Anonymous
03/02/2023 21:25
Subject: Re:To work or not to work throughout college? That is the question!
I worked full time 40+hr warehouse job and still completed my Bachelor’s degree in 3 years, so I definitely think it’s worthwhile to work. When COVID happened my classes became online and asynchronous, meaning I logged on and completed modules on my own time during the week, so I believe my job helped provide structure to my day. I lived at home and had parents/scholarships for tuition so didn’t need the money but was able to graduate with nearly $100k saved. Many employers were also impressed with my work ethic when I was interviewing for jobs my senior year, so I think it helped me land my first postgrad job too. The only reason I can see not to work is if you have a time-consuming major with a lot of labs.
Anonymous
03/02/2023 14:17
Subject: To work or not to work throughout college? That is the question!
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:College has changed. When I was going to school, I only had to focus on classroom stuff mostly. You know HW, studying for exam, lab reports..etc. Nowdays, if your kid is thinking post college education - masters/Phd, med school, law school...etc. They need to do so much more - internship, research, volunteering...etc. It's almost impossible to work in addition
Law school? Law schools only care about GPA and LSAT. They don’t care what you majored in, either.
Look up studies showing how few hours college kids spend studying today.
Studies? Ask your kid. It varies by school, program, course load. My stem student easily spends 3-5 hours/day.
Anonymous
03/02/2023 14:16
Subject: Re:To work or not to work throughout college? That is the question!
Anonymous wrote:My DS thinks going to college is like an investment. The longer he stays in college, he is only not making money but also losing money because he has to pay for tuition plus room/board. If he works in the summer, he is not getting paid top dollar like he would with a real Software Engineering job. With that in mind, he loaded up a lot of AP courses in HS and he also took summer classes so that he could finish his CS degree in three years. He accepted a job with General Dynamics for a salary of 125K. Not only does he save a year of tuition plus room/board but he is also making real good money in the process. It's a win-win scenario.
Seems like he was bright and laser-focused. Congrats on the GD offer and good luck to him!
I agree re college as an investment. My student works an on campus job in the field he's studying, which he feels is an investment and tutoring in the subject too. He does not need the money to pay for school, yet enjoys the experience, connections and sees it as helpful to his goal. As there are a limited number of hours in the day, he takes summer courses to stay on track and not delay graduation. There are many paths to success!
Anonymous
03/02/2023 14:08
Subject: To work or not to work throughout college? That is the question!
Anonymous wrote:College has changed. When I was going to school, I only had to focus on classroom stuff mostly. You know HW, studying for exam, lab reports..etc. Nowdays, if your kid is thinking post college education - masters/Phd, med school, law school...etc. They need to do so much more - internship, research, volunteering...etc. It's almost impossible to work in addition
Law school? Law schools only care about GPA and LSAT. They don’t care what you majored in, either.
Look up studies showing how few hours college kids spend studying today.
Anonymous
03/02/2023 09:05
Subject: To work or not to work throughout college? That is the question!
College has changed. When I was going to school, I only had to focus on classroom stuff mostly. You know HW, studying for exam, lab reports..etc. Nowdays, if your kid is thinking post college education - masters/Phd, med school, law school...etc. They need to do so much more - internship, research, volunteering...etc. It's almost impossible to work in addition
Anonymous
03/02/2023 09:02
Subject: To work or not to work throughout college? That is the question!
Anonymous wrote:I worked during college. 18-19 at Barclays Bank and 19-22 at a huge credit card company. These jobs were in the office.
I worked full time which was only 35 hours a week and did 15 credits usually. I still had a ton of free time. No school or work weekends.
Why not work?
Bullsh*t. This is not possible. You’re supposed to study 2-3 hours a week per class at absolute bare minimum. So 10 hours a week of studying (and getting terrible grades) + 15 hours/week in class + 35 hours a week of working. This doesn’t including commuting time.
Anonymous
03/02/2023 08:39
Subject: To work or not to work throughout college? That is the question!
Anonymous wrote:I worked during college. 18-19 at Barclays Bank and 19-22 at a huge credit card company. These jobs were in the office.
I worked full time which was only 35 hours a week and did 15 credits usually. I still had a ton of free time. No school or work weekends.
Why not work?
You either had a joke major or went to a joke college, or both.
Anonymous
03/02/2023 08:39
Subject: To work or not to work throughout college? That is the question!
Anonymous wrote:I worked during college. 18-19 at Barclays Bank and 19-22 at a huge credit card company. These jobs were in the office.
I worked full time which was only 35 hours a week and did 15 credits usually. I still had a ton of free time. No school or work weekends.
Why not work?
Well for one, those jobs today would go to someone with a college degree, likely from a contracting agency.
Most college students would be looking at food service, retail or manual labor jobs.
Anonymous
03/01/2023 23:13
Subject: To work or not to work throughout college? That is the question!
I worked during college. 18-19 at Barclays Bank and 19-22 at a huge credit card company. These jobs were in the office.
I worked full time which was only 35 hours a week and did 15 credits usually. I still had a ton of free time. No school or work weekends.
Why not work?
I worked full time which was only 35 hours a week and did 15 credits usually. I still had a ton of free time. No school or work weekends.
Why not work?
Anonymous
03/01/2023 20:29
Subject: Re:To work or not to work throughout college? That is the question!
They should absolutely work (paid or not), or else have time-consuming extracurriculars. For most college students, it is important to have that structure.
Anonymous
03/01/2023 09:51
Subject: To work or not to work throughout college? That is the question!
Anonymous wrote:Given that the amount of time college students spend on academics has cratered (*), your kid may have less time to get himself into trouble if he has a job. And even irrelevant experience is not all that irrelevant -- you get used to showing up on time, completing tasks, dealing with co-workers, bosses, and customers.
(*) Studying + class estimated at 40 hours in 1961 -> 27 hours in 2003 -> 22 hours in 2015. NSSE says that maybe the numbers have improved -- "the percentage of first-year students spending more than 15 hours per week preparing for class (studying, reading, writing, doing homework or lab work) increased from 34% in 2004 to as high as 45% in 2017." ( https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2020/03/01/some-good-news-about-college-student-engagement/?sh=4a780a6e1101 ) -- but I bet that following these kids around would show that this additional time consisted of a lot less time studying textbooks and a lot more more faffing around on the internet while they think they are studying.
+1
Anonymous
03/01/2023 06:55
Subject: To work or not to work throughout college? That is the question!
1. It is nice to have the freedom not to work, but many don’t.
2. My kid got a great job with real learning near real experts. They didn’t overwork him during the semester. Best thing that happened in college.
2. My kid got a great job with real learning near real experts. They didn’t overwork him during the semester. Best thing that happened in college.
Anonymous
02/19/2023 13:11
Subject: Re:To work or not to work throughout college? That is the question!
If money isn't an issue the ideal is probably to not work during the school year but to work at a relevant job in the summers. During the school year the focus should be first and foremost on grades, and second on volunteer opportunities that help them get where they want to be (research, shadowing, leadership). Often volunteer research can turn into paid research later on, but I would say volunteer research > coffee shop job if means allow.
Anonymous
02/19/2023 13:07
Subject: To work or not to work throughout college? That is the question!
Given that the amount of time college students spend on academics has cratered (*), your kid may have less time to get himself into trouble if he has a job. And even irrelevant experience is not all that irrelevant -- you get used to showing up on time, completing tasks, dealing with co-workers, bosses, and customers.
(*) Studying + class estimated at 40 hours in 1961 -> 27 hours in 2003 -> 22 hours in 2015. NSSE says that maybe the numbers have improved -- "the percentage of first-year students spending more than 15 hours per week preparing for class (studying, reading, writing, doing homework or lab work) increased from 34% in 2004 to as high as 45% in 2017." ( https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2020/03/01/some-good-news-about-college-student-engagement/?sh=4a780a6e1101 ) -- but I bet that following these kids around would show that this additional time consisted of a lot less time studying textbooks and a lot more more faffing around on the internet while they think they are studying.
(*) Studying + class estimated at 40 hours in 1961 -> 27 hours in 2003 -> 22 hours in 2015. NSSE says that maybe the numbers have improved -- "the percentage of first-year students spending more than 15 hours per week preparing for class (studying, reading, writing, doing homework or lab work) increased from 34% in 2004 to as high as 45% in 2017." ( https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2020/03/01/some-good-news-about-college-student-engagement/?sh=4a780a6e1101 ) -- but I bet that following these kids around would show that this additional time consisted of a lot less time studying textbooks and a lot more more faffing around on the internet while they think they are studying.
Anonymous
02/15/2023 15:58
Subject: To work or not to work throughout college? That is the question!
They either need to work or do an internship over the summer, and maybe work part time during the year if they aren't taking hard classes. Best of they aren't partying all the time.