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I recently finished up what will have been my last semester as a full time student. I was laid off in the last year and it opened up the opportunity to take more classes and focus on school. If I hadn't been laid off, I might have been able to only go to school part time because working full time and taking on a 12+ credit load would have been too difficult.
I don't know if it's because I'm just not smart enough, but there is no way I could have managed doing both. I tried and was only able to get a 2.7 for a semester and was sorely disappointed and angry with myself for having poor grades (Cs and Bs). I knew I could do better, but to do better I needed to reduce my classes or my work load. But there are people out there who can seem to do it all, for lack of a better phrase. They have children, have to work full time to pay the bills, etc. I worked with a woman who did all of that (she was in her 40's) and had a 4.0!!! How do people even manage that?? I didn't work at all this past year and I was able to get a 3.6 this term. A 4.0 working full time??
How do people do it? How do you manage that when you go to class after work, find time to do homework, take care of your kids, your SO, chores, errands, and oh yeah that little thing called sleep?
I am genuinely curious. When I attempted this, I felt so stretched thin, I ended up getting sick my first semester and had to take a day off work.
I worked between 30-35hrs a week in college and graduated with a 3.94 a semester early (taking 17+ credits each semester). I think the main thing that helped me is I had job where I could do some of my homework, and I didn't require so much sleep. I also put as many of my hours as possible on the weekend. I also didn't have a serious girlfriend or kids during college (although my roommates were almost like children).
I worked between 30-35hrs a week in college and graduated with a 3.94 a semester early (taking 17+ credits each semester). I think the main thing that helped me is I had job where I could do some of my homework, and I didn't require so much sleep. I also put as many of my hours as possible on the weekend. I also didn't have a serious girlfriend or kids during college (although my roommates were almost like children).
17+ credits/semester while working 30-35 hours/week? You must have slept 30 minutes/night!
I worked full time in college, graduated with a 3.8, Dean's list, etc. ,etc. ,etc. Yes, it helped that I could do some homework while working but even without that, there are a lot of hours in the week to get it done. I lived on campus so there was no commute time and didn't have to pay bills other than my college expenses, tuition, room/board, etc. It was either that or not go to college. I took 16-18 credits every semester, we had 70 minute classes so that was 4 classes each semester, usually just 2 classes/day. I was done with class and homework by 3:00 most every day, which is when my job started. Would do more studying during work as I could. Worked until 9-10:00 at night and pretty much all day on Saturday and Sunday. Hours varied between 30-50 hours/week depending on how busy things were. I still found time to date, have a social life and I got plenty of sleep since my classes usually didn't start until 9:30.
Based on my experience, "work" has its relative definitions, especially among working students. Many "work" full-time, but due to various factors, they are able to sneak in say 10-15 hours of school work while working this 35hr per week job.
At my last job, there was no way to sneak in homework at work. It was a full-time job where I was expected to fulfill productivity standards. The managers would come by to see what you were doing. Everyone's screens were up, so you'd know what they were up to and we all shared relatively close quarters.
When I was going to my alma mater, I didn't live in campus because it was too expensive, and my job was physical labor. I had to take care of people and there were no breaks. When I did have a chance to sit down, I was usually tired. Doing homework on the job wasn't allowed. At one of my jobs, the supervisor was okay with it but during downtime we always had to prepare for the later tasks. I would have loved to have an office job where there was plenty of downtime, but that didn't happen.
I recently finished up what will have been my last semester as a full time student. I was laid off in the last year and it opened up the opportunity to take more classes and focus on school. If I hadn't been laid off, I might have been able to only go to school part time because working full time and taking on a 12+ credit load would have been too difficult.
I don't know if it's because I'm just not smart enough, but there is no way I could have managed doing both. I tried and was only able to get a 2.7 for a semester and was sorely disappointed and angry with myself for having poor grades (Cs and Bs). I knew I could do better, but to do better I needed to reduce my classes or my work load. But there are people out there who can seem to do it all, for lack of a better phrase. They have children, have to work full time to pay the bills, etc. I worked with a woman who did all of that (she was in her 40's) and had a 4.0!!! How do people even manage that?? I didn't work at all this past year and I was able to get a 3.6 this term. A 4.0 working full time??
How do people do it? How do you manage that when you go to class after work, find time to do homework, take care of your kids, your SO, chores, errands, and oh yeah that little thing called sleep?
I am genuinely curious. When I attempted this, I felt so stretched thin, I ended up getting sick my first semester and had to take a day off work.
Your experience is the norm, IMO. There is even research out there to confirm that working more than 15-20 hrs/wk is deleterious to school.
At my last job, there was no way to sneak in homework at work. It was a full-time job where I was expected to fulfill productivity standards. The managers would come by to see what you were doing. Everyone's screens were up, so you'd know what they were up to and we all shared relatively close quarters.
When I was going to my alma mater, I didn't live in campus because it was too expensive, and my job was physical labor. I had to take care of people and there were no breaks. When I did have a chance to sit down, I was usually tired. Doing homework on the job wasn't allowed. At one of my jobs, the supervisor was okay with it but during downtime we always had to prepare for the later tasks. I would have loved to have an office job where there was plenty of downtime, but that didn't happen.
I think doing manual labor would have made it more difficult. I could have gotten by without doing my homework at work, I would have just had to cut back on my social life ( I was in a frat, played intramurals, dated etc.). The thing that would have killed me is that I probably would have been much more tired and exhausted when I got home so my school work would have suffered. That's crazy that living on campus is more expensive. I've attended four different universities and the dorms were always the cheapest (albeit the suckiest, living option).
I think doing manual labor would have made it more difficult. I could have gotten by without doing my homework at work, I would have just had to cut back on my social life ( I was in a frat, played intramurals, dated etc.). The thing that would have killed me is that I probably would have been much more tired and exhausted when I got home so my school work would have suffered. That's crazy that living on campus is more expensive. I've attended four different universities and the dorms were always the cheapest (albeit the suckiest, living option).
I had to take out loans to go to school because I wasn't eligible for aid (long story). I lived on my own and paid rent, which compared to living on campus would have been more expensive. But, it made it difficult because I had to ensure I could pay for all of my bills. I would sometimes work for 10 days straight, and then have a day off and then work a couple weeks and so forth. I had no social life, but did date my husband at the time. It was all I had time for. Unfortunately, because of the working, I ended up getting sick and my grades suffered. I also had no parental support, so of course that makes things difficult.
Now is the first time where I didn't get sick from the stress, and it's only because I didn't work full time. A part time job is all I could handle at the moment. However, I live in a dual-income household so my circumstances are different. Still, it seems crazy to think people are able to get good grades and work full time. At my full time job before last, we didn't even get a lunch break, let enough down time to do homework!
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