Going to school and working full time experiences

I did this for two semesters in undergraduate school, and two in graduate school.

As an undergrad, I worked a job from 8-5. Arrived on campus at 5:30 pm and left at 10:00 pm.

Studied on the weekends and late into the night. Slept in my spare time.

I kept telling myself it was temporary, as I can usually do anything as long as I know it's time-limited. If I thought it was forever, I would have been suicidal.

I paid my tuition by the semester, and put my books on a visa card.
Don't do this more than a semester at a time. The next semester, only take a course or two for a break, and then hit it hard again.

My last semester in undergrad, I wanted it over. I didn't work. You had to get special permission from the Dean to take a many hours as I did. I took 27 hours. Yep. Made straight A's too. It was the world I lived in. My only world at the time, but I knew it was temporary.

I told my boyfriend: See ya in four months. But then it was over fast. I worked for a year, quit, and started over again for grad school. After that I worked for two years, quit, and started over again for the terminal degree.

Worth every bit of it. I'd do it over again.

originally posted by: avgguy
I'm working on a second bachelors right now. It's hard, especially with the engineering maths. Anyways I work about 45 hours a week and then do school work about another 20-25 hours on top of going to the gym. It's pretty tough.

Edit: my work is paying for my tuition so that's why I work so much. I work in healthcare right now and it's a sinking ship.

What do you mean?

a reply to: onequestion

I wouldn't recommend that. either take out a loan and then pay for it back later, or work part time. You cannot give full attention to school and FT time job. What are you studying though? Some fields are more forgiving that others...

a reply to: onequestion

Which part

originally posted by: reddragon2015
a reply to: onequestion

I wouldn't recommend that. either take out a loan and then pay for it back later, or work part time. You cannot give full attention to school and FT time job. What are you studying though? Some fields are more forgiving that others...

You most certainly can. It's doable, but you need a great deal of energy, few distractions, and a lot of determination. You acquire tunnel vision, with completion as the only goal.

originally posted by: reddragon2015
a reply to: onequestion

I wouldn't recommend that. either take out a loan and then pay for it back later, or work part time. You cannot give full attention to school and FT time job. What are you studying though? Some fields are more forgiving that others...

I've trained full time and worked full time.

Did it for years until I got sponsored and it was brutal but I was 13 years younger.

I'm open to the loans how do I go about doing that?

CNC machining or programming.

originally posted by: avgguy
a reply to: onequestion

Which part

About the medical field dying.

a reply to: onequestion

Lower reimbursement, higher costs, higher overheads, my medical benefits are no better now than Joe Schmoes at the grocery stores. Schools are impossible to get into and on top of it if your patient census wrens you get your hours cut.

Enlisted in the Army for 3 years. Took some classed while in. Got the college fund, went to Penn State, joined ROTC for the scholarship and worked 3 jobs. took me from 1980 - 1988. Put in another 4 years active duty as an officer, then the reserves till 2000. I make 6 figures now, own my house, have no debt.

And I got several exciting (grin) world travel adventures paid for by the US Government.

I left Utah at 17 after I graduated from high school. Drove to Los Angeles. Played in punk bands and worked in the computer industry, which lead to moving to Central America and all manner of high strangeness. After four years, I moved back to my home state and went to university. My parents paid for my school the first year, and I worked in a pizza place part-time. I also make extra money by running booze from Idaho. I am NOT suggesting this as an alternative income. It was really really stupid, and just a miracle that I didn't get caught, expelled, arrested and jailed.

I thought I was mature enough to stand my home state, but I was wrong. I moved to San Francisco area and worked and went to school. I had taken two years of typing in Jr. High School and worked with temp. agencies and typed my ass off. I went to school at a Junior College, and three different universities, FINally finishing after seven years of school with a B.S. in Chem and minors in math and physics. It was really tough, but I just kept pushing. I would take time off and work full time -- one time working for six months with a sandblasting operation. That was actually fun.

I didn't have consolidated goals, and I think that was my primary failing. I was just working, drifting, going to school without any apparent plan. My last two years I decided to just get it done, and rented a 250 square-foot hovel. It was in a filthy rat-infested building, but it was cheap and utilities were included, and they actually worked much of the time. I buckled down and had no social life, little entertainment, and forget romance. No way I would have ever brought anyone back to such squalid surroundings.

I finally graduated but couldn't immediately find work in my field, so took a night job in a counseling agency where I met my Darlin' (who I've been happily married to for 26 years.) A year later, I was able to land solid work in my field.

If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't change a thing. However, there are things I learned that I did wrong.

1. Don't waffle. Decide on your major. Let it be something that stands a chance of both making you happy and making you money. That indecision probably cost me at least a year of school.

2. Make a plan for your life and have reasonable goals. You need X amount of money to not only pay for school, books, and other related sundries, but you have to eat, have a safe place to sleep with FULL utilities. You have to be able to afford some form of entertainment. That is perhaps easier and cheaper in modern times than in donkey ages ago when I was seeking a degree.

3. Do everything in your power to avoid getting student loans. I never did get any, but I know many of my buddies who did and it made their lives hell to have to pay that out after getting out in the wild world. I don't know if it's true, but I suspect that very few people that get student loans actually apply all that money to the educational process.

4. Make your money count. Study your ass off. Forget about everything else and try to avoid companionship, unless you can truly afford it. By "afford" I mean not only the money, but the possible pain and drama. You need ALL your strength to finish this arduous learning experience.

5. Become monklike. Don't drink, do drugs, have any fun unless said fun is free. Figure on sacrificing at least four years of your life toward a goal that will serve you the rest of your life. See #1 above.

6. Make contacts in school. That doesn't mean you have to join fraternal groups, but send out letters well before you're finished. Don't do like me and think that once you had the piece of paper that the world would open up for you. No, the real work is just beginning then.

Of course, I did none of these things. Just my humble advice from a person who somehow not only survived, but managed to eke out a degree.

It's damn near impossible to get good grades and work full time if you're pursing a challenging degree such as chemistry, biology, or engineering. If you want a serious degree then take the lowest amount of credits to stay full time (probably 12 per semester) and finish in 5 years. Expect to have a very strict schedule, no weekends, and you will absolutely be behind your peers. People who have tuition and housing paid for have much more time available to pursue internships or work in laboratories. I chose to take out loans and I got paid to work in a lab while I earned my degree in molecular biology. I made other sacrifices as well. With the amount of studying I had to do (many nights studying organic chemistry until 3am) there was no way I could work full time. Also, you want to take up opportunities in your field while you're in college to give you experience so when you graduate you can actually use your degree to get a better job and advance your life. Nobody wants an entry level grad who did nothing in college and no, they don't care that you worked 40 hours a week as a waiter to pay your bills. You can't pursue the things you want when you let work take priority due to a need to pay bills, rent, food, etc.

You also need to know that college is a highly social environment. Sometimes seminars would randomly pop up and I wanted to learn about someone's research. How would I have been able to make time for things like that if I was always working? I work as a researcher now because I took the risks early on. Be thoughtful about how you pursue college. Think about what you really want out of it. You need funding to get a proper education and the full academic experience. Take some loans and never pay them. That's what I do.

a reply to: onequestion

I'm under the impression that cnc machining is taught at a 2 year technical college. Many of these schools offer night courses. If you find a good school that does that then you're in luck because many of your peers there will also be full time workers. I'm not being rude here when I say that cnc machining certifications are not nearly as time consuming as a 4 year STEM degree. You can do it. I'm not sure what you mean by programming, but if it's a machinist career you want then just go for it. You can work and get it done. If by programming you meant computers then the only thing you want to do is go after a computer science degree. It's a challenging degree, but it's top of the computer world. Many computer science grads move onto mathematics or engineering graduate programs. Both of which are highly respected fields.

It's super hard man. I did it for awhile. I was lucky enough to not need to work while going to school. That being said, it's totally doable. It's worth 4 years of PITA schedule to give yourself a far better life down the road.

I have an enormous amount of respect for people that do this. I think it's a bit easier these days with online classes and whatnot.

There's a lot of talk about how a college education is just a waste of time and money, but you learn a LOT and things sort of start making more sense, I noticed that I could draw on things I learned in a certain area and that they could be applied to problems you wouldn't think had any correlation. Learning is fun too. I think it makes you a better all around person. I'm going back at 30, and while it's a little embarrassing it's also way more fun at this age (I think we're close in age).

a reply to: Domo1

I graduated when I was 30. It was great. Every girl loved me and I got chicks phone numbers every day of the week. Older guy status rules as long as you're not creepy. Enjoy.

originally posted by: onequestion
Hey all, I'm going to go to school but I have to support myself with no help.

I'm wondering... For those of you who have gone to school and worked full time how did you do it?

How long did it take?

What kind of work did you do?

How did you pay for college?

I'm trying to formulate a plan here.

Unsure if anyone mentioned it, but make sure you look into federal and state grants. They could end up paying for a good percentage of tuition and possibly books. Oh and never purchase books new, there are always ways around it by renting or purchasing used books from other students. There is probably a website that will find all the applicable grants that you qualify for.