speaking from personal experience....
as dumb as i look and as stupid as i act i was actually a smart kid...(sorta)
anyway i got excepted to many colleges but i knew i wanted to stay in the city cause that is the job market for my industry. i ended up going to PAce University because they gave me the biggest schollarship (unlike NYU and many other nice schools - fucking cheap ass mother fuckers)
thruough out my colleg carrer i did not take less than 18 credits a semester.
my fresh year i worked 3 jobs (waldbaums produce, valet parking on the weeknds, and law office for my cuz on sunday mornings) - this was needed to pay for my biils and the rest of the collge that the schollar ship didnt cover.
2nd year of college i did TD water house complience while workign valet on the weekdn and takeing 18 credits. eahc semester.
3rd i did water house full itme while taking 18 credits the first half and than i got a job at DLJ which is now CSFB working full time in my indusrty (computer geek)
senior year i took 21 credits each semester and had to take class in NYC campus as well as weschester campus and worked full itme for CSFB.
workign and going to schol suked big time but had to do it... but dont get me wrong i also partied liek a champ and had lost of female friends and i made sure to fuck liek a jack rabbit. it was har and i ost lots of sleep but it taught me responsibility and time management. tiem maangemtn = who the fuck needs sleep...
and trust me it all paid off.. having a job especialy in your industry will look 10X bettr on your resume and will aid you in getting you first real job. hey it helped me out bigtime after 9/11 and all of my freinds that were not workign and had emty resumens well i had to drag them in right behind me...
in conclusing get a fucking JOB... !