<p>I have several friends a year or two above me studying over at UC Berkeley now. They tell me their current life is worse than it was when they were in high school. One related to me how he can't fit anything in his schedule besides classes, lectures, studying, and homework. Oh, and sleep. So how come I hear so much about the great social lives that college students seem to enjoy so much?</p>
<p>If you budget your time correctly you'll have time to have a social life unless there are some extra circumstances (taking an obsene (24+ credit hours) schedule, working a full time job.) I'm an engineer at a pretty well known school and I've rarely not been able to go out on weekends due to homework, and when I haven't been able to it's been because I did something else earlier that week that put me behind. And I'm not usually cutting it that close.</p>
<p>Yes, you are very busy. And you don't have as much free time as in highschool, usually, just generally more freedom on how to use it.</p>
<p>I usually go to at least one party per weekend and attend a lot of sporting events (all football, some basketball, most baseball.) I had time for a girlfriend and now even though I don't have a girlfriend it wasn't time related and I still have time to date. It's by far the best time of my life simply because of the freedom and control I have over my own life.</p>
<p>People that complain about never having time are generally the ones that get home from class at 3 and sit around watching TV till about 6, start their homework and complain about not being able to see a 9 o'clock movie. Yes, there will be times you get stupidly busy and can't go out on a weekend. It happens, but it's far from the norm.</p>
<p>OP, I kind of assume you're friends are engineering majors?</p>
<p>If you can't fit in a social life in college, you're doing it wrong. I hesitate to call it failure at being a college student, but it's damn close. If my friends and I could maintain an active social life in medical school, then there's absolutely zero reason why a college student cant manage to make it out to a party, the bars, or something else at least once a week.</p>
<p>Time Management! Your friends seem to have bad skills in this area.</p>
<p>I am a parent that's far removed from my college years, but I had a professor in grad school that gave great advice about this. Treat school like a full-time, 8 to 5 job. From 8 in the morning to 5 at night, go to class, study, etc, don't spend time between classes watching TV or socializing. That should be enough time to get most of your work done. Obviously, not everyone's schedule will fit perfectly into this timeframe but the idea is sound. You will have some days where you have to put in more time for studying, but you should almost always have some free evenings and weekends (especially weekend nights).</p>
<p>definitely depends on the major</p>
<p>Yep, depends on major. If you're a Com major or something similar you won't even be working close to 8-5. If you're an engineering major you'll be working far more than 8-5.</p>
<p>Even my engineering friends managed to go out at least on Friday nights. Maybe not super late but they could generally come out and chill with us until at least 12. (most of them are graduated now) And my school has a very good engineering school, so it's not like it's just some crap school.
I'm in social sciences (anthropology) so I don't spend as much time on schoolwork as some majors like engineering and architecture (the arch. kids here are hardcore), but I do have alot of reading and paper writing/projects that usually keep me occupied Sun-Thurs nights, plus a part time job and organizations I'm involved with as well.</p>
<p>... in 5 years, what are you going to remember from college? </p>
<p>that one homework assignment you did?</p>
<p>or that one time you hung out with your friends and did something that was fun?</p>
<p>No Tv, no video games, no jobs. You should be able to party and get good grades if you use your time wisely.</p>
<p><em>raises hand</em>
ITS 4AM AND I HAVE LAUGHTS OF HOMEWORK DUE AT 11! I CAN'T FIND TIME TO PRESS THE CAPS KEY!!!!</p>
<p>yeah; depends on the major--my boy's friends are psych majors (BA) so they just smoke weed 24/7; he can't always partake because he has all these ridiculous math/science classes all the time (he's a CS major)</p>
<p>a lot of it is just intelligence. Some people can thoroughly teach themselves differential equations in 2 days. Some people can't learn a single chapter in that time. I've gotten by on cramming and have a lot of spare time because of it.</p>
<p>It also has to do with school. Some schools are just hard, and some semesters will be harder and more time-consuming than others.</p>
<p>You can easily do both but you have to get your work done early. I find that if I don't procrastinate I have plenty of time. Check out [url=<a href="http://www.barflood.com%5DBarFlood%5B/url">http://www.barflood.com]BarFlood[/url</a>] to plan parties/drinking sessions around a theme like "People who got their homework done"!!</p>
<p>if you procrastinate, you have plenty of time too, b/c you have all the free time while you are procrastinating!</p>
<p>ditch the lectures to watch the girls play soccer.</p>
<p>good grades, social life, adequate sleep</p>
<p>you only get to pick two</p>
<p>you guys say treat college like 8-5 job...but how about those of us who are involved in research, work, and have a bazillion extra currics we are involved in. with all that stuff alone plus classes most of my days are from 8-6 at the very least and some are from 8-8. So after all that when do i have time to study. My problem is i handle the situation wrong and a lot of the time just decide to bypass studying. Boy does it cost me my gpa, but at least i maintain some sort of a social life.</p>