The month of August means one thing for students, the start of fall semester. If youâre interning this semester as well, it can be difficult to manage your time effectively. From my personal experience, itâs best to stay calm and organized.
The first step in balancing school and an internship is to create a schedule. Online calendars are a great tool to utilize (Google and Outlook are my personal favorites). If you prefer having a hard copy, there are many planners available for purchase.
Once your school courses are scheduled, youâll need to determine your internship hours with your mentor. It helps to bring a copy of your school schedule to coordinate your availability. Then, you can input the hours of your school courses and internship into your calendar.
If youâre planning to include tasks and deadlines in your calendar, it may be easier to have separate calendars for school and internship. That way you donât have to worry about internship tasks while youâre creating a study plan for your psychology exam. If you have a company email at your internship, use the calendar associated with that email for internship-only tasks.
Scheduling all of your tasks and deadlines will help your school-internship balance. You can include important deadlines for homework, exams and other projects. If you really love planning, you can schedule time to work on each task, personal time and other important items. Be sure to schedule some time to unwind and relax. You need to take a little break to keep your mind fresh.
Tip: You can customize your calendar by color coordinating everything into categories. Each category can have a different color (green for internship hours, blue for classes, red for project deadlines, etc.). Â Check out the example, below, of a balanced school-internship calendar (click on the image to zoom).
