5 Tips on How to Balance an Internship and School

by RJ Edrolin

It’s pretty common knowledge that when your third or fourth year hits, it’s time to look for an internship. However balancing school and an internship can be a lot – and often this balance is not talked about. 

Out of the four internships I’ve held during college, three of them have been during the school year. Adjusting to balancing school and an internship was definitely a learning curve for me. I do want to preface though that aside from my internship and academics, I also am active in multiple extracurriculars and hold an on-campus job. As a result, my tips are influenced by a heavier schedule. Regardless, below are a few tips I have for those looking to find a balance between school and their internship. 

1. Meal Prep!

Whether your internship is in-person or online, meal prepping is a real game changer. You’d be surprised how much time gets sucked up from cooking, preparing meals, and grocery shopping. Meal prepping in advance gives you one less thing to worry about during the week. 

2. Schedule Precisely 

In general, I personally believe that your freshman and sophomore year should be reserved for front-loading all your classes, but if you know you want to intern in your later college years, it’s imperative that you schedule carefully off the bat. If you’re an underclassman reading this, please schedule as many core classes as you can during your first year! You’ll thank yourself later in college when you only have a few courses to take per semester, leaving yourself with time to intern. 

Additionally, once you start that internship, I honestly wouldn’t recommend taking more than the minimum amount of units to be considered a full-time student that semester (12 units). Now your course load is entirely dependent on multiple factors like your major, how many hours your internship wants you to work, your extracurriculars etc. My internships have usually asked me to work at least 20 hours a week and I found that 12 units was just enough for me to feel a good balance between academics, extracurriculars, and work. 

3. Be Realistic with Yourself 

It’s no surprise that with interning, you may have to sacrifice a few things to make time for this schedule. However, it’s vital that you be realistic with your schedule. It’s not going to be a fun semester if you are booking all your time throughout the week for academics, work, and extracurriculars. Make sure to also leave some free time for yourself and for friends. 

For example, for this semester, roughly every weekday after 4:30PM my schedule is pretty open. In my opinion, this gives me enough time and flexibility to make plans, finish up homework, or do some other household chores. 

4. Consider taking a Break Between Semesters!

Although it might be tempting to want to get ahead of the game and build that resume constantly, I would recommend taking a break between semesters (if you can). I interned every other semester (ex: internship for the Summer, no internship for the Fall, internship for the Spring, etc.). This balance allowed me to still feel like a college student and live a ‘normal’ life, while still building my resume. 

Again, this may be industry dependent. Some industries are more competitive to break into than others and it may be better for you to constantly intern throughout the year. I’ve been interning within the Entertainment Industry, which is a roughly difficult industry to break into. However, I prioritized finding a balance between academics, my school life, and work so I decided to take breaks every other semester. And in my opinion, I found that it didn’t hurt my chances in finding my next internships.  

5. Prioritize your Wellbeing

If you find yourself only getting 5 hours of sleep a night, feeling like you can’t catch a break, or haven’t seen your friends in what feels like forever, this may be a sign that you are overloading yourself. This goes back to my third point, being realistic with yourself, but I want to further emphasize that your well-being should come first before everything else. You are not going to be doing a good job as an intern if you’re not taking care of yourself in the first place. 

Overall, internships should be a supplement to your college experience, not the entire thing. While internships are important to get, remember why you’re in college in the first place: to get that degree! Your education will always come first (which is something most companies understand too when hiring undergrad interns). Always make sure you are finding a way to maintain a good work-school-life balance and good luck on interning!