<p>I'm in engineering, and I'm taking 17 credits and I plan on getting a part time job (maybe 10-15 hours a week at the most). I'm not positive yet, but my courses will probably be ENGR 101 (or MAYBE 100), Chem 125/126/130, Math 116 (Calc II, which I heard is really hard...), and probably PSYCH 111 for an easy A.</p>
<p>Will I still have some time left over to join a couple of clubs, and get involved with other things/volunteer? How many credits are you guys taking, what year are you, and what college?</p>
<p>I usually take 17-18 in the LSA, am in a club, and volunteer once a week, and I was not able to add a job into that mix and still keep my grades up. I had a 12 hour a week job from January to March and I am lucky I passed my classes. But that sort of thing really depends on the person and the courses you are taking, and I know nothing about your classes. I did manage to work a lot more in early college when it was mostly 100-200 level courses, but I wasn’t taking engineering courses so I don’t know.</p>
<p>it’s doable, but you probably won’t have much time to get involved in other things if you work 10-15 hrs a week.
I had something similar last year: 16 credits, 1 project, 20 then down to 15 hrs per week of work, and a pretty balanced social life, but it was pretty painful.
I did alright too. Your work ethic matters alot. Ive seen many idiots and geeks with 12-13 credits, no major EC, and they still don’t do well.</p>
<p>oh and psych 111 might be an easy A, just don’t get cocky. I learned it the hard way because i thought calc 4 and chem 130 were jokes…</p>
<p>I’m in LSA and typically take 17 or 18 credits a semester. I’m also involved in several ECs. Remember that just because a class has the reputation of being easy doesn’t mean it doesn’t require work. I’d recommend that you start with classes and clubs for the first month or two and then add the job in if you think you can handle it.</p>
<p>I can’t really tell you much since I’m an incoming freshman as well, but I can tell you I’m taking 16 credits (English 125, Math 285, Anthro 101, and Psych 111) and I plan to work, join a couple clubs and have a social life. Hopefully that works out?</p>
<p>Yosup, I recommend picking up a job second semester instead of working right away. I worked 10 hours/week my first semester and it was just not an ideal situation. What you want to do is not impossible, but in the end, you’ll either be sacrificing sleep or a social life.</p>
<p>I don’t see the point in working part-time for minimum wage while in Engineering school. You’re going to get a good job coming out of it, focus on school. If you have a chance at getting a .1 higher GPA by not working or graduating a semester early, it’s worth not working. </p>
<p>At 10hrs a week, you’re taking home what, $70/week? For 28 weeks of school that’s less than 2K/year. If you really need the money that badly you might as well borrow it. If you can get along without it, do so.</p>
<p>Anyway, I’ve taken 18 and 19, and will be taking 15 in fall, but I’m expecting it to be a hard 15 (EECS classes and all), which is why I’m stepping the number down. I didn’t work though.</p>
<p>I took 16 a semester, pledged, and worked 15-20 hours a week but I can tell you it was hell. Even 2nd semester when I wasn’t pledging it was rough. The money was good though; I was making anywhere from $400-650 a month.</p>
<p>Also QwertyKey, not everyone has parents that pay for everything. My parents don’t pay for my food, frat dues, booze, etc. So making 4-5 grand during the school year really helps out. Also, it shows that you did more than just study all the time; .1 on your GPA isn’t going to really matter a whole lot. .5, yah then I’d consider not working.</p>
<p>As far as sleep goes, last year was an all-time low for me. I probably averaged about 4 hours a night. Thank God EECS 281 is over…</p>
<p>"I don’t see the point in working part-time for minimum wage while in Engineering school. You’re going to get a good job coming out of it, focus on school. If you have a chance at getting a .1 higher GPA by not working or graduating a semester early, it’s worth not working. "</p>
<p>I have a question for you. Do you really think a student with a 3.0 and job experiences for two years during school will have a weaker resume than one with a 3.2 or even 3.3 and no job experiences [given same ECs, Major, etc]?</p>
<p>Being employed during college is not only about finance but marks a visible sign of experience and professionalism on a student’s record. For instance, MSE students get quite a boost on their resume if they’ve done research in material development. CS students would benefit greatly from being employed in programming, networking, or website design work during college. ME students might work in manufacturing labs for the year and show employers they know their stuff. Even if the job is not in the field itself, such as working at cafeteria or even gardening, employers like to see students that have shown they can manage/handle work in general and would rather hire them than a person that just studies and has no experience working at all.</p>
<p>That said, yosup your schedule is not terrible at all. I would work a little less than 15 hours though since as a freshman you want to be a bit more social and/or the transition to college may possibly not be smooth. As for me, I took the following:</p>
<p>*note - (#)=hours worked per week for that semester</p>
<p>Fresh - 17 (5),17 (5)
Soph - 18 (20),16 (15) ~ Don’t do 18 (20) -> No social life.
Junior - 16(15),14(15)</p>
<p>oh and also, the extra money in your pocket is always a good feeling.</p>
<p>I can’t see how working minimum wage stocking shelves or whatever during the school semesters is a resume booster. If he’s gonna be able to find something related to CS then definitely that’s a good idea. If he’s going to be stocking shelves (which I assume is basically what he’d be doing), I don’t see the point.</p>
<p>“Also QwertyKey, not everyone has parents that pay for everything. My parents don’t pay for my food, frat dues, booze, etc. So making 4-5 grand during the school year really helps out. Also, it shows that you did more than just study all the time; .1 on your GPA isn’t going to really matter a whole lot. .5, yah then I’d consider not working.”</p>
<p>Yosup is more likely in the ~2K range at 10hrs/week. He’ll likely make ~80K+ (or have the opportunity to do so) coming out with a CS degree in 4 years. If borrowed, that 2K will easily be able to be paid back.</p>
<p>I had literally no spending money the whole year besides birthday money (from July) and on rare occasion my mom gave me $10. Even the job I mentioned having last semester was an unpaid internship. When you need to make it work, you do. But I didn’t pledge and was on a meal plan, which was in part due to finances. </p>
<p>Last winter semester, during which time I was taking 17 credit hours, founding a student org (not as time consuming as you would think), and working 12-15 hours a week I only slept like three or four hours a night. And then my immune system was shot, I was constantly sick, my productivity got lower and lower, and the schedule got even harder to maintain. It’s important not to overexert yourself. Doing all these things is only worth it if you are healthy and happy enough to enjoy it and be successful at it. I am never taking more than 16 credit hours again, won’t work again unless it is <5 hours a week, and will do more volunteer work since that is actually rejuvenating instead of draining. I will be **** poor, but I am getting pretty good at living a full life without much money. If you are only taking advantage of the opportunities for fun and enrichment in Ann Arbor that cost money, you’re missing out on a lot.</p>
<p>The bottom line, to me, is that if all the things you want to do are too much really depends on you, and you probably won’t even know until you get here. I would start out slow. Firsts semester, concentrate on academics and socializing-- that is when it is easiest to make friends. Add a job second semester if you can handle it. If you really, genuinely NEED money right when you start, at least until October or so. You really do yourself a disservice by not feeling this transition out before leaping into the thick of things all at once when it can be avoided. And if it does turn out that you can’t handle it all, as long as you are on a meal plan and living in the dorms you are not going to die with little to no spending money. You need to make sure school is your first priority.</p>
<p>yosop, you really should be fine working. Having part time jobs through your undergraduate career shows professional development and skills on your resume. Even if your working a “shelf stocking” job, you can at least get a bit more leverage when your looking for a engineering based employment your sophomore year or even that summer. </p>
<p>In the end, the simple experience of being in a work environment is really key to becoming a better employee in the future since you learn how to communicate in with coworkers and managers to get things done in a proper manner. Even interacting with customers can really teach you something in composure and conversation. </p>
<p>I should also note that if your interested in a higher degree, whether it be med school, masters in business, masters in engineering, schools really love to see employment histories on applications since it shows management skills and potential.</p>
<p>And plus, there are a lot of nonstressful jobs at Michigan that don’t require to much labor like being a desk clerk, working at one of the recreational buildings as a card swiper, or working at a library. You can even “study” while working in these types of jobs. But I would really recommend trying to find something in the field your interested in sooner or later.</p>
<p>Ok thanks everyone! I was actually thinking of doing UROP now and I’ll do research in either biomed (since I’m still considering pre-med) or some engineering. I’m hoping this will look good on my resume, and give me some cash, but let me know what you guys think! Thanks!</p>
<p>I am a freshman and am taking ENGR 151, MATH 285 (Honors Calc III), CHEM 130, and CHEM 125/126. This only adds up to 13 credits unfortunately, which is a shame because I would’ve like to have taken an upwards of 15 or 16. Chem just takes up so much time out of the week</p>
<p>“Ok thanks everyone! I was actually thinking of doing UROP now and I’ll do research in either biomed (since I’m still considering pre-med) or some engineering. I’m hoping this will look good on my resume, and give me some cash, but let me know what you guys think! Thanks!”</p>
<p>Sounds far better than stocking shelves. </p>
<p>One issue though, I believe you have to take some credits for it. You’re at 17 with those 4 classes, and if you have to take 2 from UROP, you then have to pay more for tuition. </p>
<p>Ok thanks everyone! And yep Querty, I looked it up earlier, and since I’m getting work study, it’ll only count as 1 credit. My fault though haha, I should have been a lot clearer in my OP. </p>
<p>I guess my main worry is that I’ll be able to get everything done, but I won’t have a social life…like someone said, freshman year is the best time to make new friends, and I don’t want to spend all of it in the UGLi. Worst case scenario, I could drop UROP, but I feel like UROP would give me research experience, money, AND teach me more about pre-med/CS (since I’m still not 100% sure on what I wanna do for the rest of my life). And I don’t really see the point in dropping PSYCH since it’ll probably be easy compared with my other classes. Sooo, as of now I guess I’ll stick with this schedule, and it’ll work out. Any more thoughts?</p>
<p>PS: invgamma, maybe you could add an easy HU/SS class or something, like psych or polysci?</p>