<p>Are there dorms at Madison at which I could stay year round? Perhaps the private dorms? How much more does the average private dorm cost than a Residential Hall dorm? Let's compare rates for singe-person rooms.</p>
<p>I currently work at a Best Buy near my home in Minnesota. When I start college in the fall, however, I would like to transfer to one of the Best Buys in Madison and work there full time during college, since I would be receiving tuition reimbursement. Anyway, I know that the closest Best Buy to the Madison campus is about 8-9 miles away. Well, would it be possible for me to use public transportation to get there and back nearly every day? How much would it cost me?</p>
<p>I would really like to keep my job at Best Buy, since I could be receiving tuition reimbursement for up to 15K a year. However, would you recommend that I switch to a job on campus? Full time pay at BBY would be about $10.50 an hour...I'm assuming the pay for the average on-campus job is about the same? Tuition reimbursement would be great, but including transportation costs...I'm just not sure. I would easily switch to a campus job if could supervise a computer lab or something.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>All UW students get a free City of Madison bus pass. You would not be able to work 40 hours a week and do well as a full time student. Rethink your priorities- school or work. You can check the city web site for more bus info. Remember, you have plenty of years to work, but you will never be a college freshman again. You can check the UW website for available on campus jobs.</p>
<p>There are two BBs, one near the East Towne Mall while the other one near the West Towne Mall. Both are near bus routes. I believe the bus stops right in front West's parking lot! Commute time is ~30-40 minutes. Check the bus route & schedule. </p>
<p>Your hourly salary alone comes up about $22K excluding fringe benefits (e.g. healthcare, 401K etc). Factor in tuition reimbursement (which is very generous!), your actually hourly rate is ~$17.80 which is hard to come by on campus. </p>
<p>So, if you like to work to pay yourself through college, I think you should continue your BB career and try moving into "team lead"- or "assistant manager"-type positions to build your leadership experience. I am fairly certain that upon graduation, your UW degree will lead you to a senior-level position in BB HQ or competing firms. Note: recruiters like me love kids like you. :)</p>
<p>The serious downside is managing your academic. As a rule of thumb, every credit hour requires an additional 2-3 hours of work/week outside lectures/labs/discussion. So taking 6-9 credits is manageable, especially if you mix and match a difficult couse with some "easier" ones. That should help you getting good grades which are often required for tuition reimbursement. It also leaves you with some limited hours for social and EC. If you also take summer classes, you should finish your degree in 5-6 years. Just know this arrangement will be a different college experience. But, you will have plenty of companies too. Good luck!</p>
<p>p/s: Consider staying off campus: cheaper rent, minimize commute time to school.</p>
<p>I'm not absolutely sure yet, but ideally what I'd like to do is design my own major where I'd be taking a lot of English, comparative religion, philosophy, Arabic and Persian classes with a focus on Middle Eastern studies. The ultimate goal is to get into law school, so I'm definitely not interested in a business-oriented career path, if you're assuming so, dallas.</p>
<p>That said, now that I've given a little bit of background, what do you think? Should I still keep the job at BBY? Estimated costs for a Minnesota student such as myself is about 20K a year. I've only been given 14K in the form of financial aid, so that remaining 6K has to literally come out of my pocket while I'm in college. And my parents are definitely too poor to be able to afford that.</p>
<p>Could I pull it off with a job on campus, or should I stick to BBY?</p>
<p>Thanks again for your time.</p>
<p>If your aid package includes substantial amount of loans, I would say stick with BB at least for 1-3 years. Save the six-digit loan for law school. :) Since your family cannot afford $6K, I will use the extra years to build up a saving for your remaining college years + law school. If you could, avoid dropping out in middle of your study later because of $$.</p>
<p>Unless your post law career is politics/public service, you are heading to business world. Isn't a law firm a business too? Those who make partners are usually the rainmakers. Many people & business skills like the art of selling that you pick up in BB will give you a head start in your legal career. My 2c.</p>
<p>Only 6K of my financial aid is in the form of grants. The rest is all loans.</p>
<p>Thank you very much. That is all great advice. Just one last question, my friend. In order to receive some of my financial aid, I have to attend Madison full time. Is taking 6-9 credits a semester like you mentioned enough to suffice, then?</p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>I think you need 12 to be FT.</p>
<p>I didn't factor in your FT need. Before I get into my suggestion, let me be clear about one thing. You should know that both full-time job and study are major commitment of time and energy. Most working students have been able to do well with 2 courses on the side. Some even do just fine with 3 courses. Beyond that, you basically enter the miserable-life zone. There are too many things to deal with. I've done that (4 grad engineering courses!) once while working near FT and having other family responsibilities - that was something I don't wish to repeat anytime soon. </p>
<p>Since quite a few of your freshman and sophomore classes are 5- or 4-credit hours, you can theoretically take a combination of 3-courses that fulfill the 12-credit hour FT requirement. E.g. Calc I, Bio and an easy humanity course. You can also use Pass/Fail option on certain electives - check your major requirement. BTW, this "crazy" idea came from my former roommate who worked full time during his freshman year. </p>
<p>A good exercise is to set aside a few hours/days and plan out your entire undergrad study. Use UW catalog. You will know if you can pull this off. Trek very carefully here.</p>
<p>The final decision is to quit working at Best Buy this summer.</p>
<p>Anyway, do you guys think I'll be able to make the remainder 6K throughout my freshman year? It'll definitely be through a job on campus...</p>
<p>Great! I assume you are somehow techie so check up IT/sysadmin type jobs - they usually pay at least $10-$12/hr and more. 15-20 hours a week during regular semesters and a good summer internship, you can easily make up the gap. Good luck!</p>