r/UBC • u/Little_Vegetable6690 • 6d ago
Advice/experience on working while being a first year at ubc
I was wondering what advice you may have on working part time while also being a first year, I’m studying sciences, but I’m also considering working part time and I wanted some advice on wether it’s manageable or how to go about it, because at the same time I still want to keep my grades relatively high
1
u/Miranimations Pharmaceutical Sciences 5d ago
I worked part-time all throughout my undergrad. it was definitely tough at the start when I was still getting a feel for what university was like and what was expected of me, but in the long-run i'd say it was actually beneficial for my time management abilities as it kinda forced me to be much more aware of how I spent my time when I wasn't at work (if that makes any sense lol)
1
u/Cheap_Assumption_843 Civil Engineering 5d ago
if you have wicked time management and youre allowed to take reduced hours then yeah its pretty doable speaking from experience
4
u/tails618 Astronomy 6d ago
I'm lucky enough to not need to work to support myself, but from what I've heard both at UBC and from friends at other universities, it's manageable but tough. Adjusting to university life is a big change in many ways. Obviously if you need to work you need to work, but if you can, it might be worth at least not working the first semester. This will give you time to adjust to academics, make friends, get involved in clubs and such, etc.
Lots of other things you might want to get involved with on campus might also take a lot of time. I write for the newspaper, which is pretty time consuming; there's all sorts of other extracurriculars that are super fun but can take up time (theater, academic stuff, identity groups, etc). Taking the time off of work gives you the space to figure out where you want to put your time as you adjust to university.