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Braden Trimmer

Dr. Hellen Kailiti

English Composition I

27 August 2024

How to Balance Academics and Social Life

One of the toughest things to overcome when first arriving at college is balancing the

increased academic workload and responsibility with your newfound freedom. Existing in

parallel to each other are the release of many external pressures that drove you to complete

assignments in high school (such as your parents) and the increased amount of time and effort

that has to be put into schoolwork to get the most out of college. Exacerbating this is the social

aspect of college—finding community, hanging out with friends, going to parties, and other

activities that people will encourage you to do. Luckily for you, this guide will get you on your

way to having a healthy balance between getting the most out of your university academically

and socially at the same time. The six things you need to remember are as follows: create a plan,

set goals, spend social time on academic work, learn to say no, focus on mental health, and reach

out to campus resources.

Step one of your new plan is to create whatever tool works best for you to manage your

time. A calendar, schedule, or even just a daily to-do list will all work well—you can even mix

and match multiple strategies. Anything that helps you prioritize tasks and limit procrastination

will work wonders for your ability to fit both academics and social life into your schedule. As

Brinley Warren, a William Peace University senior says, “It’s all about time management and

prioritizing tasks. I keep a planner to keep track of assignments, exams, and social events. I make

sure to schedule study sessions and allocate specific time for my academics, and then I try to
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schedule my social life around that” (qtd. in WPU). While rigorously planning out your schedule

every single week may sound intense or exhausting, it can be a relief during the week when

things are already planned out for you. Just remember to stay calm whenever things do go off-

schedule, because they often will. Planning out your schedule is just one half of the organization

required, however.

Setting realistic goals, both short and long term, is crucial for maintaining drive. Andie

Riches, a PhD student from Anglia Ruskin University, gives the following advice: “Realistic

goals prevent burnout and create a sense of accomplishment, ensuring you enjoy your academic

journey without neglecting personal connections” (Riches). Making sure to set goals in both the

academic and social realm will help you find a balance between the two. Additionally, goals help

combat procrastination. Setting out to complete a specific task by a certain date, especially if it is

well before that task absolutely needs to be done, will free up more time to polish it before

turning it in. Goal setting can also have psychological effects: according to a study in the Journal

of School Administration Research and Development, around a 10% increase in the number of

students achieving “adequate” academic growth was accomplished by simply implementing

goal-setting rhetoric into the curriculum (Dotson 44). Setting goals can have an immense impact

on your productivity, which will allow you more time to socialize. Once you have a plan of

which assignments you need to complete by what dates and short and long term goals set,

however, how will you start working towards them?

The second part of your plan to balance your academics and social life will be to blend

them a little. Working productively with friends and classmates on shared assignments can be

one of the most important ways to not fall behind on classwork. When planning your week, you

can increase the amount of time you spend interacting with your community on campus without
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decreasing your allotted study time by simply doing them together. Of course, this won’t be ideal

for all kinds of work—assignments from STEM classes or anything that requires focused

concentration will be better for when you study alone, but tasks that require brainstorming,

bouncing ideas off one another, etc. can be enhanced by studying with friends. A study in the

Journal of Research on Adolescence found that adolescents under the observation of peers were

able to learn quicker from both failure and success, and had better overall performance on tasks

(Silva et al. 1) This certainly helps to explain why activities such as flashcards are so effective—

memorization and problem solving can take a large boost from simply working with a friend.

Considering setting up study time with friends when creating your schedule or calendar can have

some real benefits. But what if this goes too far?

Learning to say no is a very important skill to develop, especially when planning to study

with friends. Rejecting offers to attend social events when you have scheduled time for

classwork or other academic commitments is not something that you should be afraid of (WPU).

This includes larger commitments like joining clubs or projects—as Zahara Mustansir from

Ontario Tech University suggests, “It may seem like a good idea to be involved in as many

school events but if it’s too much, it can end up deteriorating your school life: Find a balance”

(Mustansir). ‘Recognize your limits’ is the key phrase to remember—make sure that you plan

your social outings around your academics, and not the other way around. Your schedule or

calendar should help greatly with visualizing exactly how many commitments you can involve

yourself in on or off campus while still leaving enough time for academic obligations as well as

downtime to recover from each busy week—which is something you mustn’t forget about.

Prioritizing mental health can greatly improve your ability to balance academics and

social life. Planning can only get you so far, and when plans go awry, stress can pile up.
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Learning to utilize resources that help alleviate stress will allow you to use your full capacity to

solve problems and fit the puzzle pieces that are due dates and actual dates together. Feham Riaz

at University College London shares her favorite methods: “...find a relaxing hobby that calms

you and makes you feel refreshed. I personally enjoy running and whenever I am anxious, I go

out for a run in one of the parks nearby” (Riaz). Additionally, colleges often have events

specifically designed for de-stressing. Riaz mentions the visitation of therapy dogs to the campus

that students can hang out with as a break from the constant barrage of assignments and

commitments. Finding the perfect combination of activities that calm you and de-stressing events

that fit into your schedule will pay dividends—make sure that you keep these ways to maintain

your mental health in mind when you are planning your week.

Finally, make sure you are making use of the campus resources available to you. If you

feel overwhelmed with the amount of work you have or other commitments, reach out to

resources such as your academic advisors and professors. Many professors will be willing to

make adjustments to deadlines if something comes up, trusting that you will solve the problem

and get to finishing your assignment right away. Academic advisors are available at Shoreline

Community College at shoreline.edu/advising, and are committed to “help students achieve their

educational, career, and personal goals through the use of the college and community resources”

(SCC). Different resources will be available at different universities, so as you continue your

academic journey, make sure to find who at your college can help you. Additionally, it can be

helpful to reach out to friends and family for assistance when in times of need academically.

Studying with friends or taking a break to catch up with family might be just what you need—

never be afraid to ask for help.

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Although it can be a struggle to balance academics and social life in college, there are

plenty of strategies to help and resources to access in order to lighten your load. Creating a

calendar, schedule, or to-do list, as well as setting goals, is the best place to start. Finding ways

to embed social events and activities into time spent on academic work is crucial for finding a

good balance, and reaching out to friends in times of academic pressure counts too. Being able to

say no to friends and classmates if they ask you to join social activities when you have other

commitments to attend to is a skill you must develop—but there are resources available to help

you. Reach out to your academic advisors, and any other resources available on campus to help

students with developing time management and organization skills if you need assistance. If you

simply have too much going on, most professors are willing to lean a bit on due dates to help you

get an assignment in. And finally, if it all feels like too much, remember to take a deep breath

and focus on your mental health. Creating strategies and participating in activities to keep your

spirits high and stress levels low is crucial to keeping a balanced academic and social life.

Simply following these steps will get you to a healthy relationship with both aspects of college

living in no time.
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Works Cited
Dotson, Ronnie. “Goal Setting to Increase Student Academic Performance.” Journal of

School Administration Research and Development, vol. 1, no. 1, 4 May 2016, pp. 44–46,

ojed.org/index.php/JSARD/article/view/1908, https://doi.org/10.32674/jsard.v1i1.1908.

Accessed 27 Oct. 2024.

WPU. “How to Balance Academics and Social Life in College: Tips from a William

Peace University Student | William Peace University.” Www.peace.edu, William Piece

University, 24 Oct. 2023, www.peace.edu/how-to-balance-academics-and-social-life-in-

college-tips-from-a-william-peace-university-student/. Accessed 26 Oct. 2024.

Mustansir, Zahra. “How to Balance School, Work and Your Social Life.”

Blog.ontariotechu.ca, Ontario Tech University, 11 Mar. 2021, blog.ontariotechu.ca/how-

to-balance-school-work-and-your-social-life. Accessed 26 Oct. 2024.

Riaz, Feham. “5 Tips to Balance Your Studies alongside Your Social Life.” Global

Business School for Health, University College London, 27 Apr. 2023,

www.ucl.ac.uk/global-business-school-health/news/2023/apr/5-tips-balance-your-studies-

alongside-your-social-life. Accessed 26 Oct. 2024.

Riches, Andie. “10 Tips for Balancing Academics and Social Life: A Guide for PhD

Students - ARU.” Www.aru.ac.uk, Anglia Ruskin University, 2 Jan. 2024,

www.aru.ac.uk/blogs/10-tips-for-balancing-academics-and-social-life. Accessed 27 Oct.

2024.

SCC. “Advising Homepage.” Shoreline Community College, 2024,

www.shoreline.edu/advising/. Accessed 27 Oct. 2024.

Silva, Karol, et al. “Peers Increase Late Adolescents’ Exploratory Behavior and

Sensitivity to Positive and Negative Feedback.” Journal of Research on Adolescence, vol.

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26, no. 4, 19 Aug. 2015, pp. 696–705. Wiley Online Library,

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jora.12219, https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12219.

Accessed 27 Oct. 2024.