I plan to work 15-20 hours a week in college. How manageable is that with having a social life and studying? Any tips?
Depends what you’re studying, depends on the school, depends on the job.
Frankly, 20 hours a week during the semester wouldn’t be compatible with a social life AND certain competitive, time-intensive majors. Something may have to give, and hopefully that won’t be your school work.
See if you can spend your first semester not working at all - or as little as possible, to give yourself time adjust to college-level classes. If you have to work during the semester, try to find a job during which you can do a bit of studying (babysitting, for example.) Some on-campus jobs are very easy – I worked at a small university gallery taking entrance tickets – except the gallery would only get a few ticketed visitors each night, and I spent much of my time on the job reading.
For the working student, summer jobs are crucial to economic survival. To ensure you have a job as soon as classes end, start looking for your summer job as early as the spring, before everyone else is applying.
I’m currently undeclared so all my classes are gen ed
Many gen ed courses are time intensive and competitive, especially the weed-out classes for certain majors.
OP, it sounds like you are on a tight budget and need to work.
I would have to agree with @katliamom that 20 hours a week is too much for a freshman student.
Colleges are not at high school academic levels. They go faster and cover more material. Many gen ed are WEEDER classes and can be difficult, especially the classes with 300 to 500 students.
If you cannot afford this school without working, then you need to find a school that will be affordable.
Is it work study or independent work? Workstudy is generally pretty accommodating when it comes to making time for classes, tests, and hw. Regular jobs are not.
I would say that 10 hours/week would be ideal. If you don’t need th emoney try to reduce the hours.