8 tips for how to balance school and work 

Excelling at your job means a lot of hard work, late nights, and, in some cases, lots of time spent away from friends and family. Balancing school and work requires you to dedicate even more time toward balancing an already hectic schedule, but mastering this skill can help push your career and life forward. 

A new semester, new week, or even a new day of school is always just around the corner when you’re a student. So, we caught up with some of our driven Intuit employees to reflect on their experiences balancing school with their full-time jobs. Here are some of their tips for anyone taking a similar journey. 

1. Know your workload 

“It’s important to ensure your calendar is reasonably clear before signing up for a class. I made the mistake of enrolling in a class that overlapped with my daughter’s wedding. I hadn’t anticipated how much of my brain would be needed for that event, and I had to drop the class after a month of struggling to divide my attention—all while continuing to do my day job.” 

2. Know your goal 

“Have a clear idea of why you’re taking classes. In my case, I’m doing it for personal enrichment. It doesn’t matter if I get a good grade, but I’m so trained to excel in school that I knock myself out trying to turn in my best work on time. I’ll let myself lose some sleep over an assignment, but if it starts to affect my health, I have to remind myself that I’m not doing it for the grade, and I make myself find peace with turning in a late assignment.” 

Karen Weiss, Principal Communications Manager in Mountain View, CA 

3. Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize 

“I literally keep a sticky note on my desk that reminds me that my daughter and husband are my number one priority, followed by self-care. Then come my job and school. This helps me say yes to things that are most important and eliminate all the time-sucks that limit my ability to be there as a mom and a partner. By knowing what’s really most important, it gets easier to say no and, at the end of the day (even if I’ve been going nonstop for 15 hours), I know I’ve done something meaningful with my time.” 

4. Tell people 

“Don’t try to hide that you’re pursuing your educational goals! If you are balancing school and work, there will be times they overlap. Usually, that’s a good thing. For example, I can apply what I learned in my organizational leadership class at UC Berkeley’s Haas Business School directly to a meeting the next day at Intuit. But there’s also the negative side—there were a few instances where I had to say no to an end-of-day meeting to start my commute to business school. In those situations where school starts to seep into the workplace, I found it was much easier just to embrace the fact that you add value from your time in the classroom and be brutally honest with your colleagues (or clients) about the positives and negatives. Chances are, they completely understand, have your back, and also may want to hear about what you’re learning!” 

Sarah Hilmer, Senior Manager, Public Affairs and Public Policy, Local Impact and Strategic Alliances in Mountain View, CA 

5. Find the time 

“Balancing school, work, and a personal life is tough! When I tell my colleagues that I’m pursuing my MBA while working full-time, I often get asked, “How do you do it?” The truth is there is no secret to the balancing act. I just try to show up to my commitments as best as I can—whether it be a work meeting or a school group meeting. The first year was the hardest. Within three months, I moved back to the Bay Area, started my MBA program at UC Davis, and began working at Intuit. I had to learn how to re-prioritize and allocate my time. My workday is filled with meetings, so I usually take my work home, but since I’ve started school, I’ve learned that the best time for me to catch up on homework is during my lunch hour and on the weekends.” 

6. Self-care is crucial 

“I had a huge health scare a couple of months ago and found out I had adrenal fatigue due to chronic stress, so I’ve become a huge advocate for self-care. Now, I go to bed before 10 P.M., do breathing exercises or meditation to ground myself, take time to work out, and use essential oils whenever I feel stressed. Working and attending business school has been a tough journey. Whenever I’m having a hard time and want to quit, I just remember that my classmates and some of my colleagues are going through the same thing, and I focus on the fact that getting my MBA has been a dream of mine since 2014!” 

Lisa May Francisco, Former Communications Manager in Mountain View, CA 

7. Be an early bird 

“Make sure that your boss understands what the degree you’re pursuing will require in terms of time and that they are willing to be flexible. You also have to be flexible and sometimes take your work with you outside normal working hours. When you go home after a tiring day of work, the last thing you will want is to continue working on things related to the degree, so I recommend, if possible, studying 1-2 hours in the morning instead.” 

8. Use vacation wisely 

“When you take long breaks between studying, it takes time to get back into the rhythm of learning materials or studying productively. Try using your vacation time for studying. Giving yourself a few days to continuously focus solely on school will let you get through the material quicker and more effectively.” 

Noah Eyal Altman, Data Science Manager in Hod HaSharon, Israel 

Find balance in work and school 

We’ve learned some great tips on self-care, routine, and clear communication to help you balance work and school. Our thanks go out to our valuable Intuit team members who contributed to this article. They contribute to what makes our company special and are integral to powering prosperity for our customers worldwide.  

Ready to start (or continue) your own career journey? We encourage students to browse our open careers at Intuit.