College Jolt

We’re all busy people. Between classes, papers and extracurriculars, many of us have few moments to spare to relax, let alone hold down a job. But you know what? (You’re going to love what comes next.) Unless its absolutely necessary, its best to avoid working at least until your junior or senior year. Sounds like a cop out, but its sound advice; This way you’ll be able to focus on your studies and get in the groove of the whole college thing. Find alternative means to financing your education for those first two years, such as loans, grants and scholarships.

However, its clear that many undergrads must work full or part time in addition to attending classes, due to financial necessity. This is a less than desirable situation which, due to rising enrollment rates and tuition costs, many of us find ourselves in.

If due to the unfortunate inevitable, you find yourself among those that do need to work while in school, ignore the temptation to wait tables or bartend, and find a job on campus instead. Not that there is anything wrong with working in a restaurant—in fact you can meet some very interesting people that way. But the advantages of on-campus jobs greatly outweigh running burgers and beer to your fellow scholars for dollars at a time.

Maybe it’s only for minimum or work-study wage, but working on campus means you are connected to the university in yet one more way. Let’s say you work in a professor’s office part-time, helping him keep track of his tirelessly unorganized research, papers, and student tests. Someday that professor will be able to write you a beautiful letter of recommendation. So what if you never took a class with him? He’ll still be able to commend your initiative, organization and professionalism, things future employers and grad school reps look for in potential candidates.

Along the same lines, try to get a job manning the front-desk of an academic department, information desk, or library at your school. This is a way to get recognition while also providing an opportunity for superb study habits. Yes, although these on-campus positions demand attentiveness on the one hand, they also allow for homework time when traffic past your desk is low.

Desk-sitting and office work not your cup-o-tea? Don’t limit yourself in you on-campus job search. The possibilities are endless, especially at bigger schools whose departments are large or numerous. Tailor your search to your interests or academic major. If you’re a sports management major, try to work for your school’s best varsity team (as a support specialist, a.k.a. water boy). Try fund-raising for your school yearbook if you’re a business or advertising major. If you’re a music or writing major, try writing a column for your school newspaper (these positions usually pay per-column or per-commission).

Not convinced this is the way to go? If you don’t need to work to finance school but could still use some extra pocket-cash, there are other options. Try being a lab rat. If you go to a large, research-oriented university like mine, chances are there are many opportunities to lend yourself as a research subject.

Most of the research experiments you will sign up for are harmless, performance oriented experiments held by PhD students in the psychology department, who will do almost anything to get people to participate as subjects. They will ask you to do things like play video games, learn physics and mimic the Swahili language, while they test your responses and pay you dollars and hour plus cents for good performance.

Other, more clinical experiments provide different benefits. These research studies, advertised by the local hospital or laboratory, will ask you to provide blood work, slap on a medicated patch and run physical tests. In exchange, they compensate you with money (usually upwards of a couple hundred dollars) and a physical checkup. Some of these clinical trials are sponsored by drug companies who are in the final stages of testing their new birth control or asthma medicine. Don’t worry, these drugs are usually extremely safe; this last stage of testing (on real humans) is simply a formality needed before acquiring FDA approval.

These jobs may not be as lucrative as bartending on Saturday nights. But more importantly, these opportunities connect you to others at your university who may someday help you in your career search, while allowing you to work according to your schedule, between classes, or for a deadline on your own time.