1. Balancing Social Life and Academics Sara Erdman Literature and Society Dr. Sherry 2/15/11

2. Study or Social Life??  Many students go to college to get an education, while some mainly focus on their social life.  Those students who succeed, how do they find the balance between school work and their social lives?

3. Response  Take a look at the college study by Rebekha Nathan (2005)  My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student  Reflecting on ethnographic data  Take a peek at our own university, Bloomsburg University.

4. My Freshman Year  Who:  Rebekah Nathan  What:  Enrolled herself at a student at the University she had currently taught at to take a look at the life of a college freshman in classes and living in the dorms.

5. My Freshman Year Cont.…  Why:  To see college students interact with each other and experience college culture first hand.  Where:  The study took place at “AnyU”.  When:  Nathan performed this study in 2005.

6. My Freshman Year Findings  Nathan found that students today study and socialize less than they did when she had originally gone to college.  This could show that more students could have more jobs and travel home to see family.  Student’s social networks are their way of life.  Many student’s meet new people during their first year of college and they tend to stick with the majority of those friends throughout college.  How do they balance socializing and class?  Many student’s multitask, such as listening to music while doing homework.

7. What do you do at Bloom?  Are student’s at Bloomsburg more concerned with the “Boozeburg” side of Bloomsburg or their classes and achievement?  Where is the balance?

8. Reflecting on Ethnographic data:  Visiting different dorm rooms  A “normal” day here at Bloom  Public Hangouts  Personal interviews with people “unlike” you

9. What’s Hiding in a Room?  Looking at what is in a person’s room we could see what the person’s interests are, neat or messy, whether they study or not, and other interesting things.  This first picture is quite messy.  This could suggest that this student is busy and does not have time to constantly clean.  This picture also shows some pictures, which shows that this person likes to be reminded of family and friends.

10. What’s Hiding in a Room?  We can also look at this second picture and analyze what is in it.  We can see in the corner a comfy chair, which shows that this student likes to be comfortable when spending time in their room.  Another thing to take notice to is the amount of pictures, magazine pictures, and sports teams that are hanging up.  This shows that this student values her family and friends a lot, along with expressing herself with the magazine pictures and the sports stuff.

11. Where does the time go?  Creating a time diary I had found how several students spend their days here at Bloomsburg and how they balance socializing and academics.  The top student:  The first student clearly values physical health because in one day they spent 5 hours doing Zumba.  Clearly this student has a lot on their plate because they spend almost as much time on homework as they do for sleep.  The student on the right:  Does not value physical health as much due to the fact they only spent 1 hour at the gym.  The second student also values their sleep much more than anything else. ActivityTime Spent Zumba5 hours Sleep5 hours Class2.5 hours Homework4 hours Eating1 hour ActivityTime Spent Gym1 hour Sleep10 hours Lunch30 minutes TV1 hour Friends4 hours

12. O, the places you see people.  Sitting in a public place and “people watch” you can see several trends and see which students focus more on academics or socializing.  I had observed people coming and going in and out of Starbucks.  The majority of the students came in with friends, placed their orders, and either left or headed towards the library.  I also noticed that many people stayed with other individuals of the same ethnicity.  I noticed that college students enjoy being around someone all the time.

13. We are different but the same  When interviewing people “unlike you” I ended up finding two people that I had several things in common with.  Both of these students seemed to be either anti-social or just studying all the time.  Later, I discovered there were reasons they were so studious during the week was so that they could have a social life on weekends and week nights.  Student 1: The way I balance my school work and social life is by getting assignments done when assigned so I can go out or go home when I want or need to.  Student 2: My favorite thing about college is meeting new and different people but also having freedom and the responsibility that comes with it.  Both of these student’s answers show that they have figured out a way to have both a social life and an academic one as well.

14. Tying It All Together  Here at Bloomsburg, our culture contains both a social life and academic life.  Most students say both are important to a true college education.  Academics helps you earn your degree and start a life for yourself.  While a social life helps to create friendships and learn how to react to certain situations when thrown into them.  Some student’s attend for just the social life, some for the academics, but I feel the true winners are those that come for both.  Nathan’s study show that the majority of college students like both aspects, the problem is finding the balance.  At college you are not only learning in your classes but also about life in general and yourself.

15. References  Nathan, R. (2005). My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student. New York: Penguin Group, Ltd.