Campus Life: How Do I Handle All This Free Time?

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When Melissa Hernandez (Colby College) plotted her freshman-year schedule, she was amazed at the number of empty blocks, giving the illusion of a bounty of free time: "I remember walking into college thinking, 'Sweet, only four classes!'" recalls Melissa. But once she started working a part-time job, writing English papers, volunteering, and otherwise getting involved on campus, she had few extra moments to herself.

Her experience is common among first-year students. A certain shock can set in when they realize that they'll be in class about half as much as in high school. And with few assignments usually due the first weeks of class, it can seem like there's almost too much free time. Those who pack their schedules with activities and opportunities find themselves quickly engrossed and rarely complaining that they have little time to sit around.

During her freshman year, for example, Yassmin Sadeghi (Yale University) joined the Freshman Class Council and the Yale Political Union, and participated in community-service projects. "In retrospect, I'm really glad I got so involved my first semester because it allowed me to meet a lot of people and discover what I was most interested in," says Yassmin.

Like many students, Grace Choe (University of Southern California) finds she's much better off when she's busy. "There are so many awesome opportunities here, one would be a fool to pass on them," she says. "I'm constantly active and I don't have time to slack off. If I have free time during the day . . . I tend to get into a vegetative state. The worst semester I had was when I was taking only three classes and had one campus activity. I got two C's and a B. These were easy classes!"

It may seem unusual to hear Grace explain why she needs to keep busy to do her best in school. But it's an assertion successful students repeatedly cite. Some further explanation might help.

Students who are intensely involved typically work hard to manage their schedules to fit everything in"with time set aside for academics, part-time jobs, and clubs. They like to hang out, go out, watch TV, and talk on the phone like all students, but for them such activities are a lower priority. Those with excessive free time often approach the situation from the other side: They spend so much time hanging out, watching TV, and socializing that they struggle to find room for academics.

By the way, no one suggests that an occasional lazy day, or a little lazy time every day, is a problem. Sometimes it's good to devote a few hours to reality TV, hacky-sack, or PlayStation 2. The idea is that if you skip class or delay term-paper research to catch the latest episode of "General Hospital" or "Survivor: Cleveland," you might need to rearrange your priorities.