Coping with University Work and Personal Reading

[ToALonelyPeace]

I have a similar-if not worse- problem, and I'm also a Biology major. My private reading not only needs to compete with my current classes, it needs to compete with previous classes' materials. I review back and forth, so things eventually accumulate. The result is I stew on a 300 pg book for 3 months.

ToALonelyPeace's response was precisely what I was afraid of, but this does not negate the empowerment the rest of the comments have given me. Thank you all!

To try and curb this, I'm going to try my damndest to get a job at the campus library.

[miguel1984]

Well, I did OK at university, but I could have been so much better. It just happened that I love to read, but I love to read what I want to read, not what someone else gives me.

It is the same reason I did not read almost any of the books I ever received as presents.

[Zaharoff]

Quote Originally Posted by miguel1984

. . . It is the same reason I did not read almost any of the books I ever received as presents.

I have told family and friends for years -
Do Not Buy Me Any Books!
then it became
DON'T BUY ME ANY DAMN BOOKS BECAUSE I WILL THROW THEM AWAY
I mean, really, the books they buy are either coffee table tomes or thriller crap I read on airplanes then abandon in terminals for the next victim.
And yes, at my age, I give unwanted books to the Salvation Army.

[Speaking Mute]

To echo the general sentiment, I never had an issue with personal time in general - during my undergraduate years I was a double major in philosophy and mathematics and then in graduate school I went into statistics and actuarial science.

I can offer some cynical advice based on my own experiences on how to preserve your free time and keep your schooling on track: first, try to separate what you need for your own professional and personal advancement from what faculty, departments, and colleges try to load onto you just because they can - be ruthless about giving the later the bare minimum of time and effort required. Second, be extremely wary about taking up research projects and who you're taking them up with - there's a lot of push for undergraduate research now, but unfortunately a lot of faculty just use it to unload busy work and pet projects that, aside from working you to the bone, might actually hurt your graduate school application. Third, whereas this may be a bit far off, prepare for it now if you're in the USA: avoid teaching and/or assistant teaching at all costs in graduate school - the majority of horror stories I know about graduate school chewing up and spitting people out involve them getting forced into teaching and grading responsibilities to pay the bills.