Working during grad school

[tesolin4languages]

Hello everyone!

I am going to start late June in MA TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) in Warner School of Education @ University of Rochester.

I have been talking to a few people, advisers included that say my very-intensive program will not allow me to work. I am going to mentored, I will be teaching, and I will have 12 credits of courses.

I'd love to know what others do for extra cash IF they can only sometimes work, and not commit to a full time or even a part time job.

Of course, I will be taking a Stafford loan, twice. All included, I will have everything I need when it comes to car, insurance, etc.

I also have a 40% tuition waiver. That being said, I still would love to know what other people do, so please do chime in!

If you have advice that is most welcome as well.

Thanks!!!

TESOL

[runonsentence]

My TAship allows me to work only up to 7 hours per week. I spend 5 hours per week tutoring in the writing center, and occasionally take up gigs copyediting theses.

Unless you find something that would give you really limited hours (something like 3-4 hours per week), I would echo what you're hearing from your program and NOT recommend working while in school. Also, keep in mind that I waited a term and a half before starting to work, so that I could acclimate to my program first.

[michpc]

If I want to eat, yes! I'm hoping to have a paid RA position, and then something probably outside the school...maybe something easy like a receptionist where I can spend most of my time studying/doing school work while getting paid.

[robot_hamster]

I work on the weekends. It's just a crappy retail job. My program doesn't have any restrictions on such things and I need the money, so that is just what I do. Sometimes I wish I had the weekends to recoup though, maybe catch up on some school work. But I know I can always request off if I need to. For example, I knew both of my finals were going to be at the beginning of the week this week so I requested this last weekend off. I needed that weekend to study!

[Arcadian]

(Looks at topic title)

But...grad school is work. So in that sense, yes, but if you mean extra work outside of grad school...fuck no!

[far_to_go]

I'm going to echo the general tenor of the other advice and say that you should work as little as you can afford to. I've found tutoring to be a good way to make extra cash- you can generally limit your hours by taking only a few students, and depending on the subject matter and your level of expertise, you can charge up to $50 an hour.

Another option: it seems that our department secretary is sending out e-mails practically every week looking for a grad student to do "odd jobs" for extra money (such as teaching an old faculty member how to use e-mail and Word, helping a faculty member move offices, testing incoming international students' English skills, etc etc). In addition to being an income source, these jobs can be a good way to build relationships within the department. Maybe you should talk to other students in the dept about it or just wait to see if these sorts of opportunities come up.

[hejduk]

I think you also need to refer to your TA contract. I know that mine, along with friends of mine, are not allowed to work in addition to their TAship, as the contract literally states "no additional jobs". I know some "secretly" work wkend jobs, but be careful of how that might affect your school productivity, as well as breaking those rules.

[juilletmercredi]

I'm in a doctoral program with funding. However, I've often experienced that professors will tell you that you cannot work or that something is too intensive for you to work...sometimes they are absolutely right and it is, and other times they are not. Also, I've also realized that when it comes to discussing stipends with professors, they sometimes come from this odd position where they've forgotten what it's like to be a student - particularly struggling to pay living expenses in a high-cost city - and have unrealistic expectations about how much you should live on.

I have had a lot of friends complete master's programs here. Many of them borrow all of the money they need for tuition and fees. Some work full time while completing the degree, and they do it despite it being intense. Others work part-time ~20 hours a week, which is doable (and here they generally take 4 courses a semester, or 12 hours, as well). Some do some combination of both.

If you are going to be teaching I am strongly against working PT. Teaching (even just TAing) is very time-intensive, especially on top of a full load of courses. (For reference, I TAed an 80-person lecture course with one other TA, took one 3-credit course, plus had a 20-hour/week RAship, last semester...it was plenty! But I think you should also see if you can talk to previous or current students and see what they're doing, since a lot of this is going to be program specific.

[tesolin4languages]

Great replies guys! I'm liking this! Keep them coming if you have information you deem worthy of adding!

[NCLSEA123]

It really all just depends on your program and how well you manage your time. I'm a half time TA (10 hours) and I also work 20 hours a week in another job. First year down and so far I've received As and one A-. In fact the A- class was probably the hardest in the program. If you're pursuing a PhD or are working in a research oriented TA position, I would opt against working outside of school.

[Amalia222]

my TAships do not allow me to work a second job; however, I have found a way around this by doing freelance writing, which is considered "hobby income" on my taxes, and does not qualify as an official employment.

[lasgirl]

My program doesn't recommend that you work in the first semester, in order to get yourself back in the mindset of school (I took off two years between undergrad and my MA), so I plan on not working that first semester and then probably finding something part-time in the second one. I'm lucky enough to have a stipend to cover living expenses and such, though.

[tesolin4languages]

Dear all: Thanks for the great responses. I have now a better understanding of the topic. Thanks!

TESOL