I have had a lot of free time this semester and I’m considering getting a job, but I don’t want working to interfere with my school performance. What is your opinion about working while in school? 

This decision depends a lot on how good you are at managing your time. Sometimes if you find yourself having a lot of free time it is easier for you to be able to procrastinate on schoolwork and still have time to do it at the last minute. If you throw a job into the mix, then you have to consider that you will not have as much free time to complete assignments at the last minute. You have to make sure that you will be able to manage your time and schoolwork efficiently if you were to get a job. Working a job while being in school can be rewarding if you are able to balance them. Personally, when I started working a job I found that I was more motivated to do my homework early because I took advantage of the days I didn’t work to get ahead on schoolwork. You can also find jobs that are more flexible than others. The more flexible your job is, the easier it will be for you to keep up your school performance.

My roommate that I live in my dorm with wants to live with each other next year but I’m unsure if I want to. We have been disagreeing a lot lately and I don’t know if it’s the best idea. What do you think? 

Freshman year roommates come into contact with this problem a lot. Having to share the same room with someone can make it really difficult to get along for the entire year. This especially becomes a problem towards the end of the year when the “new roomie” phase fades away. Living in an apartment with someone is a lot easier than living in a dorm room with someone. In an apartment, you have your own room where you can get away from your roommates if you want alone time. Living in a dorm is difficult because you are forced to be in the same room as your roommate. If you and your roommate got along perfectly fine during the first semester, then I think you two would be fine getting an apartment together. The disagreeing you are experiencing now is most likely a result of both of you wanting alone time and not having anywhere to get that. However, if you and your roommate have not gotten along from the start then living together is probably not the best idea.  

 I am a sophomore pre-nursing student and I have applied to UNCW’s nursing program three times and have been turned down every time. I don’t want to transfer, but I don’t want to keep wasting time in school when I’m not in a nursing program. What should I do? 

UNCW’s nursing program is a great program, but is also very competitive. I have no experience with trying to apply to nursing school, but I have several friends who have run into this problem. If you find yourself becoming irritated with applying several times to UNCW, I would recommend looking into other nursing schools. It can become exhausting when you apply over and over and continue to get the same response. Cape Fear Community College offers a great nursing program. This would be a great opportunity to attend nursing school while still living in Wilmington. Going to nursing school at a community college is just as much of an accomplishment as attending nursing school at a university. You will learn the same material and get the same experience. You could also look into nursing schools outside of Wilmington.