For some people, college is as much a social scene as it is a learning experience, and for these people, college parties can be a major distraction from studying. There’s no point in enrolling in classes only to get low grades, and it’s even worse to fail a class because it wastes hundreds or even thousands of dollars, increasing the cost of your college degree, while striking a permanent mark on your transcript.
How to Have Better Time Management
It’s not necessary to be a hermit in college; you should probably spend some time socializing when you’re young, but by shifting your focus from partying to studying, you’ll save money, get better grades and generally stay ahead of things in life. If you have roommates that spend an inordinate amount of time socializing, you’ll have to find a solution to stay away from them during the week and at high-stakes times around the middle and end of the semester.
It might be a good idea to spend your weeknights at the university library or another quiet public place instead of at home where your roommates can pressure you into hanging out with them. As long as you spend your weeknights studying, it probably won’t hurt you to go out with friends on the weekends. It might be a problem if you stay out extremely late and sleep all day the next day or if you find yourself falling behind in your classes. If these problems start to crop up, just go to the library or to a cafe by yourself to study on the weekends instead of to a party.
Choose a Better Study Environment
If you’re the type of person who has a hard time focusing in a quiet place, it would probably help if you schedule a study session with a group of people from your school. Many outgoing people need to talk and make noise to stay focused, and these people are usually the ones spending much of their time at parties. The trick is not to punish yourself by taking on a painful and unrealistic amount of work. You’ll give up and go back to your partying ways, and it will only make you feel bad about yourself. Make the transition as easy as possible, and the new, productive habits will become second nature.
There’s really no secret to avoiding parties; all you have to do is not go to them. The real reason it’s difficult to break this habit is that it’s more exciting and fun to socialize than it is to do work for some people. Not everyone has difficulty avoiding parties, some people are naturally inclined to spend their free time working and usually have to deal with the opposite problem: learning how to overcome their social awkwardness and have fun at parties. It might help to consider what these so-called nerdy people have to deal with because they’re usually the ones getting A’s in their science and math classes. You can’t change who you are, but you can make your work more interesting by choosing a major that excites you.
It can be hard to change bad habits, but anyone can do it. Gradually learning how to have effective time management and make good decisions will turn you into a productive person eventually. You won’t have to completely avoid college parties; you can just spend more time focusing on productive habits.