As I think back to my college days I just can’t wrap my hands around what I did with the time I had everyday. And this is somewhat concerning for me and what my D19 will be doing with her time.
My D19 was like many kids who have parents on this board. Took a lot of AP classes. Played some sports and did ECs. Then stopped playing sport senior year and embraced making money and worked plenty. She also works a ton in the Summers doing multiple jobs. Basically the kid is always busy. She easily works 50-65 hours a week in the Summer. I remember last Summer she worked 18 days straight before our vacation and 21 days straight when she got back. She had to do that so she could be off our vacation time. Trading shifts and stuff.
I am not trying to brag about her work ethic here, but I am more concerned that is going to transition into a life that doesn’t have the time requirements that she is used to. D19 got her schedule for fall semester and she will be in class/lab 15.5 hours a week.(it is 15 credit hours) If she spent 2 hours studying for every 1 hour in class that is only 45 hours a week of school related stuff. Even at a 3 to 1 ratio that is 60 hours.
First note D19 is not working a campus job first semester. Through merit money and working Summers she should be good if she is relatively frugal. I think about what a college student has to do that eats up time. Unlike us folks that work for a living they don’t have much of any commute. They don’t have to prepare meals. They don’t have to drive kids to activities. There is very little shopping/errands they need to do. The only major chore they have is doing laundry and god only knows when that will be done.
So if D19 is spending 50-60 hours a week on school stuff what is she going to fill her time with. Yes I know partying and stuff. But honestly it seems like they have a pretty good deal to me. I think I want to sign up to go to college.
But like I said I do worry about a kid that is always on the go doing something moving into a situation where there is more free time. I do hope she gets involved in school clubs and activities and sure do some partying, but it will be interesting.
I’m sure that once she gets into a completely new environment like college, she’ll find her place and how she wants to arrange her time. Esp if she finds her true friends there! Best of luck to your daughter
There actually isn’t enough hours in the day for most college students to do everything they want to do, have some fun, and have some down time. I wouldn’t worry about this at all.
I wouldn’t worry about too much time either. My D was the same way in HS. Last year she took 17 credit hours and easily had 40+ hours/week in addition of class and project work. She still had plenty of free time. She started working out at the university rec center three mornings/week, practiced piano, joined a theater group and was in two shows, and joined a professional group. In the interim, she went to the career center, job fairs, secured her co-op, secured a mentoring/TA position, had meals with profs, went to concerts, sporting events, and hung with friends. “Free time” was filled very, very quickly! She likes being busy so this worked for her.
Most schools have hundreds and hundreds of clubs and activities. There usually isn’t enough time in the day to do everything!
I would say both of my kids spent more than 2 hours/hr of class. On most weeknights they studied well into late night. It was also normal for them to spend all day Sunday studying. They usually took Fri night and Sat off. It was funny one time when I drove D1 back to her dorm after a dinner out on Sat and we went by the Engineering building (all glass), she said, “Oh wow, there are people studying on Sat night.” I said, “You sound surprised.”
As others said, my girls had more things to do than they had time for, and both of them danced 15-20 hrs a week while in high school.
Well, if she can avoid scheduling early morning classes, there’s always sleep. (A nice change if her busy high school schedule meant being sleep-deprived most of the time).
My daughter was always busy in college. A full schedule of classes, lab reports, studying, office hours, etc…plus 10-15+hours a week of research, 12+ hours a week with one of her main clubs, volunteering weekly with 2 organizations (5 hours) + the weekly meetings, tutoring students + prepping, listening to guest speakers, yoga, swimming, and…making time to eat and see some friends. She was just as busy in HS.
There is a lot going on in college to keep them busy…if they choose to be busy.
My son had a similar life to your daughter’s before college. I too wondered if he would have time on his hands. But as a science major he had several labs so between going to class (which he always did), labs/homework, and the things he chose to get involved with on campus he was plenty busy. He even started going to the gym with his friends which wasn’t something he did at home. He does get up early the morning (even on the weekends) unlike other students so this was a little challenging. As a good roommate he always left the room so his mates could sleep. He used this time to go for a walk, a drive (second semester had car), or study. No worries - it works out.
Oh, gosh, you’re overthinking this. Your daughter will be fine. I was like her and loved college. There’s ALWAYS something to do if you want to. But it’s also pretty sweet to relax a little after overachieving in high school.
Join some activities? Volunteer? Make new friends? And even though they don’t have to commute, unless it is a tiny campus there is some time walking between classes so even if it is 15.5 hours of class, getting to and from, and having a short break in between will add time to “class time”. Sleep more than she got to in HS! As MLH says, not something to worry about.
So both my kids like never have time to text me so they must be busy with something ?.
LOL.
They both work, joined clubs, my son started a tech club and put on a conference. Plays intermural sports. Studying takes more time then in high school and more intense. It’s OK if they actually chill and get caught up on Netflix also.
My D was busy in high school and she ended up being even busier in college. She expanded on some ECs and found a paid research position. Then there were the events like “famous speakers”, music performances other artists that the college offered. Add the studying/labs etc and the bare minimum of socialization and partying and you run out of time pretty fast. As long as your student is engaged and not going through some tough personal times I would not worry at all.
She’ll be fine. One of the things this generation has going for it, due to being overly scheduled, is squeezing in a lot in a day. S was / is like that too. In HS he left at 7:00am and didn’t get home until 7:30pm or 9:00pm (depending on if he was hitting the gym after baseball practice). Then shower / dinner/ homework and in bed at midnight. In college, he pretty much does the same thing. Told me he blocks his time out so there’s little wasted and has a full day between classes, work, clubs, studying, intramurals, going to the gym. Still has a few hours a day to hang out with friends but generally not until he’s done with everything.
Biggest challenge they have is learning to say no so they’re not doing too much.
My D’s school has an estimator that projects how many hours a student is expected to put towards classes - including homework, studying, projects, etc., etc. Her 16-17 credits per semester work out to an average of 63 hours per week. She’s a dedicated student, and having too much free time is far from a problem. One or two clubs and she’s fully booked.
Other majors may not be as time-consuming as MechE (PDE/Statics/etc are 13 hours for 4 credits, GenEd classes are 6 hours for 3), but intelligent, driven students find a way to occupy their time.
Sleep for one. These teens have years to make up for. I know both mine relished scheduling later classes or scheduling so as to not have Friday classes. Hanging out with friends… another thing they never seemed to have enough time for. Read… not only for school but for pleasure. Go to the gym, run, play foosball, binge watch shows they totally missed because they were too busy in high school.
Don’t get me wrong, my kids are top notch college students, involved with campus organizations, work, intern off campus… they are by no means slackers but let’s face it, the typical high school high achiever has little to no life that isn’t managed by someone else. It can be a relief to take some time and learn how to balance work and play.
