One of the main benefits of taking online courses at West Virginia University is the flexibility to complete coursework around your schedule, but are you truly making the most of that flexibility?
These days, balancing work, life, and school is more important than ever. To make sure you’re getting the most out of your online experience, we’ve compiled a few tips to help you maintain a healthy work-life balance.
Tip 1: Establish Boundaries
Set strict “work, school, and life” time frames and do your best to stick to them. This keeps you focused on work or school when it’s time to be productive, while being able to truly disconnect when it’s time to relax.
Tip 2: Take Advantage of Talkspace
Tip 3: Be Intentional with Your Workflow
Let's Hear From the Experts
- "Managing my day and finding dedicated times to sit down and focus on schoolwork
has really helped me navigate a work-life balance. This has also allowed me
to pace myself and balance other responsibilities that come up each day while
still being able to deliver quality assignments each week." -
Morgan Emery, M.S. in Integrated Marketing Communications '25
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"For me, balancing school/work/life while being a mom was super important. I loved that obtaining my master's online allowed me more freedom to do so and allowed me to focus on my two passions: furthering my nursing career and being a mom. My advice to future students would be first and foremost, know that you can do it. You’ve gotten this far in your career; you can handle whatever else comes your way. Secondly, if you’re able to do so, go part-time at work. That will give you more time to focus on school while also giving you time to enjoy life. Plus, if you’re a nurse, don’t forget you can always pick up more shifts when time allows!
Online school isn’t as strict as in-person, which allows you to work more at your own pace. This flexibility allows you to work around school and plan out time for when you can study/listen to lectures and do assignments. At this stage of your career, everyone is in a different phase of life and balancing multiple things. Though maintaining that work/school/life balance is hard, I truly believe this MSN program made it easier. Even when it came time to do clinical, they handled things like placement, ensuring you were as close to home as possible, which again, when trying to maintain my life outside of school, I appreciated.” - Alaina Hoch, Master of Science in Nursing '25
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"Balancing life, work, and school online takes more than hustle—it takes harmony. Prioritize, pace yourself, and practice self-care." - Antoinette Toliver, Bachelor of Social Work '27