A romantic college relationship can be difficult, tumultuous and it can take your attention away from your studies. This is bad news. The good news is that if you know yourself and stick to your studies – and focus on your priorities – you can manage your relationship quite well. Sure, it will be rocky at first, but things will fall into place if you know exactly what you want. The truth of the matter is that school should be first on the list. Anytime that it isn’t, you want to reevaluate things. This is the case if you are going to university or college. It can also help to have a few other tips.
Here is how to manage a romantic relationship in college.
Get to Know Someone Before Getting Serious
Before you enter a serious relationship, you really want to know the person. The last thing you want is to meet someone and then secretly move into his or her dorm. This is why lots of dates are important – day dates and night dates. You really want to see what life is like with a person on both sides of the coin.
Forget About that Long Distance Relationship
If you entered college with a long-distance relationship, it may be time to have “the talk” soon after you get settled into college life. About 90% of these long-distance relationships don’t work. These relationships are basically vestigial relationships that don’t have any purpose once you are a university student. This may be a harsh reality, and it may not dawn on you until later, but when it does you will want to be completely prepared.
Don’t Leave Your Friends Hanging
Of course, when you enter a relationship, you don’t want to leave all your friends behind. Your friends will be there for you in college, so you don’t want to let them down. All too often, a couple of pairs off and loses a lot of their friends. This is especially prevalent in college. The only problem with this is that your friends may not be there when your relationship doesn’t work out or when you need them the most.
School Will Always Come First
Another golden rule is that the school must always come first. The key to managing a successful relationship in college is that you need to focus on school. Studying, reviewing, writing papers and more all come before seeing your significant other. If you aren’t doing well in school, or if your grade point average is taking a hit, you may want to reassess things.
Don’t Invest Too Much in Your College Relationship
On top of everything, you don’t want to invest too much in your college relationship. There is a slim chance that you are going to spend the rest of your life with this person. In fact, there may be a few people in college that you will date. When you are a university student, you need to have fun. In the end, the stress of a relationship could really get you down.
