<p>I just finished my freshman year of college. This summer will be my first time balancing work and school.</p>
<p>I'll be taking one summer class at a time (algebra and then trig). Each will be 4 days a week, 8 hours in class per week total. During the fall semester, I'll be taking 15 credit hours, including 2 labs. I just switched majors to biochemistry, so I'll essentially be taking freshman-level classes for this major.</p>
<p>For those who work while taking classes: how many hours per week are you able to work without damaging your grades?</p>
<p>My first semester I took 17 credits and worked about 15 hours a week (and still had lots
of free time!) And my second ssemester I was in 13 credits and worked 20-25 hours (I was locked out of a class, I was supposed to take 16) Next semester o will be working 25 hours and be taking 16 credits with 1 lab and 3 writing enhanced courses.</p>
<p>My senior year of hs I worked 30 hours a week and went to class from 9:30-2 so I’m used to it. I think it depends on your time management skills. </p>
<p>(I had a 3.9 at graduation from high school and I finished freshman year with a 3.67)</p>
<p>For the summer classes, how long are your semesters? 8 weeks? I took a class last summer that took maybe 15 hours/week of my time between class, driving, and reading/studying, and I was able to comfortably work 40-45 hours a week. However, it was a subject in which I do well, so I didn’t have to work too hard. How good are you in math? Will you need a lot of time to study? And how badly do you need the money? </p>
<p>During the school year, my hours vary. I worked sporadically my freshman year, but last year I did between 10-20 hours/week and did great. I’m thinking about bumping it up to almost 30 next year, but I’ll be sacrificing my social life as a result since my studies will be stepping it up a notch. </p>
<p>Have you ever worked a full-time job with 40 or more hours? Try and compare it that way. For me, 40 hours/week gives me too much free time and 60 doesn’t give me enough, so I try to balance my work and study time to total between the two. In the end, it totally depends on you. </p>
<p>For my first semester at CSUN, I worked 10 hours per week, and I had 13 units. I did pretty well that semester. For the second semester I worked for 11.5 hours a week, 3 times a week with two shifts each day. I also took 13 units that semester but I was also taking 4 junior level classes; 2 were statistics based classes, which I didn’t do to well in. It all depends on you honestly, if you feel like you can take the extra load with hard classes then go ahead, but if you feel like you can’t do it, then take the minimum amount of work hours you can get and focus on your studies.</p>
<p>I worked all throughout college. My freshman, sophomore, and first semester junior year I worked while being on a varsity team (rowing). I worked roughly 15-20 hrs per week, but unfortunately with early morning as a rower I got bogged down and ended up with mono. I took that as a sign I either needed to quit my job or rowing. Since I needed money over athletics, I had to quit rowing. My second semester junior year I worked 40-50 hour weeks with 18 credit hours. Miraculously my grades didn’t drop. Going into senior year I requested to have my hours cut and worked 30-35 hours with 18 credit hours. I maintained both grades and social life, but I do wonder if my B’s would have been A’s if not for work. </p>