I thought balancing undergraduate school, work, family, and social life was difficult, but graduate school definitely takes the cake. Classes at the University of Minnesota graduate school began in early September and it has been the ride of my life thus far. I am taking 6 classes (16 credits) and I have to juggle a variety of work commitments—social work internship, research fellowship, managing Latinos in College, and attending Board meetings for La Raza Student Cultural Center. If that was not all, I have to find time to do homework and sleep! Yeah, I know I did not mention family time or time for a social life, but they are pretty much out of the picture. Unfortunate, isn’t it?
However, despite the immense workload, I have been surviving graduate school because of a simple life philosophy: “focus on making it through the week.” Rather than worrying about all the assignments that are coming up in the next few weeks, which include 10+ page papers, group presentations, practice evaluations and more, I focus on successfully completing my assignments for the current week. If I let myself be overwhelmed with future projects, I will certainly fall behind. Instead, I place my energy on working on my weekly assignments—readings, reflection essays, research projects—and stay afloat.
