Find Where you Need to Be.

Many college campuses are wide and sprawling areas. If you’re taking a full load of classes, you may find that you have classes on each side of campus, or you may find that you have a long blocks of time between classes. Before your first day, when you will have plenty of stress already without adding being lost, find where your classes will be. Most campuses have buildings dedicated to subjects, such as the Accounting Building or the Maths Hall. Take the time to explore these areas so you know them well in a rush. If you have breaks between classes, find a nice place to study. If you have to go from class to class with little time in between,  plan a route that will allow you to get from one to the other efficiently.

Find Reasonable Parking, or Alternate Transportation.

Lots of campuses today have parking that you have to pay for. Often they offer reduced rates for groups of students traveling together in the same car. It can really pay off in the long run to commute together with people who share a similar class schedule. Many times colleges offer passes for regional transportation free with the admissions cost. Taking advantage of the bus or train pass will allow you to not have to look for parking and give you a little extra study time while saving money on gas and parking. If you do take your own car, be sure to find parking that is convenient to your classes.

Make Use of the College Services

It isn’t only the bookstore on your campus that you want to take advantage of. Many campuses have restaurants or cafeterias, some even have taverns, that offer reduced rates to students. Larger campuses often have shopping available for basic items, everything from convenience stores to gifts. Show a bit of school pride and support those students that work on campus by visiting these when you have a little extra time.

When in college, we’re usually on an extremely tight budget.  We have just enough money for some food and to pay our cell phone bill and that’s about it.  Since college is so expensive and time consuming, it is important to try and make some extra money on the side.  It will help reduce some stress, and make our lifestyle much easier.  If you’re a college student that is looking for a good side job, consider a few of these in the mean time.

Campus – There are usually a few campus jobs that have openings.  This consists of everything from working at the college bookstore, at the cafe, as a janitor, etc.  It doesn’t really matter how you make money at this point, just as long as you have a paycheck at the end of the week.

Tutoring – Tutoring is a great thing to get into.  A lot of students may need that extra help with what you’re good at.  You can create your own hours, make money, and help people at the same time.

Writing – Writing online is a very popular and in demand job.  People are looking for others to write content for their websites.  You can look up free lancing, article marketing, and check out Amazon’s turk for ideas.  There are always people hiring others to write blog posts and articles for their websites.

In the area – Keep your eye open for whatever is near your school.  Stop by places and ask if they’re hiring, and leave your name and a number to where they can reach you if they need help.

These jobs are great because they’re close to campus, and are perfect jobs if you go away to college.  You don’t even need to leave your area, or need a car to start working again.  Not to mention, they usually have nice convenient hours, and are great for college students!

Once we get into college, we most likely need to either quit our job because we’re going away to college, or cut back on the hours because we realize just how time consuming college is.  College is expensive therefore it is nice to always have a couple bucks on us.  Finding a job in college isn’t always easy, although if you look hard enough, there are jobs out there for you. 

How to Find a Job in College:

Word of mouth – Word of mouth is one of the best ways to find out about a job.  Ask everyone you know and talk to if they know of any places you can work, or if anyone is hiring.

Roam the area – If you either drive by or walk around your town or city, you will be able to catch the "now hiring" signs on the windows.  This is a great way to look for places that are hiring, while getting a feel for the area.

Apply – Apply to any place that sounds interesting to you.  Even if they don’t have a "now hiring" sign in the window, it is always worth a shot.

Newspaper – The newspaper is given out for a reason.  One of them being the job finder.  You will usually find in each newspaper jobs that are looking for extra help.  Read the newspaper each week and see if you can come up with any jobs.

Online – We use the Internet on a daily basis, but never think of is as job friendly.  If you’re interested in writing, you can always be a free lance writer online.  You can get paid for each article that you write.

Snag a job – There is a great website called snagajob.com.  This website allows you to type in your zip code, and then it will show all the job listings in your area.

Finding a job in college can be tough.  Although, if you consider a few of these tips above, you can make that much easier to do. These are all great ways to snag a job in your area.

Study Before You Go to Class

Prior to attending class, read the textbook chapter you will be discussing in the next class.  Generally, you can find this information in the course’s syllabus.  By doing this, you will not be lost in the next day’s class discussion, and won’t have to spend as much time studying that material later.  The material will already be familiar, saving you much time completing any associated assignments.

Plan out Your Study Time

If you are having trouble finding enough time to get everything done in a day: classes, college assignments, work, socializing, sleeping; then the first thing you must do is to plan out your days.  Start by writing out your entire day for each time.  For example, next to 6:00 a.m., you may write: wake up, at 6:10 you may write: take a shower, and so on.  Write in your classes, work schedule, etc.  This will allow you to see when you have time to study or socialize, which you can then write in.  Doing this will save you much stress, as you can visualize what time you do have, and make time to do the things you must and want to do.

Learn to Say No

If your friends want you to go do something on the night before you have a major test, and you don’t feel like you have done enough studying for it, you must be courageous enough to tell them no, you don’t have enough time to hang out that night.  If you don’t get brave, and return really late, it will be no use for you to try and study, as you will likely be exhausted, and would be better off going to bed than attempting in vain to get ready for the test.

When we decide on a college major, we must understand that it takes a lot of thinking and going over.  It may seem like fun, but did you look at every inch of what it entails?  Choosing on a college major will make our future, and will be our main source of income to pay our bills.  Therefore it is important to find something that we’re completely happy with. 

Thousands of college students change their major each year to make sure they make the right decision.  Although, it is great to make sure you’re happy with your future, it may cost you right now.

The Disadvantages of Changing Your College Major:

• You may find that a lot of the credits that you’ve already taken won’t count towards your new major.
• It may have been a waste of money to take all the classes that won’t count.
• A lot of college students find that they wasted a lot of time taking classes they didn’t need.
• Stress piles up once we realize that we don’t want to continue down the same college major path.
• We may also find that we are running out of money, or the student loans are getting to be pricey.

Changing a college major is a common thing, but you must always make sure you’re happy with your decision ahead of time.  It will help you avoid a lot of these bumps in the road, and will make your life that much easier.  Although you may not find out that you don’t want to continue on that path until you have taken classes already, it is important to make sure you can get as many credits to count towards your new major as you can.

If ever you’re having a hard time deciding on what career you want to get into, I highly recommend that you see a counselor.  They will give you a good idea at what you’ll be good at, and what you’d enjoy the most.  Just never feel like you’re a failure for switching.  Most important is that you’re happy in the long run!