad day.

I'll admit, I live a very active lifestyle sometimes, but I don't want to give that up. There are a whole lot of opportunities when you're a student at the U of O. I have the opportunity to volunteer at Pisgah, work at Facility Services, apply to double major in PPPM and Environmental Studies all while taking 16 credits worth of class. It gets pretty hectic at times, but I would rather learn how to manage my activities so I get the most out my college experience than make excuses about how I don't have enough time to do them. Makes sense to me.