Every August, approximately 30,000 students move onto the University of Kentucky’s campus, not fully expecting the amount of work they have to do to sustain themselves throughout their academic career.
For senior Hannah Stanley, the work started when she first entered college. Stanley, who is getting a dual degree in marketing and communications alongside a minor in journalism, has been working 40 hour weeks as a server, taking 18 credit hours and still maintaining a social life.
“I was taking 18 credit hours since second semester freshman year, so this is the first time since my first semester at UK that I’ve only had 12 credit hours,” Stanley said. “And on top of that, I was working about 40 hours a week and taking 18 credit hours, and then I would still want to have a social life.”
Luckily for students, the University of Kentucky provides many options to aid students in planning for their future, and balancing their academic career.
Brooke Nowicki, a career adviser associate in UK’s College of Communication and Information, works closely with students in professional planning during college, and after.
“The majority of my job is interacting with students, whether it be helping them connect with alums that have done what they want to do, job shadowing opportunities, internships–or my favorite, which is full time employment,” Nowicki said.
Nowicki hasn’t noticed a large difference in how students develop in their time management skills, but one thing that stands prevalent is that for students who start strong, they finish their career strong as well.
“I feel like students that start strong in general end strong, which is what I’m pushing for, is to just start,” Nowicki said.
For students like Stanley, the skill doesn’t always come naturally, as they have found that prioritizing and dividing time is the key to success.
“I didn’t really get good at managing stress until the end of junior year, and then I started really perfecting it my senior year,” Stanley said. “It’s prioritizing what’s actually important in the moment, and then realizing, ‘Take a deep breath, hang on.”