How to combine your internship with your academic work?

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We are totally in that time of the year in which lots of students start their internship (me included) and I thought it would be cool to discuss that “how to balance internship and academic work” thing together. Of course, I know there are schools that set you free from whole academic work before the start of the year’s internship but not every school does that (and mine definitely does not). So, let’s discuss the ways I do manage doing an internship, working on my essays, preparing the next academic year and working on my thesis. Ready?

N.B. I just released a reading video dedicated to children on LinkedIn. During my internship a the library, I had (among other things) to translate a French book about colors and imagine a way to make a reading session more “alive”. My number one research mission is to help French children learn English through children’s literature. Thus, I used a little flower-shaped carpet in order to better illustrate the book I was reading. For those of you who were interested in what I actually did at the library (a day in my life being available here), I think this video is a pretty great way to have an idea. Click here if you are interested in listening to the story.

Do you have a day off?

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Here is the first $1 000 000 question. If you only have your Sundays off, chances are that you are going to have to work a lot on the evenings. To me, indeed, it is absolutely necessary to keep a day off (here, your Sundays) in order to stay sane in the face of so much work. However, if you have another day off, then please use it to work. If you are not used to working alongside your studies, you may be used to having full week-ends. However, believe me, you do not really “need” two days off. Thus, replace the second day off by an academic day. For instance, I have Sundays and Mondays off. Thus, Sundays are to relax, write and work out while Mondays are “academic days”. I have one day off and that is more than enough for me. Bonus: it leaves me my evenings after work almost free, and thus creates a clear line between internship and academic work.

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How long is your lunch break?

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If, like me, you have a super long two-hours lunch break, please use this to work. Maybe it is not convenient because you need to commute back home to eat but if you have the full two hours for you, use that amount of time to work on your essays or thesis. It will free you so much time on the evenings and those two hours eating are not really necessary, right?

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Set priorities and stick to them.

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Last but not least, what are your priorities? Sorry, that hits hard but sometimes, choices are needed. Is your internship going to bring you somewhere? Are you getting a lot of credentials from it? Is your company maybe offering a full-time position after the internship? If the answers to those questions are “no, no and no”, then maybe reconsider your priorities. Of course going to the internship in necessary, but you may prefer investing your time in your thesis or essays. Of course, if the contrary is true and your answers were “yes, yes and yes”, please put those essays on the side and focus on making that internship per-fect.

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I know those tips are quite simple but I do hope reading them will help you manage that amount of work. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing that you are able to do it. Wishing you luck,