Working PT during a Master's program... doable?

[awash_]

Hi all! I'm still waiting on funding info from my choice school, so in the meantime I've been weighing my options. Some background:

• I'm starting grad school w/ the intention of my MS being the end goal. No PhD for me, please.
• Indicated my interest in TA and GIS lab positions.
• Will be a full-time student.

I've looked into each of the funding options available for my department, and they'd cover tuition. Maaaaybe groceries. I'm also applying for outside funding, but nothing's guaranteed. I'd rather not take out loans because... well, it's hard to justify leaving the working world (where I'm making money) to reverting back to broke indebted student status. I also can't rely on my freelance work paying all of my bills.

 

Has anyone ever held a part-time position while completing their graduate studies? What was it like?

[zupgiusto]

I'm working part-time now, in the second year of my masters. I have mixed feelings about it. Going into school I had a strict no-jobs policy because I know I do my best without distractions. I have enough funding to survive. My MA program had a co-op option (8 month work placement) and the company wanted to hire me full-time after. As a compromise, I stayed on part time while I'm finishing school. I made this choice based on a mixture of:

- my coursework commitments are mostly done, so it's mostly just research and writing for me at this point

- I've already applied for PhDs so it feels like less of a 'gamble'

- I didn't do it fresh into grad school. I had 2 terms to get my bearings job-free before judging whether I could handle the extra work and whether I needed to work or not

- my job is flexible and allows me to work from home for some days

- the job is relevant to what I want to do, so I feel like it's a strong career move

 

It takes an incredible amount of time management. I kept my TA obligation for this term so I'm doing that, working 20hrs, and moving my own research along. I'm also taking an extra course (but it's credit/no credit, so not as stressful). So far, I find my own research happens last, and I'm not too happy about that. I try to schedule my time religiously so that during work time that's all I do, then the rest of the time is allotted for research and teaching. I find I am really pushing myself, but it is really rewarding. I think I might be completely crazy some days, but the job waiting for me at this company is worth maintaining this relationship for now, and like you I am debt averse. It's nice knowing in the back of my head that there's a "deadline" where I won't be pushing myself like this anymore - it makes it bearable to continue at this pace. I'm on the fence as to whether I would advise it, because I really think everyone's situation is different and it involves many factors. 

[shadowclaw]

Most of the folks in my masters program work part-time jobs. One even has a full-time job, although he doesn't take more than 2 courses at a time.

 

I worked part time last year, since I didn't have funding. I was basically on campus three days per week and I took three courses (9 credits) each semester. I worked the other four days as a waitress. It really wasn't difficult. There was a lot of reading and writing involved with my courses, but it was easy to fit the work into my schedule. My data collection for my thesis was also done over the summer, so that made life easier than someone who had to collect data for their thesis during the semester. Of course, if you aren't doing a thesis-based masters, this doesn't apply to you.

 

This year, I did get funding in the form of a graduate assistantship. Essentially, this means TAing for two lab sections and preparing materials (making solutions, setting up models, etc) for two labs every week. Since this is a 20 hour a week commitment, I quit my waitress job. This actually made my life more hectic, because I had to be on campus five days per week last semester. For most people, this isn't a problem, but I live an hour and fifteen minutes away from school, and all of those hours in the car really add up. Plus my 20 hour GA position really ends up being closer to 25 or 30 hours of work, so I ended up working more as a GA than a waitress (and for less money). This semester, it is a lot more peaceful. I only have one course and I only have to be on campus 3 or 4 days per week, freeing up a lot of time to work on writing my thesis. 

 

Getting back to working part-time, one of the GA's works part-time at a grocery store on the weekends. So she is working close to full-time in addition to taking 2 courses and working on her thesis. She has no life. At all.

 

So working part-time is certainly doable, but depending on your responsibilities with a TA position, you might not want to add a part-time job on top of it. You also want to check the wording of your contract. Some funding packages come with the stipulation that you aren't allowed to work outside of the university.

[awash_]

 

- I didn't do it fresh into grad school. I had 2 terms to get my bearings job-free before judging whether I could handle the extra work and whether I needed to work or not

- the job is relevant to what I want to do, so I feel like it's a strong career move

 

I usually work best under stress, but as a result I like to relax or blow off steam a little more intensely. It worked for me in undergrad when I was working 32 hrs/week in food service, active in 3 student orgs, and taking around 5 classes for most semesters. Not sure if that'll translate well to graduate study, so I definitely want to mull over your idea of waiting a term or two to get acclimated. And it'll need to be something relevant, or at least with transferable skills. Thanks!

 

 

 

 

So working part-time is certainly doable, but depending on your responsibilities with a TA position, you might not want to add a part-time job on top of it. You also want to check the wording of your contract. Some funding packages come with the stipulation that you aren't allowed to work outside of the university.

 

I didn't even think about the possibility of a contract barring me from outside employment. That's a huge reason I didn't do Americorps (most programs don't allow a second job but pay poverty line stipends); it's financially limiting to have me work for you and then prevent me from earning extra income from other endeavors. Thanks for the heads up, though! I hope any opportunities offered to me don't limit me from doing other things.

[zupgiusto]

I usually work best under stress, but as a result I like to relax or blow off steam a little more intensely. It worked for me in undergrad when I was working 32 hrs/week in food service, active in 3 student orgs, and taking around 5 classes for most semesters. Not sure if that'll translate well to graduate study, so I definitely want to mull over your idea of waiting a term or two to get acclimated. And it'll need to be something relevant, or at least with transferable skills. Thanks!

 

Wow, that's quite an accomplishment! Knowing that about you, it sounds like you'll manage well no matter what you decide to do.

[shadowclaw]

I usually work best under stress, but as a result I like to relax or blow off steam a little more intensely. It worked for me in undergrad when I was working 32 hrs/week in food service, active in 3 student orgs, and taking around 5 classes for most semesters. Not sure if that'll translate well to graduate study, so I definitely want to mull over your idea of waiting a term or two to get acclimated. And it'll need to be something relevant, or at least with transferable skills. Thanks!

 

I think you'll do fine. I was doing the same thing during undergrad... I worked 6 days (~38 hours) each week at a restaurant and took 20 credits almost every semester (amounted to about 6 classes depending on labs) as well as did a few hours of peer tutoring each week. The time management skills I learned then did translate pretty well in grad school. The biggest difference for me between undergrad and grad school were that instead of trying to remember a bunch of information from books/lectures, I was doing a lot more work on my own time reading papers and writing. So there's a difference in the kind of work that needs to be done outside of class, but time management skills are still important,

[awash_]

@zupgiusto - It takes almost every fiber of my being to not get distracted, though. It'd be pretty cool to be in school without working for a little!

 

@shadowclaw - Food service alumni unite! I hope I don't have to go back to it, but I will as a last resort. It's really nice hearing from other people with similar (if not more awful) work & courseload balances.

[jujubea]

And some contracts say you can work ONLY if it's outside of the university. 

[awash_]

And some contracts say you can work ONLY if it's outside of the university. 

That sounds pretty odd. I'm curious though; what kind of circumstances are involved?

[jujubea]

Well, it's more worded that you "cannot accept other university employment." Idk why.

[awash_]

That's so weird. I can't imagine wanting to take another university-based position anyway. Working in the financial aid office or student writing center sounds like a bad time.

[jujubea]

Good to know

 

So, for the posters in this thread, what exactly were the part-time jobs people had? I saw one was a grocery store worker... what else?

 

Anyone do freelance work? (I'm an editor for instance, and thinking of continuing that for some extra cash).

[GeoDUDE!]

Just a note, if you have an assistantship, a lot of departments do not allow you to have a part time job or you have to clear it with them first. 

[zupgiusto]

Good to know

 

So, for the posters in this thread, what exactly were the part-time jobs people had? I saw one was a grocery store worker... what else?

 

Anyone do freelance work? (I'm an editor for instance, and thinking of continuing that for some extra cash).

 

I did research at a technology company, which is why it was so flexible and I could set my own pace (to a certain degree). I did some freelance writing for a while but for some reason it really stressed me out! I think I put so much pressure on myself when the sky is the limit.

Edited February 17, 2015 by zupgiusto