Do you work while in grad school?

[kobie]

I am gonna attend grad school for my master degree next Spring without any financial assistance from the school or my advisor. Teaching assistantship is told to be quite limited and competitive; moreover, I cannot apply for it after the first semester and that is not guaranteed. I intend to find a part-time job, either on-campus or off -campus to partially ease the financial burden. But defintely I am aware that it must come after my school work in terms of priority. Therefore not until I figure out how well I keep up with my classes and research work upon attending the program, can I only decide on how many hours I can spend on part-time job.

I will definitely need a part-time job while in grad school, but that leaves me with too many doubts.

I wonder if any of you are in the same situation, ie. come to grad schools with no TA or RA and have to work during your grad studies to support yourself. Would you please share your story with me so that I can have a better consideration about my own case? Do you mange to balance between job and school work? Does your advisor even allow you to work at all? Any advice from your own experience that you can give about this issue?

[robot_hamster]

I just finished up my first semester of grad school, no assistance whatsoever. I work at a store, the same place I worked while an undergrad. It is sometimes difficult to balance work and school since I NEED the money but I also need to get all those papers written and whatnot. I am used to it since this is how things were all through undergrad. I would suggest looking for a job that is student-friendly. One that allows to have a weird availability that changes each semester. If you can find a job where you can work weekends, then that helps. That way you can dedicate more time during the week to your studies.

Luckily (or at least I hope so at this point, things are a bit wishy-washy) I will have a TA position for next semester. You never know, you might find something after one semester as well. At my school, mass e-mails go out to all of the grad students about things that are going on. If a professor has suddenly found themselves without a TA, they will often send out an e-mail in order to fill the position fast. You just have to keep your eyes peeled and reply to stuff as soon as it hits your mailbox (yes, I check my e-mail like 20 times a day).

[kobie]

Thanks for your reply, robot_hamster.

I also read the thread on your assistantship frustration. Hope that it goes well for you.

How many hours do you work per week? Do we need to get our advisors' admission before working or at least tell them about it?

Does your major require you to work in the lab or does it focus on reading?

I also hope that I can apply for TA in the second semester.

[suspechosa]

The best advice I ever received and did not take: DO NOT GO TO GRAD SCHOOL UNFUNDED!!!

I just finished my first semester unfunded and it is the worst. The work is demanding and thankless and it sucks to put your heart and soul into it all and not have a dime coming in for all of your efforts. It sucks having to choose between eating or heating your place.

It's just not worth it. Try again next year, apply for more grants and such but it's just not worth it. I thought i wanted this more than anything and I didn't care what it took to get here and here I am miserable I did not accept good advice 6 months ago.

[Zouzax]

I'm in a Master's program, and I teach about 20-24 hours a week. It's definitely a lot of work. When I first started, my advisors suggested that I not work, but it wasn't an option, because I'm not funded, and I have to eat (unfortunately).

I agree with the previous poster about trying to work as many weekends as possible, and finding a school-friendly place to work. When I was an undergrad, I worked on campus & it was great. If I need money during my Ph.D, I will definitely look into this option again. Working on campus is great because: a) they are completely understanding if you can't come in due to a big exam, big paper, etc. etc ... and in my experience, if work was slow, they had no problem with me studying during work hours. and usually the pay is really good in terms of the job, because they assume you're spending the money on school-related expenses.

The first 3/4 of this semester, I taught every Mon-Thurs and Saturdays, and although the pay was great, I really really regret it. I couldn't take the classes I wanted at university, got no work done on my thesis, let alone my research papers for the classes I was taking, and had no time to attend talks, presentations, or try to get a paper published. I'll never do that again. Now, I'm working all weekend and then just 2 nights a week, and it's much better.

Honestly, I think working makes you better at time management, and makes you get things done faster. I work more than any of my colleagues & I finish all my projects earlier than them because I know how precious time is In short, it's doable. Weekend and school-friendly jobs are key. Good luck!

[kobie]

The best advice I ever received and did not take: DO NOT GO TO GRAD SCHOOL UNFUNDED!!!

I just finished my first semester unfunded and it is the worst. The work is demanding and thankless and it sucks to put your heart and soul into it all and not have a dime coming in for all of your efforts. It sucks having to choose between eating or heating your place.

It's just not worth it. Try again next year, apply for more grants and such but it's just not worth it. I thought i wanted this more than anything and I didn't care what it took to get here and here I am miserable I did not accept good advice 6 months ago.

Thanks for your input, suspechosa. This advice is repeated over and over again in this forum and I have been thinking about this for the last 2 years. Actually this is my 3rd attempt already and I am already worn out. I told myself that I would never wanna do the whole cruel application process once more time. The chances are that I can be in your shoes in the next 6 month but I want to try anyway. At least for now It is better than being rejected over and over again and feeling like a loser for the past 2 years. I hope that everything will work out well for you in the second semester.

I'm in a Master's program, and I teach about 20-24 hours a week. It's definitely a lot of work. When I first started, my advisors suggested that I not work, but it wasn't an option, because I'm not funded, and I have to eat (unfortunately).

I agree with the previous poster about trying to work as many weekends as possible, and finding a school-friendly place to work. When I was an undergrad, I worked on campus & it was great. If I need money during my Ph.D, I will definitely look into this option again. Working on campus is great because: a) they are completely understanding if you can't come in due to a big exam, big paper, etc. etc ... and in my experience, if work was slow, they had no problem with me studying during work hours. and usually the pay is really good in terms of the job, because they assume you're spending the money on school-related expenses.

The first 3/4 of this semester, I taught every Mon-Thurs and Saturdays, and although the pay was great, I really really regret it. I couldn't take the classes I wanted at university, got no work done on my thesis, let alone my research papers for the classes I was taking, and had no time to attend talks, presentations, or try to get a paper published. I'll never do that again. Now, I'm working all weekend and then just 2 nights a week, and it's much better.

Honestly, I think working makes you better at time management, and makes you get things done faster. I work more than any of my colleagues & I finish all my projects earlier than them because I know how precious time is In short, it's doable. Weekend and school-friendly jobs are key. Good luck!

Thanks for sharing, Zouzax. I am also gonna be doing master only. Working on-campus is what I want, but I guess I also need to have a talk with my advisor about this first. Is this semester your first one in grad school? Are you still looking for assistantship from the department?

[robot_hamster]

Thanks for your reply, robot_hamster.

I also read the thread on your assistantship frustration. Hope that it goes well for you.

How many hours do you work per week? Do we need to get our advisors' admission before working or at least tell them about it?

Does your major require you to work in the lab or does it focus on reading?

I also hope that I can apply for TA in the second semester.

Thank you! Yes, it has been frustrating. I am still optimistic though, it's just a waiting game at this point to see if they can work something out.

As for my job, I work about 20-25 hours a week. My adviser is completely aware of it, but I don't think it was required of me to tell him about it. If all I have is coursework, then they shouldn't have any concern anyway. My major does not require anyone to work in the lab, only those who have a RA position work in the lab. Personally, the first semester was just a lot of reading, paper writing, and then giving presentations on those papers. One class did require a research project that involved spending some time in the lab, but it didn't take up a lot of my time.

I would tell you that everything will work out for you eventually, but I don't think I can. I took a HUGE risk going to grad school without funding. I took out a loan to pay the tuition and I worked the entire time. I agree with suspechosa, it really really sucks when you have to choose between eating or heating your house. You may even find yourself choosing between getting a reasonable grade on a paper or going to work to make money. I struggled with the decision to go and I am lucky that I will (hopefully) have this TA position for my second semester. There are no guarantees though for following semesters, so I have to hope that I do really well for this whole TA thing so that the professors will either use me again or recommend me to someone else.

If you have already applied and been rejected several times, I would say give things without funding a shot. But don't waste more than one semester on it. If things prove to be too difficult and you cannot find any funding for your second semester, then it would probably be wise to look elsewhere.

[starmaker]

I've worked full-time throughout my MS and my non-degree grad studies. But I do school part-time - it was never my intention to be a full-time student funded by an assistantship (though it will be when I go for a PhD).

I have always managed to balance, though this term was harder than usual because my class had an unusually high workload. It helps that I have always worked in field-relevant jobs. When I have been frustrated, it has usually been on the school end of things. My prof this term was a good teacher and a good guy, but he had this weird aversion to doing things by email and was always wanting me to come meet with him in person (about term project updates, things like that). It's like, I work during the days, my commute from work to school is 90 minutes, my commute from school to home is 60. Making me come to campus on a non-class day is not a small thing. When I was a non-degree student, the problem was that classes that I wanted to take were during the workday (my MS program offers most of its classes in the evenings) or that various university offices closed at 4:30.

[Zouzax]

Thanks for sharing, Zouzax. I am also gonna be doing master only. Working on-campus is what I want, but I guess I also need to have a talk with my advisor about this first. Is this semester your first one in grad school? Are you still looking for assistantship from the department?

actually I'm in my second year of a 2 to 3 year program (that I'm trying to finish in 2). In terms of an assistantship, I'm in a different situation because I'm an international student at my school, and at my school that means I can't do an assistantship. It's fine, only 2 students in the whole department do it & theyve been in the position for at least 2 years. Most people find relevant jobs in the field, or should I say in the 'real world', which is why I started teaching (hoping it'll be good experience for TAing as a Ph.D student).

[StrangeLight]

TAships and RAships take up, in theory, 20 hours of your week. at my school, anyway. i know a friend at another school who is TAing and they're unionized, so they're not allowed to work more than 12 hours a week. at my school, no union, so our contracts state we have to put in 20 hours. whatever. my point is that even if you were funded with a TAship, you'd still be working and distracted from your own classes and research. if you can find a part-time job that will give you 20 steady hours, and that pay is good enough to cover your tuition AND living expenses (no loans!) then it's worth it.

if you're taking out loans to help yourself, make sure you're entering a field where that'll pay off financially, i.e. NOT academia. if your post-MA career is going to land you a big salary, then the loans and some part-time work can be fine. if not, then really, really consider not getting the MA. i know you've tried twice already, but if you can't make the finances work for you in the long term, don't do it.

[shepardn7]

if you're taking out loans to help yourself, make sure you're entering a field where that'll pay off financially, i.e. NOT academia. if your post-MA career is going to land you a big salary, then the loans and some part-time work can be fine. if not, then really, really consider not getting the MA. i know you've tried twice already, but if you can't make the finances work for you in the long term, don't do it.

I could not agree with this more, especially if you have some other debt or burden (mortgage, credit card, undergrad loans, car, children's college fund, etc.). I know a dream is a dream, but sometimes you need to consider your post-graduate happiness--the cost of a dream in a time when your "dream" job's funding is cut via most university budget plans.

Maybe it's because I've chosen one of the most non-lucrative fields imaginable unless you write mass-market trade fiction (literary arts...poetry...indeed), but I would never, ever take out more loans (beyond maybe 5K) for a degree in my field. It's just not worth it, to me, especially because I have around 20K in undergraduate loans already. My goal is to teach creative writing and undergraduate English courses OR work in editing/publishing. Realistically, I will not make enough per month to pay for loans beyond the loans I already have (if I can find a job within a reasonable amount of time) within the first five years (at least!) after graduating.

I'm not saying that miracles don't happen, but you can't count on them in the humanities or even social sciences. It depends on the field, but consider this: even professional degrees don't always pay off financially. Lawyers, for example, have a difficult time in a bad economy. Now consider how the funds for many humanities and arts programs suddenly become expendable, especially for schools with low endowments. Even science programs need to endure drastic budget cuts--after the school is done reminding humanities people that their work doesn't matter, of course.

I know someone with a degree in Urban Planning (which, I think, the recession hit hard). He was the only student accepted to a particular two-year Harvard program and could not find a "professional" job upon graduating (with, I believe, about 200K in debt). You can imagine how talented he must be--to be the one student accepted to this program--and he's currently teaching at a community college and living with his parents. Now imagine how much the name recognition of "Harvard" (no matter how prestigious the individual program actually is) helped him get his community college job. On top of that "Harvard" name, he also attended Cornell (with a Horticulture degree from the Agriculture school). None of that made much of a difference when the economy didn't want or need his work. He's making money in the academic realm, obviously, but the loans are not as easy to pay.

I don't mean to be harsh. Lord knows I'm not the voice of reason re: financial success in life, with my MFA in poetry! (LOL, right?) But consider how worth it this debt and stress is. Working during your graduate program can make it difficult to fulfill your academic obligations to the best of your abilities, and doing so--being brilliant and relentlessly thorough in your brilliance--is usually crucial to landing a decent academic job. More, people need to note your brilliance; people need to know and respect you. It's not impossible, but it is hard to mentally deal with the intellectual rigor your paper/project/dissertation demands after some hours working retail or whatever. That said, if you find it easy to write academic work after working retail or coffee slinging for 5 hours, you can probably meet those demands.

And also, obviously, there is no way to pay for all of tuition and living expenses with a part time job. I think people sometimes look their gift horses in the mouth. Yes, TA positions might take from 15-20 hours a week and pay poorly on paper, but 1) you can make your own hours, and 2) as low as stipends might seem sometimes, the school is also paying your tuition, which means even a 10K stipend w/ tuition remission can actually be a 30K-50K paycheck! I complained about my low stipend in my master's program, but it's really not that low (it was about 11K) when you consider you don't have to pay for school.

I'm all for following dreams and investing in non-lucrative areas for which you have passion, but the years spent in grad school (versus taking a more traditional route and getting a decent paying job) is enough of an "investment"--don't add a very real financial burden to that. Public loans are one thing. Private loans are another entirely. They're brutal, and usually not as kind to their borrowers when their income is below poverty level.

Of course, I don't know your field, so consider this an open letter to anyone considering taking out a great deal of loans (I'd say more than 5-10K, depending on your saving and job prospects) to pay for a non-professional (or at least non-science) degree.

Edited December 21, 2010 by sarandipidy

[Zouzax]

now that i look at my post, it might have been confusing, so let me clarify: i said I'm teaching 20-25 hours a week, but its not a TA position. I teach at a school that's about an hour away from my university. I also live an hour away from both work and my university. This is why I say I have no time to do anything. Im sure working on campus this many hours would be a (bit) easier.

[kobie]

now that i look at my post, it might have been confusing, so let me clarify: i said I'm teaching 20-25 hours a week, but its not a TA position. I teach at a school that's about an hour away from my university. I also live an hour away from both work and my university. This is why I say I have no time to do anything. Im sure working on campus this many hours would be a (bit) easier.

I just think that international students are not allowed to work off-campus and over 20 hours. But I guess your employer must be associated with the school in some way. Such a dilemma that your workplace is so far from your school. I can imagine how hard it is to balance the workload taking into consideration the time to commute.

my point is that even if you were funded with a TAship, you'd still be working and distracted from your own classes and research. if you can find a part-time job that will give you 20 steady hours, and that pay is good enough to cover your tuition AND living expenses (no loans!) then it's worth it.

Just as sarandipidy said in his post, I also think that it is impossible to find a part-time that can cover tuition and living expenses. Moreover the tuition is paid by the school also. But I do get your point and actually I sometimes look at the whole thing from this perspective to make myself feel better.

I'm all for following dreams and investing in non-lucrative areas for which you have passion, but the years spent in grad school (versus taking a more traditional route and getting a decent paying job) is enough of an "investment"--don't add a very real financial burden to that. Public loans are one thing. Private loans are another entirely. They're brutal, and usually not as kind to their borrowers when their income is below poverty level.

Thanks for your detailed and thoughtful post. That means a lot to people considering attending grad school without funding.

I feel fortunate because I don't have other debt or financial burden to start with. Moreover, my field is food science and the job market in the food industry seems to be promising. I expect it to be better in the 2-3 years so that I can find a job to pay off everything I spend on grad school.

[sputnik]

I am gonna attend grad school for my master degree next Spring without any financial assistance from the school or my advisor. Teaching assistantship is told to be quite limited and competitive; moreover, I cannot apply for it after the first semester and that is not guaranteed. I intend to find a part-time job, either on-campus or off -campus to partially ease the financial burden. But defintely I am aware that it must come after my school work in terms of priority. Therefore not until I figure out how well I keep up with my classes and research work upon attending the program, can I only decide on how many hours I can spend on part-time job.

I will definitely need a part-time job while in grad school, but that leaves me with too many doubts.

I wonder if any of you are in the same situation, ie. come to grad schools with no TA or RA and have to work during your grad studies to support yourself. Would you please share your story with me so that I can have a better consideration about my own case? Do you mange to balance between job and school work? Does your advisor even allow you to work at all? Any advice from your own experience that you can give about this issue?

I am a TA for an intro class, which accounts for about 20 hours of my week. I also work a part time job which accounts for 24 hours of my week.

Then, when I'm done with all that stuff, I get to actually do my own school work.

The good thing is, I enjoy doing my research, so it's like a reward!

The point is, it can be done. I work a good 60-70 hours a week when you add it all up. But, I used to work a day job 40 hours/week, and I was miserable then. I am much happier now. It's not that my life is easier. Just a lot more rewarding.

[motor_ed]

I was just accepted into an MA program. The graduate school as yet to send out the financial aid packet, but I was told I was recommended for tuition assistance. I was also told they would be looking out for graduate assistantships for me. I need to work or have some type of income to live and pay rent. Should I try to find a part-time job or try to wait it out to see if they find me an assistantship? I have some income during the summer, but nothing after. Any input can help! Thanks!!

[rising_star]

I would try to find a part-time job AND be proactive about finding an assistantship for yourself.