This is the true story of four Fairfield students who chose to have an internship or job and have their schedules packed. Find out what happens when people stop having spare time and start getting real. Really busy, that is.
Nursing students may be some of the busiest people on campus. Along with the labs and difficult science classes they have to take, such as chemistry and microbiology, nursing students have another component to add to their already tight schedules during junior and senior year: clinicals.
“I,like most senior nursing students have clinical twice a week, on Tuesday and Wednesdays from 7:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. One is at Yale-New Haven Medical Center. The other is at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Bridgeport,” said Ciara Daly ’05.
Clinicals are a required part of the nursing curriculum, so every nursing student has to perform clinicals and the early hours and travel time can take its toll on other parts of your life.
“The most difficult part about clinicals is the lack of sleep. I literally have to wake up at the crack of dawn to get to the hospital on time,” said Daly. “In regards to balancing my school work, I definitely get stressed out from time to time, but I’ve found out that planning ahead makes a huge difference.”
However, just because you need to maintain early hours doesn’t mean your social life has to be completely over. You definitely won’t be going out five nights a week though.
“For the most part, I don’t have too much trouble with my social life,” said Daly. “At times, I feel like I have to make more sacrifices when it comes to going out.”
Many students complain about boring or awful jobs they have had in the past. While jobs aren’t usually supposed to be fun all the time, getting a job in a field that interests you will definitely help solve the job blues. Better yet, try to turn a hobby or other passion into a money-maker, as one senior did.
Greg Turner ’05 parlayed his love of sports into a lucrative and enjoyable gig working in Fairfield’s Recreation Department as an intramural sports supervisor.
“I work 10-to-15 hours a week as an intramural supervisor and run the different leagues,” said Turner. “I definitely like my job because I am working with a variety of students at Fairfield and organizing sports competitions.”
Turner not only gets involved with a variety of sports such as soccer, softball, flag football, indoor lacrosse, basketball and others the university offers, but he also gets to work with other people who share his passion for sports.
Having to budget his time and manage a full course load, along with his hours at the intramural office have helped Turner in other ways as well.
“The advantages are that you are able to make some money to support yourself and you may actually waste less time as you might find you become more organized when you have different things to do,” Turner said. “It does have an effect on my personal/leisure time but I found that with good time-management skills, I am able to find time to do all the things I have to do.”
There is no rest for the weary, however.
“It does take away some of your free time and with only 24 hours in the day, sometimes I become stressed when I have to meet so many different deadlines for work, school and other things,” Turner said.
Want to play all day, make awesome money and have flexible hours? It’s simple! Just ask Erin Teeling ’05 who spends 10-to-15 hours a week doing just that for two or three different families.
“The best part of babysitting is the pay because it’s competitive with having a ‘real job’ but it’s under the table. The families are always located close by and it’s really convenient because the hours are so flexible,” said Teeling, who spends the better part of three days a week and every other Saturday night babysitting.
Even the bi-weekly Saturday night job doesn’t bother Teeling because the perks keep rolling in when it comes to babysitting.
“I would say it has no effect on my social life because I am home early enough to see my friends,” said Teeling. “Even when I have to babysit weeknights, the kids go to bed pretty quick and I get some homework done.”
She also said the flexibility added to babysitting’s appeal.
“If I get bogged down and can’t go or don’t have enough time, its OK. But if I had a real job or commitment, that wouldn’t necessarily be true. Babysitting’s way easier than a real job in my opinion and it’s more money.”
OK. The bad news about babysitting is coming because it can’t be ALL good. When you babysit for children under the age of six, be prepared.
“The worst parts are definitely changing dirty diapers, having to discipline kids that aren’t your own and crying babies,” said Teeling.
The past three students have had some trouble adding work to their schedules, but adding an internship to a full class load, homework, a social life and sports practices? I am tired just thinking about it!
Brian Labelle ’05 managed to do it all the past spring semester.
“I worked at Canaan Partners Venture Capital Firm two days a week, eight hours a day,” said Labelle, who interned for credit as part of the business school. He also managed to captain the men’s crew team while interning and taking classes.
Labelle is the first to admit the stress and time-crunching his schedule demanded.
“It wasn’t easy to balance crew, an internship and a social life,” said Labelle. “Time management was the only way I was able to make it through.”
If time got really tight, the first things to be cut were his social activities and the choice basically made itself for Labelle.
“My social life during the week often suffered,” he said. “It came down to either getting a paper done and going to bed early in order to be efficient at work and practice the next day, or going out, being hung-over all day at work and doing horrible during practice.”
So, while working, interning and class requirements can cramp your style, sometimes you need to stop avoiding the inevitable and start getting real. These four students are surviving with their lives packed, and so can you.
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