Being a full-time student is no joke. Yes, you are not glued to a 9-5 job that is sucking the life out of you, and you have more flexibility in your class schedule – but you’re also doing about 100 other things besides going to class. At least when you’re working, your job (kinda) ends once you come home. And you can finally relax, unwind and think about other things in life. However, school pretty much follows you everywhere – and I mean everywhere.

You go home or to your dorm, and homework starts creeping up on you. You turn on Netflix, and that group project group chat makes you want to break your phone. You actually open your email, and you’re spammed with everything university related.

It doesn’t stop there. Chances are you are taking between 16-18 credits, and still trying to be a “well-rounded” student. Getting involved on campus, doing extracurriculars, interning, working on outside projects, and miraculously remembering to eat properly(ish). Props to you, because I’ve been there (and I’m still here).

So in the middle of all that chaos and resume building – how on earth can we also manage to keep up with our social life? My tip: prioritization.

Admit it, you all have “time management” as one of your skills on your resume. And I bet for some students that skill was judged by actually getting to class on time. (You deserve a star! Really. No, really. I know the struggle.) But time management obviously goes beyond that.

You’re flexing that skill when you plan events for your student organization when you submit your part of the group project, when you turn in your 10-page paper on time, and when you work on tasks at your internship. If you haven’t guessed already, time management can’t exist without prioritization. They need each other, just like how I need coffee. There’s no proper functioning if one is missing.

Now the catch here is prioritizing something as tricky as a social life. Careful, too much consideration and it can overpower your entire schedule. No consideration, and you will be miserable. You need to find that perfect balance, where your social life will act as a great pick-me-up in the middle of your hectic schedule – but not so much that it’s distracting you from time sensitive engagements.

Once you have a little dose of your social life throughout your week, you’re less likely to have FOMO or have no time to catch up with friends and family. That’s why it’s good to avoid pushing away your social life completely until you can “make time for it” – because it’s going to creep up on you anyway. Be smart about it – and live a healthy, balanced life all around while being the all-star student I knew you would be.