Since most of the classes I need to graduate are only offered once a year, I may have to embark on taking a full graduate school course load (9 hours) while also working 40 hours a week. I would hate having to wait a full year in order to graduate because a class I need is not offered. Can this be manageable? Not to mention school is an hour commute from home and I would be taking 3 classes on 3 separate days of the week. 2 of my classes are in the evening, and 1 class is in the morning. After speaking with my boss I came to find out that the department head is not too thrilled with employees being out during the week. This semester I have been taking off Thursdays and making up the hours on Saturdays. I am hoping they continue to be flexible. If not I may have to consider other options.
There's really no solution. I worked 40 hours graveyard and had a 15 hour semester. Not only is it a strain on your sleep schedule, it will seriously affect how you perform in your curriculum.
1) student loan 2) meth 3) Move closer to school 4) get a job closer to school 5) The job you have now isn't as important as you think it is.
It's doable. You'll just have to be a hermit for a bit. I did a full time study load and worked in Australia for a year!
It can be done, but it is alllllll about time management. I'm fortunate that my MPA program is a professional program so all of my classes are in the evening, but I have a full-time, "8-5" office job, and I'm currently taking 11 hours. Next semester, I'm slated to take 13 to finish up the program. I also do a little freelance work for local newspapers in my area on the side. You have to treat your studies as another full-time job. Schedule your study time; don't just plan on squeezing in studying when you have spare time. I've taken to setting a pretty granular study schedule on my calendar right along with my work commitments. I'll schedule a three-hour block to study, with each hour being devoted to something different, for example. Not only does this tend to hold you accountable, but it also helps get you into the habit of doing school work every day, which is important.
What's the minimum amount of hours to stay in the program or retain whatever financial aid you're getting? That's pretty much the only solution to consider, as colleges have no problem taking your time and money for as long as possible. Both your job and your grad experience will create moments where you have to completely abandon one and focus on the other to keep from losing the opportunity forever. Don't assume educational enrichment or career mobility are always convincing excuses for hiring managers or headhunters, either.
I worked full time and went to school full time to get my bachelors degree and also completed most of my masters (need 3 more classes). Definitely doable but like someone else said you'll have no life. I'll be starting up again in January to finish my masters, one class at a time though while going through a busy tax season at work and studying for the CPA. Life sucks.
I wouldn't do it but I'm pretty darn lazy. I can barely handle working over 40 hours a week by itself.
You need to move on to campus and quit that crappy job. Student loans are pretty cheap compared to what you 'should' be making if you're putting time into a graduate program. Why are you still working there? If you only have to go to school 3 days a week and your boss is giving you crap, why not get another job? Are you going to be working there after you graduate? If not, it's not worth staying there...quit and get loans and pay them off when you get a better post grad job. If you don't think you can get a better job when you graduate you should probably re think why you're going to grad school.
Essentially that's what you do as a PhD student. You teach, take classes and research. Its killer, but honestly its been the best 4 years of my life. Best of luck to you.
It is definitely doable.. to the people that say "Oh how do you work full time and go to school full time" have never experience it themselves. I currently go to school full time and work two jobs, really it is just time management and also its mind over matter.
This is totally doable. At one point in my college years I was working a full time job and coaching basketball in the winter. It really is all about time management and reorganizing your priorities. Heck the year before I was putting in 80+ hours a week as a graduate assistant coach with the mens basketball team. That really taught me how much time we have in a day, and how much we can get done. this quote really resonated with me afterwards. "Let us run the risk of wearing out rather than rusting out." Teddy Roosevelt
