I’m a freshman at a highly ranked private university, and I’ve run into a bit of a dilemma that I hoped you all could advise me about. Earlier this semester, I saw an advertisement that a local SAT tutoring company was looking for college student tutors. I’ve tutored SAT students before, so I applied for the job and ended up getting it. The job pays very well and requires a 4hour commitment every Sunday for 8 weeks in Jan/Feb, but the great thing about this job is that I can stay on in the company and keep working even after the 8 weeks is over (plus the pay gets even better).
The problem is, I’m also a member of a competitive a cappella group on campus as well as the competitive mock trial team. In the 8 weeks that the job runs for, I have two invitational mock trial competitions as well as our big regional competition, and my a cappella group wants to go up to Rochester to record our new album. I can only skip my job once, which I’m using for regionals, so I’m definitely missing a lot. I am also pre-law, so mock trial is obviously relevant to my future plans.
Is a part time job (and the money/opportunities it provides) worth missing out on these extracurricular activities?
I would say that if you can afford to not work (i.e. you don’t absolutely need the money you get), it would be more beneficial to participate in extracurriculars. After all, you’ll have summers and the rest of your life to work, but you can’t really get the same kind of experience extracurriculars offer once you leave school. However, I don’t actually know, because I’m still a sophomore.
Yes, these are the difficult choices in life. The first question is, how much do you need the money that you are earning from the job and what kind of hardship would you face if you did not have that income? If you really NEED the money then think long and hard about giving up a good job for other activities. If the money is nice to have but you don’t need it, then it would be worthwhile to make a lists of pros and cons of each job and activity and try to figure out what is a priority for you. This can then guide your decision making. Good luck!
This would be my second job (meaning, if I accepted the SAT job, I’d be dropping my other part time job to do it). The SAT job is a lot more money than my current job though. Another consideration for me would be the fact that Sunday is usually my homework day, so I don’t know what effect this job would have on my grades.
Sounds like something has to give, that you are recognizing that you perhaps have one thing too many on your plate, just need to figure out which thing to take off. Unfortunately, none of us can make that decision for you. But, going through some kind of process of figuring out your priorities might help. Also, you probably want to make a decision relatively soon if you drop the SAT job because the company is going to have to find someone else for the position.