Thetypicalcollegestudentspendsmostofhisorhertimestudyingand,occasionally,participatinginvarioussportsorextracurricularactivities.Increasingly,however,ithasbecomecommonforuniversitystudentstotakeonpart-timejobsorevenstarttheirownbusinessespriortograduation.
Studentswholaunchtheirownbusinessesortakeonpart-timejobscangainvaluableinsightintotheirfuturecareerpath.Toillustrate,bytakingasummerjobasanaccountantormarketinganalyst,businessmajorscouldseewhetheraparticularfieldintereststhemonmorethananacademiclevel.Despitethebenefitstostudentsof“gettingtheirfeetwet”inthebusinessworld,itiscriticaltomaintainacademicstudiesasatoppriority.Studentswhoalreadyhaveaheavycourseloadshouldlimittheirnumberofworkhoursand,ifpossible,askforaleaveofabsenceduringexaminationperiods.
Ultimately,everystudentmustdecidehowbesttoallocatehisohertimeoutsideofclass.Forthosewithamanageableschedule,exploratorymindandentrepreneurialspirit,workexperiencepriortograduationcanofferimportantcareerbenefits–nottomentionapaycheck.