Will there be time to do internships/volunteer work?

[MettaSutta]

Incoming M.A. candidate here. I plan to get a terminal M.A. and not go the Ph.D. path and become a prof, so I was hoping to get practical experience during the semesters (volunteer work, internships, etc. 8-10 hours/week) so I could be in the best position to get a job at graduation. Is this feasible given the rigorous workload of a grad student? I also will hopefully be doing a PT work-study job, as unfortunately, internships in the public sector are unpaid, ugh. At Columbia GSAS I plan to take 9 credits a semester, 12 tops.

[a_sort_of_fractious_angel]

I took three courses per semester as an MA student (and one course during my final semester, during which I was also writing my MA thesis.)

During my first year, I held two part-time jobs (both obtained through the university) as a research assistant and a tutor a total of 16 hours of work per week). During my second year, I continued tutoring at least 6 hours a week (I did more when the opportunity arose) and took a part-time job at a restaurant (I worked 4pm - 12pm at least two days a week, sometimes three.)

Overall, it went fine for me - I got my work done (academic and otherwise) and had some time to relax & hang out with friends as well. The first year went really well. The second year was more difficult because I was applying to PhD programs, but I think I would have felt overwhelmed regardless of if I had been working or not (in fact, the PT jobs were helpful mentally). 

The trick was not only making a reasonable schedule but truly following through on that schedule. I only ran into trouble when I would go to conferences and lose a few days of time (I don't work while traveling well, which isn't a problem for everyone) or if I chose to push things back farther than was sensible. 

Hope this helps and good luck this year! 

 

 

[MettaSutta]

1 hour ago, a_sort_of_fractious_angel said:

I took three courses per semester as an MA student (and one course during my final semester, during which I was also writing my MA thesis.)

 

 

How many credits each were those courses?

[a_sort_of_fractious_angel]

1 hour ago, Bodhicaryavatara said:

How many credits each were those courses?

3 credits per course, so 9 credits per semester (for the first 3 semesters) and then 6 credits (one course, one mandatory "thesis" course) for the final semester.

I did have to take a 4th course (intro to grad studies) during the first semester, but it was graded pass/fail and was a walk-through of graduate work (as opposed to a content or methods based course) so I don't consider it comparable in terms of workload (although it was 3 credits, if I recall correctly, so - technically - I did 12 credits that first semester.)

Edited April 13, 2018 by a_sort_of_fractious_angel
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