I’m an industrial engineering major at TAMU and I’m entering my 3rd year. I decided to get a job for 25-30 hrs a week so I was wondering if anyone had any experience with working and being a full time student. What should I expect this coming semester?
Very little sleep is what you should expect.
Lots of people do it because they have to. You will be either working, going to class, or studying. You won’t have much free time. But if you really need the money, then you’ll only be doing this much work for a couple years and the sacrifice will be worth it.
I second the sleep. Are you working on campus? You need that many hours with the increased min wage on campus? Anyway, I wish you luck and good time management. I heard engineering was hard and adding a job seems time consuming. Good luck in your studies!
@lalastar It’s actaully 15 hrs on campus and 8-10 hours at the local mall to be exact. I’m thinking of trying a week into the Fall semester and then if it’s too much, I’ll just have to quit one of them. Hopefully they’ll understand even though I said I’d be there past Fall, but things happen.
Having two jobs will afford you some flexibility if you find it’s too much - you might give yourself a month to figure out if both jobs are going to be manageable. Many people find that they are more productive the busier they are. In my freshman year, I had two part-time jobs AND on-campus work study. I liked the variety and flexibility. My grades were also very good, because I had to be very judicious with my time - you can do it if academics are a priority.
@Undercrackers One of my amazing teachers said the exact same thing. She told us how she went to school for 21 credits while working either one or two jobs. She said exactly what you said about being productive. I might actually be same the way. This year, most of my assignments were done when I had work later that day ( my free days were spent sleeping).
@LukeJonathan Oh, so you have two jobs? That gives you a lot of variety and just by the nature of having to accommodate two schedules, you will probably naturally be doing some time management stuff. So, that’s a positive. And, like you said, you can always quit if you find it overwhelming. Better to try than to give up at first sight! Plus, you’re right, they should understand if you quit as you are a college student. I know at my job I, had to pointedly tell people who had issues with me taking around a week off for orientation and the likes that school IS my first priority.
But, it seems your campus job is your “main” job which is nice. I think it allows for more flexibility (higher min wage, legally having to accommodate your school schedule).
That is way too much for an engineering student in the hardest year of their college career. You should have a 8-10 hour job if at all. Your grades will suffer and getting your first real job will be all about the GPA and not because you worked at the mall.