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Question for people who go to college and work full time

pontifex

pontifex

Lifer
If you took classes while working full time (40 hours a week) how many classes did you take and how did you handle it?

the counselor said that most people in this situation take 2 classes at a time.
i was looking at class times and one class runs from 5:30 to 9:30 pm Tuesdays and Thursdays. Another class runs around the same time period Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

When do you get time to actually do your school work if you take that schedule? Sure, you have weekends, but you can't put off all your work until the weekend can you? I'm sure they give work thats due by the next class, right?

 
Up until 2 months ago, I worked full time (4-5 days a week, 10-12 hours/day, retail) and went to school only on Tues and Thurs. If you are a decent student, I would cautiously recommend it for Freshman/Sophomore years. After that, don't try more than 1-2 classes per semester. I took 12-15 credit hours, and just got to the point I was burnt out with everything. Got fired a few months ago, and that couldn't have been a bigger blessing, as I now am much less stressed and have more time to study.

If you are working a 9-5 job, you might be able to take 1-2 night classes, and maybe a Saturday class. I was only able to work my schedule because I worked retail, and had 7 days to play with.
 
Sacrifice. Something has to give.

I worked part-time and took at least 12 credit hours/quarter as an undergrad. When I was working towards my JD, I worked full-time and took at least 9 credit hours/semester.

During my post-grad period I wasn't able to spend as much time with my wife and had to basically give up playing sports/tv for a few years. During this time I was always on the brink of exhaustion but I stayed focused on my goal.
 
well when I was working 32+hrs a week, I had 3 classes in the morning, monday, wednesday and friday. they were from 9 til about 1 or so. Then I would just worked all afternoons and every weekend.
 
Many Many moons ago, I was pulling 5-6 classes a semester and working full time doing data processing at a bank in the evening. Hour drive to the school.

Studying was done heavily on weekends (advance reading) and at work while the computers (they did have them back then) were crunching the data. I could get about 45 minutes/hr for 4-5 hrs a night studying/homework.
 
if i took the schedule i mentioned in my op, the only time i would have to do anything would be during lunch at work or on weekends.

the classes don't end until 9:30. it would be about 10:15 until i got home. i usually go to bed around 11 and even then i'm already in bed, just reading until 11.

i obviously can't take 2 classes on the same night.
 
Originally posted by: pontifex
if i took the schedule i mentioned in my op, the only time i would have to do anything would be during lunch at work or on weekends.

the classes don't end until 9:30. it would be about 10:15 until i got home. i usually go to bed around 11 and even then i'm already in bed, just reading until 11.

i obviously can't take 2 classes on the same night.
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It really depends on what you can handle, and how flexible your work schedule is. I took 16 credits for 4 years straight and worked full time for two of those years but only because work was so flexible with my schedule because they allowed to do 12 hour shifts, so I only had to work 3 days a week anyways.

However I wouldn't recommend even that because it was difficult and I had zero social life whatsoever. It's best to find a happy median between work and school. Whether it's 2 classes or 3, whichever works for you best. Sadly it's almost trial and error but remember school ALWAYS comes before work.
 
I take 1 class. My work is pretty flexible though... I get a 75% tuition discount (I work for the university), and I can just up and go to class during the day.
 
It all comes down to how you work. Look at what you did in high school, that is a pretty good roadmap for how you will perform in college. All I can say is be realistic with yourself - it's better to "under perform" by taking less classes than you think you should take and getting good grades in them, then "over perform" and taking more classes than you can realistically handle and failing at everything. It's not going to matter if you spend a couple extra years in college - you'll be spending the next 40 working! 😀
 
i'm in kind of an odd situation at work. no one is here after about 4:30-5:00 PM and no one works weekends, so I can't switch to a different shift or work on weekends.

I don't think they'd allow me to go part time and I don't think I could afford to only work part time either. Finding another job (that pays close to what I make now) is next to impossible.
 
Maybe start by taking 1 class? Maybe Tuesday/Thursday?

Look into online courses as well, maybe the school you get that class from will let you transfer credits from a university offering online classes, in which case you can do these with more flexibility - on the weekends, while eating dinner, whatever you choose to do.
 
Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
Maybe start by taking 1 class? Maybe Tuesday/Thursday?

Look into online courses as well, maybe the school you get that class from will let you transfer credits from a university offering online classes, in which case you can do these with more flexibility - on the weekends, while eating dinner, whatever you choose to do.
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that seems to be my only option at the moment.
i wanted to take at least 2 so i could get done faster, though. I hadn't thought about online classes, i may have to look into them if i want to take 2 at a time
 
35 hours a week and 4 classes.
It was hell. I stopped after 1 semester.

A full time job and 2 courses is manageable.
 
I would recommend Online Classes if you think you could be disciplined enough to really do them. I transferred to an online school last year and I love it. You only have to take one class at a time, and as long as you meet the deadlines for everything you are set. If you work on it every weekday it usually takes less than 2 hours a day. My only advice in taking online classes is to schedule a specific time every day to work on schoolwork and blow everything else away so that you are distraction free in-person and in your head.
 
I worked 40 hours a week and took four or five classes for about three semesters. This kicked my ass, I wasn't able to do anything else. Granted, at least 2 of the classes were online, but I was still inundated with work every week. Very hard and you must be disciplined to do this type of work and handle the stress.
 
I did it and limited my classes to Tues/Thurs (took 12hrs). It was a retail job so I did work weekends and was easier than I though.
 
I did full-time, 7AM-3:30 five days a week, with a 45-min. commute and a tues-thurs 3 credit hour engineering elective (400-level). I hated it... I'd rather do only one thing at once, no matter how much time it took.
 
I work full time 8-5 M-F. When I started, I took night classes at a Junior College. Anywhere from 2-3 classes a week. One semester I got a hair up my butt and took 4 classes, it was hell. I did nothing but have my nose in a book that semester. The University of Alabama has an online Business degree with a minor in CS. I plan on taking 3 classes per semester for the rest of the year because they are my CS classes which should be easy.

Right now school is kicking my butt. I have a Calculus final on Friday and I am horrrrrrible at math.

I try to get all of my school work done during the week so I can have fun on the weekends but sometimes I get burnt out and let it build up then bust my butt for a couple of days.

Are you married?
 
Originally posted by: jhayx7
I work full time 8-5 M-F. When I started, I took night classes at a Junior College. Anywhere from 2-3 classes a week. One semester I got a hair up my butt and took 4 classes, it was hell. I did nothing but have my nose in a book that semester. The University of Alabama has an online Business degree with a minor in CS. I plan on taking 3 classes per semester for the rest of the year because they are my CS classes which should be easy.

Right now school is kicking my butt. I have a Calculus final on Friday and I am horrrrrrible at math.

I try to get all of my school work done during the week so I can have fun on the weekends but sometimes I get burnt out and let it build up then bust my butt for a couple of days.

Are you married?
Click to expand...

i'm single.

how did you do it? when did you find time to do your school work?
 
Originally posted by: pontifex
Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
Maybe start by taking 1 class? Maybe Tuesday/Thursday?

Look into online courses as well, maybe the school you get that class from will let you transfer credits from a university offering online classes, in which case you can do these with more flexibility - on the weekends, while eating dinner, whatever you choose to do.
Click to expand...


that seems to be my only option at the moment.
i wanted to take at least 2 so i could get done faster, though. I hadn't thought about online classes, i may have to look into them if i want to take 2 at a time
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It's not a bad one IMO, online classes can be great, especially since you'll save time in transportation, teacher's BS if they waste your time talking about things that don't matter to you, etc. If you want to, you could start out with 1 online class and see how it goes, increase it to 2 once you feel you're ready, don't jump into too much of a workload right away.
 
Originally posted by: pontifex
Originally posted by: jhayx7
I work full time 8-5 M-F. When I started, I took night classes at a Junior College. Anywhere from 2-3 classes a week. One semester I got a hair up my butt and took 4 classes, it was hell. I did nothing but have my nose in a book that semester. The University of Alabama has an online Business degree with a minor in CS. I plan on taking 3 classes per semester for the rest of the year because they are my CS classes which should be easy.

Right now school is kicking my butt. I have a Calculus final on Friday and I am horrrrrrible at math.

I try to get all of my school work done during the week so I can have fun on the weekends but sometimes I get burnt out and let it build up then bust my butt for a couple of days.

Are you married?
Click to expand...

i'm single.

how did you do it? when did you find time to do your school work?
Click to expand...


Being single helps. I am married and could take a bigger load if I were single...

I would plan my classes on the same night, usually Tuesday and Thursday, that would leave me MWF nights to do schoolwork.

Now that I am at UA, online classes are the way to go! Being able to set my own schedule is awesome.
 
Originally posted by: jhayx7
Originally posted by: pontifex
Originally posted by: jhayx7
I work full time 8-5 M-F. When I started, I took night classes at a Junior College. Anywhere from 2-3 classes a week. One semester I got a hair up my butt and took 4 classes, it was hell. I did nothing but have my nose in a book that semester. The University of Alabama has an online Business degree with a minor in CS. I plan on taking 3 classes per semester for the rest of the year because they are my CS classes which should be easy.

Right now school is kicking my butt. I have a Calculus final on Friday and I am horrrrrrible at math.

I try to get all of my school work done during the week so I can have fun on the weekends but sometimes I get burnt out and let it build up then bust my butt for a couple of days.

Are you married?
Click to expand...

i'm single.

how did you do it? when did you find time to do your school work?
Click to expand...


Being single helps. I am married and could take a bigger load if I were single...

I would plan my classes on the same night, usually Tuesday and Thursday, that would leave me MWF nights to do schoolwork.

Now that I am at UA, online classes are the way to go! Being able to set my own schedule is awesome.
Click to expand...

i can't take more than 1 class on the same night though, as each night class runs from about 5:30 to 9:30. its not physically possible to take more than 1 class a night.

hwo long does an online class usually take?
 
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