It’s come to the stage of the year when Murdoch starts accepting the mid-year enrolments. A lot of students who take a break after high school find this to be the best time to get into student life. However it can still be a pretty intimidating time and you probably have a lot of worries and doubts. With that in mind Murdoch asked me to write three articles tackling the most common worries you guys face. If you have any questions about enrollment I advise you to check out Ask Murdoch.

“I don’t know if I can balance work and study”

Earning money is fun isn’t it? Sure you maybe have to give up a couple of days in the week to get that money but once it’s sitting in your bank account the possibilities seem infinite. Working can also be quite fun because of the simplicity of the equation. More work = More money. I know a few people that used to go out to the mines, work solidly for two weeks and come home utterly exhausted but $2000 richer. Money also makes life easier to live because you don’t need to worry so much about how you are going to afford your next meal and an impulse buy won’t bring angry debt-collectors to the door. So when you’ve accrued enough money and have decided to give tertiary education a shot it can come as a nasty surprise when study time is replacing all the free time you used to have for work. You find yourself cutting your shifts because you need time to write the lengthy assignments and re-write the hastily scribbled lecture notes. So what’s the solution?

Balance

In the ideal world you’d work enough to pay your bills with a bit extra, have time to finish your assignments and still be able to go the pub every night with your friends. Realistically though you need to work hard to achieve this sort of life-style. Balance doesn’t mean getting everything done at the last minute but actually being able to create, and work in, specific blocks of time for each activity. So how can you do this?

Prioritise

I know it sounds like I’m channelling the inner Dr Phil but you need to sit down and work out what is important in your life. Your part-time job may seem really important and fulfilling but working 35 hours a week while your books gather dust is a dumb idea. The purpose of going to University, for me certainly is to get a strong qualification that will open doors for employment. This means that getting my degree is right at the top of my list of priorities. That being said I still find the time to work; I just need to be smart about which shifts I can and cannot do. Prioritising can be the toughest part of this process. Sometimes you need to cut certain things out of your life, maybe you won’t have time to play cricket with your club every night and that can be sad. But University isn’t forever so don’t look at some short-term sacrifices as the end of the world.

Plan

Proper Preparation and Planning Prevent Piss-Poor Performance. From week one you will have a detailed list of what assignments are expected from you and when they are due. If you know that there is a 2500 word assignment due in week 14 maybe you should approach your boss in week one to secure time off so that you have that buffer to work in. If your boss isn’t sympathetic then at least you know that you’ll need to start work on the assignment earlier than you may otherwise have thought. Likewise if you know that you have no assignments for a couple of weeks then you can temporarily take on some more shifts or use that time in some other manner. The worst thing in the world can be getting some free time and having absolutely nothing constructive to do in it.

Rest & Relaxation

Balance is a two way street. If you spend the whole semester buried in books your health will suffer and that is not fun. If you have a good timetable for your assignments worked out and you are confident that you don’t need to work on anything then you should go out and enjoy the company of friends. This can be the best part of University, kicking back between assignments, because it allows for some much needed breathing room.

Overall

All the fancy words will come as little comfort when you’re up at 4 a.m desperately writing an essay before your class at 8. Sometimes you can’t balance work with study or sometimes things go wrong. A seemingly simple assignment suddenly morphs into a 5000 word catastrophe and you feel very alone and a little bit frightened by the deadline. That’s why it can be a great comfort to know that there are safety nets in place for you. Tutors will grant extensions if you show them that you have worked all semester and you should never be afraid to ask for help. In fact Murdoch has an entire section of the library specifically aimed at helping people complete their assignments and do the best they can. But learning balance rests on your shoulders and it is certainly a skill I have learnt while studying at Murdoch.