How to manage my time as a college student?
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Aries_95
Posts: 45 Member
My classes start at 8 and end at 4:30 everyday & I wake up around 6 to shower, make breakfast & drive to my college.. I reach home at 5-5:20 & I usually sleep between 11-1.. It takes me two hours to do chores/dinner/laundry/shower & I need 3 hours to finish my school work 
it takes me a while to study i dont know why! Last year I could barely finish this and have an hour to rela/watch tv/chill with friends.. How can I do all of this and add an hour workout this year? I need some tips on how to manage time please! Or to multitask or anything
it takes me a while to study i dont know why! Last year I could barely finish this and have an hour to rela/watch tv/chill with friends.. How can I do all of this and add an hour workout this year? I need some tips on how to manage time please! Or to multitask or anything 0
Replies
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I think you can do it all you need is to figure out how to schedule it in . If you have stairs at home walk on it for about 30-60 minutes you will notice a difference. I was gonna say if you are able to wake p at 5:30 and do 30 minutes of cardio right away, and then after you come home from school and do another 30 minutes that's great.
I am also a college student and it can be tough. But if you can't work out that day
Try to follow the calorie plan by my fitness plan 1200 works for me.
And work out when you can. Even walking to classes is working out. When you get off from class anything that has stairs just walk will help. Does your school have a gym? If it does try to utilize it any time between classes.0 -
I pretty much have the same shool schedule as you. it'll be hard but you can do it. first off, meal prep is key! I pick two days out of the week to cook about 3-4 days worth of food that I can either eat cold or pop in the microwave. don't forget snacks if you have munchies like me. that includes breakfast, lunch & dinner. meal prepping will keep you on the right track, along w/ tracking your food, so that whatever little exercise you get will count. since you don't have a lot of time in your day, I would try super sets. you can look that stuff up on YouTube. they burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time. & believe it or not, chores burn calories too! just make sure you get your eating habits on point. but you can always do squats while you watch TV, tell your friends you should do something more active together. I take a long time to study too. education is important. just try taking a 10 min break every hour, do some jumping jacks or something. see what works for you. Sorry this. is so long hah, but you can definitely do this! good luck!0
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Read while on the treadmill, park farther away from things and walk more, etc. What type of exercise are you trying to cram in? I used to "write" my essays while out on runs - I would work on organization and flow in my head as I went and when I got home I could just pound it out on the keyboard and move straight to proofreading and editing. You could potentially shave a little time off of cooking prep time and showering and such depending on how long you spend on them now. Do work while the laundry is going. Are your classes back to back the entire day? I remember having breaks in between classes here and there during a number of semesters - that's a great time to either work on homework or use the college workout center if you have one. It's hard but it can be done.0
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I attend classes Mon-Thur. I have classes starting at 8 am on 3 of those days. Twice a week I am not home until nearly 7pm.
I make my life a little easier by making enough food on the weekend to have leftovers on the days that I get home late.
I refuse to give up on exercising so I prepare my lunch, pack next day's school stuff, and lay out my exercise and school clothes before I go to bed. I then wake up at 5:15 am every morning to get in a brisk walk with my dog. I go to bed earlier, 9 or 10 (10:30 at the latest), so that I am getting adequate sleep. Breaks between classes are used to do school work/study with a short break for lunch.
I don't relax as soon as I get home. Instead, I eat dinner and get started on my homework, studying, and lab stuff. I do take breaks, usually to do a chore or play with my dog.
School is hard work and getting good grades becomes time consuming as classes become more difficult, but that doesn't mean you need to give up completely on a social life. Put in time during the week to do assignments so that you can have longer periods of free time on the weekend to re-energize.
Study groups can be also be a great means of keep a social life while also studying.
If you want to go somewhere with a friend that involves a long drive, make your friend drive and study in the car.0 -
I'm worried about this too. It's easy to fit a workout in on summer break, but will be harder when I have 70+ hours a week committed to school. I don't know how you get to school. I walk to the bus line, which is about 3/4 of a mile. I am going to take a longer route or may walk to a further bus stop (at least as long as the mid-west weather allows it). If you drive you could park further away. I also usually have an hour or two break between classes, so I will probably hit the school gym during these times. None of these are super time consuming. If you want to knock two things out at once you could combine your recreation/friends time with exercise. Choose bowling or an active game (I have a Kinect and a Wii). Finally, its proven that several 15-45 minute study or homework sessions produce better results than one long study session. Do homework for half an hour, then hop on a bike or pop in a 15 minute work dvd. Alternate until your school work is complete.0
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Read while on the treadmill, park farther away from things and walk more, etc. What type of exercise are you trying to cram in? I used to "write" my essays while out on runs - I would work on organization and flow in my head as I went and when I got home I could just pound it out on the keyboard and move straight to proofreading and editing. You could potentially shave a little time off of cooking prep time and showering and such depending on how long you spend on them now. Do work while the laundry is going. Are your classes back to back the entire day? I remember having breaks in between classes here and there during a number of semesters - that's a great time to either work on homework or use the college workout center if you have one. It's hard but it can be done.
Aerobics! And I can't read & walk on the treadmill no matter how slow i'm going! I'll try walking around my neighborhood lol ! Yes they are back to back except a day or two.. I'll work on all the other tips you suggested! Thank you!! 0 -
Maybe try moving some stuff to the weekend, say three half hour blocks, then go for just 3 brisk walks in the time you have moved. Regardless, even if you are super busy and don't have time, if you calculate your cals correctly you should still lose weight even without adding exercise.0
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Maybe try moving some stuff to the weekend, say three half hour blocks, then go for just 3 brisk walks in the time you have moved. Regardless, even if you are super busy and don't have time, if you calculate your cals correctly you should still lose weight even without adding exercise.
If i stick to 1200 calories without working out i'd still lose weight it's just difficult to eat less than 1400-1500 when you're stressed about school & aren't getting enough sleep! But i'll try working out more during the weekend!! Thanks 
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I've been in university for 4 years now. You do not have classes for 8.5 hours straight every day. I'm enrolled in 5 courses, have classes every day. On Monday and Wednesday I start at 9am and end at 4pm, but only 4 hours of that is spent in class; 3 hours of class on Tuesday and Thursday; 1 hour on Friday. It takes me 30-60 minutes to get home by car, double that when I'm using public transportation (which is most of the time).
There are plenty of people who work 8-12 hours a day straight, still go work out for 1-2 hours after work, make dinner, do some housework, and have some time a few times a week to socialize. It's about prioritizing, scheduling, and not wasting time when you could be getting something else done to thus have more time for pleasurable activities.
Another person suggested preparing food ahead of time. This is easy: cook your regular meals but make then 2-3x larger, freeze/refrigerate what you won't eat that night and bring to campus with you. If you do any aerobic exercise, study while doing it.
Study and do homework between classes on your breaks.
Do less school work more often so you aren't cramming in a bunch of work into one period of time.
You can easily study a bit or work on homework while you are eating or preparing food, especially if you just throw stuff in the oven or crock pot. Hey, make large crock pot recipes a few times a week. You can do homework during commercial breaks. It takes 5 minutes to do laundry - designate 1-2 days for laundry and just do as many loads as needed, and then take 30 minutes to organize your clothing. Are you doing like 10 people's worth of laundry or something? Laundry doesn't actually take that long. You don't need to sit and watch your clothing wash/dry, you can go watch TV or do some homework while the machine does the work. Unless you're washing everything by hand, in which case.... go to a laundromat, man.
Maybe I am just coming off like a ***** right now, but honestly it just sounds like you're complaining about something that isn't worth complaining about. You make things a priority, that means you will have to make some sacrifices. That might mean that you don't hang out with your friends or watch TV every night, but instead have a few nights where you can spend a longer amount of time catching up on TV shows and going out with your friends. There are a lot of people who manage school and work, along with daily living (taking care of the family/self). Figure out when you have your spare time and schedule it out. E.g. I have a few hours between most of my classes this upcoming semester, which is when I plan on doing my studying/homework. That's 2-3 hours every day right there, while I'm still on campus, before I've even left to go home or go work out. Then after my last class of the day I'll go work out as I normally do, will go home, prepare or grab prepared food, eat, do more homework if needed, watch a bit of TV if I want to or have time, and go to bed. Rinse-repeat every week day. Go to work on Saturday, perhaps go out with friends afterwards, maybe even do that on Friday too/instead. On Sunday do any major chores that need to be done, cook more food if I want to, do more studying/homework if needed, go out if desired. You live by sustainable moderation in dieting, you live by sustainable moderation in your lifestyle overall.
Also chances are it takes you so long to study because you aren't studying every day. It always took me hours upon hours to study/do an assignment... because I crammed it all into the day or few days before.0 -
Maybe try moving some stuff to the weekend, say three half hour blocks, then go for just 3 brisk walks in the time you have moved. Regardless, even if you are super busy and don't have time, if you calculate your cals correctly you should still lose weight even without adding exercise.
If i stick to 1200 calories without working out i'd still lose weight it's just difficult to eat less than 1400-1500 when you're stressed about school & aren't getting enough sleep! But i'll try working out more during the weekend!! Thanks
Stop only sleeping from 11pm to 1am. You'll get more done in life despite sleeping more.0 -
I've been in university for 4 years now. You do not have classes for 8.5 hours straight every day. I'm enrolled in 5 courses, have classes every day. On Monday and Wednesday I start at 9am and end at 4pm, but only 4 hours of that is spent in class; 3 hours of class on Tuesday and Thursday; 1 hour on Friday. It takes me 30-60 minutes to get home by car, double that when I'm using public transportation (which is most of the time).
There are plenty of people who work 8-12 hours a day straight, still go work out for 1-2 hours after work, make dinner, do some housework, and have some time a few times a week to socialize. It's about prioritizing, scheduling, and not wasting time when you could be getting something else done to thus have more time for pleasurable activities.
Another person suggested preparing food ahead of time. This is easy: cook your regular meals but make then 2-3x larger, freeze/refrigerate what you won't eat that night and bring to campus with you. If you do any aerobic exercise, study while doing it.
Study and do homework between classes on your breaks.
Do less school work more often so you aren't cramming in a bunch of work into one period of time.
You can easily study a bit or work on homework while you are eating or preparing food, especially if you just throw stuff in the oven or crock pot. Hey, make large crock pot recipes a few times a week. You can do homework during commercial breaks. It takes 5 minutes to do laundry - designate 1-2 days for laundry and just do as many loads as needed, and then take 30 minutes to organize your clothing. Are you doing like 10 people's worth of laundry or something? Laundry doesn't actually take that long. You don't need to sit and watch your clothing wash/dry, you can go watch TV or do some homework while the machine does the work. Unless you're washing everything by hand, in which case.... go to a laundromat, man.
Maybe I am just coming off like a ***** right now, but honestly it just sounds like you're complaining about something that isn't worth complaining about. You make things a priority, that means you will have to make some sacrifices. That might mean that you don't hang out with your friends or watch TV every night, but instead have a few nights where you can spend a longer amount of time catching up on TV shows and going out with your friends. There are a lot of people who manage school and work, along with daily living (taking care of the family/self). Figure out when you have your spare time and schedule it out. E.g. I have a few hours between most of my classes this upcoming semester, which is when I plan on doing my studying/homework. That's 2-3 hours every day right there, while I'm still on campus, before I've even left to go home or go work out. Then after my last class of the day I'll go work out as I normally do, will go home, prepare or grab prepared food, eat, do more homework if needed, watch a bit of TV if I want to or have time, and go to bed. Rinse-repeat every week day. Go to work on Saturday, perhaps go out with friends afterwards, maybe even do that on Friday too/instead. On Sunday do any major chores that need to be done, cook more food if I want to, do more studying/homework if needed, go out if desired. You live by sustainable moderation in dieting, you live by sustainable moderation in your lifestyle overall.
Also chances are it takes you so long to study because you aren't studying every day. It always took me hours upon hours to study/do an assignment... because I crammed it all into the day or few days before.
So rude. Maybe you do not have back to back classes every day but there are people in the world who do. I do. Not 8 and a half hours worth, true, but 9-4 most days with half an hour to an hour lunch break at some point. Yes the OP needs to sort out timing for their workouts etc. but that is why they have this post!
To the OP, it can be tricky to have the time for exercising, I know that I struggle to fit it in a lot of the time with uni during the day and work at night. I try to wake up extra early so that I can do a bit of exercise, maybe you could wake up half an hour to an hour earlier and go for a run/walk/bike, whatever takes your fancy. Another idea is to go right after your classes finish. Don't go straight home because home is comfortable, and that is when you will probably be least motivated. Do some exercise and then head home, then you can feel happy and know you can put your full concentration towards your study.0 -
I've been in university for 4 years now. You do not have classes for 8.5 hours straight every day. I'm enrolled in 5 courses, have classes every day. On Monday and Wednesday I start at 9am and end at 4pm, but only 4 hours of that is spent in class; 3 hours of class on Tuesday and Thursday; 1 hour on Friday. It takes me 30-60 minutes to get home by car, double that when I'm using public transportation (which is most of the time).
There are plenty of people who work 8-12 hours a day straight, still go work out for 1-2 hours after work, make dinner, do some housework, and have some time a few times a week to socialize. It's about prioritizing, scheduling, and not wasting time when you could be getting something else done to thus have more time for pleasurable activities.
Another person suggested preparing food ahead of time. This is easy: cook your regular meals but make then 2-3x larger, freeze/refrigerate what you won't eat that night and bring to campus with you. If you do any aerobic exercise, study while doing it.
Study and do homework between classes on your breaks.
Do less school work more often so you aren't cramming in a bunch of work into one period of time.
You can easily study a bit or work on homework while you are eating or preparing food, especially if you just throw stuff in the oven or crock pot. Hey, make large crock pot recipes a few times a week. You can do homework during commercial breaks. It takes 5 minutes to do laundry - designate 1-2 days for laundry and just do as many loads as needed, and then take 30 minutes to organize your clothing. Are you doing like 10 people's worth of laundry or something? Laundry doesn't actually take that long. You don't need to sit and watch your clothing wash/dry, you can go watch TV or do some homework while the machine does the work. Unless you're washing everything by hand, in which case.... go to a laundromat, man.
Maybe I am just coming off like a ***** right now, but honestly it just sounds like you're complaining about something that isn't worth complaining about. You make things a priority, that means you will have to make some sacrifices. That might mean that you don't hang out with your friends or watch TV every night, but instead have a few nights where you can spend a longer amount of time catching up on TV shows and going out with your friends. There are a lot of people who manage school and work, along with daily living (taking care of the family/self). Figure out when you have your spare time and schedule it out. E.g. I have a few hours between most of my classes this upcoming semester, which is when I plan on doing my studying/homework. That's 2-3 hours every day right there, while I'm still on campus, before I've even left to go home or go work out. Then after my last class of the day I'll go work out as I normally do, will go home, prepare or grab prepared food, eat, do more homework if needed, watch a bit of TV if I want to or have time, and go to bed. Rinse-repeat every week day. Go to work on Saturday, perhaps go out with friends afterwards, maybe even do that on Friday too/instead. On Sunday do any major chores that need to be done, cook more food if I want to, do more studying/homework if needed, go out if desired. You live by sustainable moderation in dieting, you live by sustainable moderation in your lifestyle overall.
Also chances are it takes you so long to study because you aren't studying every day. It always took me hours upon hours to study/do an assignment... because I crammed it all into the day or few days before.
I live in Bahrain & I do have classes for 8.5 hours straight except an hour for lunch lol... It looks like you're calling me a liar? And i did say that I studay daily i'm a pre-med and our curriculum is very difficult anyhow thanks for all the suggestions you've made.. You didn't have to be so rude though 0 -
Personal experience:
I work full time and go to school full time. Work 7-5 classes 5:30-10:30
How did I make it work? NO EXCUSES
My *kitten* is in the gym at 3:15am every morning.
The answer is to simply make time and make yourself do what you need to do.
Good luck this semester0 -
I've been in university for 4 years now. You do not have classes for 8.5 hours straight every day. I'm enrolled in 5 courses, have classes every day. On Monday and Wednesday I start at 9am and end at 4pm, but only 4 hours of that is spent in class; 3 hours of class on Tuesday and Thursday; 1 hour on Friday. It takes me 30-60 minutes to get home by car, double that when I'm using public transportation (which is most of the time).
There are plenty of people who work 8-12 hours a day straight, still go work out for 1-2 hours after work, make dinner, do some housework, and have some time a few times a week to socialize. It's about prioritizing, scheduling, and not wasting time when you could be getting something else done to thus have more time for pleasurable activities.
Another person suggested preparing food ahead of time. This is easy: cook your regular meals but make then 2-3x larger, freeze/refrigerate what you won't eat that night and bring to campus with you. If you do any aerobic exercise, study while doing it.
Study and do homework between classes on your breaks.
Do less school work more often so you aren't cramming in a bunch of work into one period of time.
You can easily study a bit or work on homework while you are eating or preparing food, especially if you just throw stuff in the oven or crock pot. Hey, make large crock pot recipes a few times a week. You can do homework during commercial breaks. It takes 5 minutes to do laundry - designate 1-2 days for laundry and just do as many loads as needed, and then take 30 minutes to organize your clothing. Are you doing like 10 people's worth of laundry or something? Laundry doesn't actually take that long. You don't need to sit and watch your clothing wash/dry, you can go watch TV or do some homework while the machine does the work. Unless you're washing everything by hand, in which case.... go to a laundromat, man.
Maybe I am just coming off like a ***** right now, but honestly it just sounds like you're complaining about something that isn't worth complaining about. You make things a priority, that means you will have to make some sacrifices. That might mean that you don't hang out with your friends or watch TV every night, but instead have a few nights where you can spend a longer amount of time catching up on TV shows and going out with your friends. There are a lot of people who manage school and work, along with daily living (taking care of the family/self). Figure out when you have your spare time and schedule it out. E.g. I have a few hours between most of my classes this upcoming semester, which is when I plan on doing my studying/homework. That's 2-3 hours every day right there, while I'm still on campus, before I've even left to go home or go work out. Then after my last class of the day I'll go work out as I normally do, will go home, prepare or grab prepared food, eat, do more homework if needed, watch a bit of TV if I want to or have time, and go to bed. Rinse-repeat every week day. Go to work on Saturday, perhaps go out with friends afterwards, maybe even do that on Friday too/instead. On Sunday do any major chores that need to be done, cook more food if I want to, do more studying/homework if needed, go out if desired. You live by sustainable moderation in dieting, you live by sustainable moderation in your lifestyle overall.
Also chances are it takes you so long to study because you aren't studying every day. It always took me hours upon hours to study/do an assignment... because I crammed it all into the day or few days before.
I live in Bahrain & I do have classes for 8.5 hours straight except an hour for lunch lol... It looks like you're calling me a liar? And i did say that I studay daily i'm a pre-med and our curriculum is very difficult anyhow thanks for all the suggestions you've made.. You didn't have to be so rude though
In America, it would be impossible to have 8.5 hours of classes a day 5 days a week. The only way to fit an hour workout into your day is to move here!0 -
Personal experience:
I work full time and go to school full time. Work 7-5 classes 5:30-10:30
How did I make it work? NO EXCUSES
My *kitten* is in the gym at 3:15am every morning.
The answer is to simply make time and make yourself do what you need to do.
Good luck this semester
So do you only sleep for 3 hours a night? That doesn't seem like very good advice. How long are you able to sustain that?0 -
Personal experience:
I work full time and go to school full time. Work 7-5 classes 5:30-10:30
How did I make it work? NO EXCUSES
My *kitten* is in the gym at 3:15am every morning.
The answer is to simply make time and make yourself do what you need to do.
Good luck this semester
Impressive!! Yes i think i'll try to wake up half an hour or so earlier! Thank you xo 0 -
I've been in university for 4 years now. You do not have classes for 8.5 hours straight every day. I'm enrolled in 5 courses, have classes every day. On Monday and Wednesday I start at 9am and end at 4pm, but only 4 hours of that is spent in class; 3 hours of class on Tuesday and Thursday; 1 hour on Friday. It takes me 30-60 minutes to get home by car, double that when I'm using public transportation (which is most of the time).
There are plenty of people who work 8-12 hours a day straight, still go work out for 1-2 hours after work, make dinner, do some housework, and have some time a few times a week to socialize. It's about prioritizing, scheduling, and not wasting time when you could be getting something else done to thus have more time for pleasurable activities.
Another person suggested preparing food ahead of time. This is easy: cook your regular meals but make then 2-3x larger, freeze/refrigerate what you won't eat that night and bring to campus with you. If you do any aerobic exercise, study while doing it.
Study and do homework between classes on your breaks.
Do less school work more often so you aren't cramming in a bunch of work into one period of time.
You can easily study a bit or work on homework while you are eating or preparing food, especially if you just throw stuff in the oven or crock pot. Hey, make large crock pot recipes a few times a week. You can do homework during commercial breaks. It takes 5 minutes to do laundry - designate 1-2 days for laundry and just do as many loads as needed, and then take 30 minutes to organize your clothing. Are you doing like 10 people's worth of laundry or something? Laundry doesn't actually take that long. You don't need to sit and watch your clothing wash/dry, you can go watch TV or do some homework while the machine does the work. Unless you're washing everything by hand, in which case.... go to a laundromat, man.
Maybe I am just coming off like a ***** right now, but honestly it just sounds like you're complaining about something that isn't worth complaining about. You make things a priority, that means you will have to make some sacrifices. That might mean that you don't hang out with your friends or watch TV every night, but instead have a few nights where you can spend a longer amount of time catching up on TV shows and going out with your friends. There are a lot of people who manage school and work, along with daily living (taking care of the family/self). Figure out when you have your spare time and schedule it out. E.g. I have a few hours between most of my classes this upcoming semester, which is when I plan on doing my studying/homework. That's 2-3 hours every day right there, while I'm still on campus, before I've even left to go home or go work out. Then after my last class of the day I'll go work out as I normally do, will go home, prepare or grab prepared food, eat, do more homework if needed, watch a bit of TV if I want to or have time, and go to bed. Rinse-repeat every week day. Go to work on Saturday, perhaps go out with friends afterwards, maybe even do that on Friday too/instead. On Sunday do any major chores that need to be done, cook more food if I want to, do more studying/homework if needed, go out if desired. You live by sustainable moderation in dieting, you live by sustainable moderation in your lifestyle overall.
Also chances are it takes you so long to study because you aren't studying every day. It always took me hours upon hours to study/do an assignment... because I crammed it all into the day or few days before.
I live in Bahrain & I do have classes for 8.5 hours straight except an hour for lunch lol... It looks like you're calling me a liar? And i did say that I studay daily i'm a pre-med and our curriculum is very difficult anyhow thanks for all the suggestions you've made.. You didn't have to be so rude though
In America, it would be impossible to have 8.5 hours of classes a day 5 days a week. The only way to fit an hour workout into your day is to move here!
Lol I can't do that but i'll try all the suggestions that people suggested 0 -
Seems like there is never enough time - I like the no excuses, go to the gym at 3:15 gal - YOU GO! Great inspiration. 0
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Like what others said wake up at 3 or 4 and go to the gym
Thats what I'm planing to do next month, 4th year, studying 7 subjects in civil engineering: (In paranthesis are the stuff I'll have to do in the course)
Concrete design (Designing an entire building) - Traffic Engineering (Calculating traffic in an entire nation) - Foundation design (Designing building foundations) - Bridge design (Designing a bridge) - Steel design (Designing a steel structure).
Toughest semester yet but I'm hoping to make it work. If me & the others can, so can you!0 -
I'm on the same boat as you, I'm going to be trying to go to the gym between classes and taking my notebook with me so I can study on the treadmill! Whatever works for you honestly, even if you have to stay up late and do a 20-30 min workout or wake up really early and do it, GOOD LUCK!0
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