I am currently working at Starbucks back home and love the job. I really enjoy the extra pay, socialization with people my age, and think of the job as an outlet. I work almost 30 hours a week and have had no issues balancing it with Senior Year of Spring with A’s. That said, it is Senior Year of Spring.
This Fall I am going to school in Boston and have the opportunity to transfer to a Starbucks over there. There are about 3 Starbucks within a seven minute walk from my campus so commuting would be no big deal. On the downside, I don’t want to be overwhelmed and have no idea if it will limit my social life. Here is my pro and cons list right now.
Pros:
More money to put into my savings
More socialization with other college students besides my school (I am going to an all-girls school so I can see it as an opportunity to meet guys)
More growth within Starbucks (It is a company with lots of growth potential)
Cons:
It will limit my time outside of class to study
It will limit the time for me to join clubs at my own school
Thoughts about this? Any suggestions? Thank you so much!
Which school in Boston and what major? Balancing a part time job as a Mechanical Engineering major at MIT is a different feat than managing an Education major at Curry with a part time job.
If you take an average workload, you can easily manage 15-20 hours per week without cutting into study time. You might limit your socializing a BIT, but if you’re living on campus there will be plenty of socializing to be had after-hours, as well. As far as clubs, I suppose it depends on the time commitment. A lot that I’ve seen on my campus only met once a week, so that’s not a huge time commitment at all.
Also, would you still be working the whole 30 hours a week, or are they willing to be flexible? I worked ~10-11 hours a week with no problem at a rigorous school, but any more than that would have been a serious strain.
I have worked an average of 12-16 hours a week during my first year of college. I think that amount gave me enough money, and it did not cut into my study hours. Some students can handle more hours, and some students can only hand so many.
Most students will have time to have a part-time job, but how many hours you can handle will vary with the student and the situation (and may vary from semester to semester). I would recommend not over-committing yourself until you have a better idea of what you can and cannot handle. Try to stay on the 15hrs/week side of things, rather than the 25-30hrs/week, in the beginning, and then adjust from there as you have a better idea of what works for you.
Neither one of those majors is particularly difficult. I would think about taking the transfer, however, I would also look into a job more related to one of your possible fields, especially because you are undecided.
I know as an ed major (who has all writing intensive classes) i still manage to comfortably work 25-30 hours a week. For me, it works out well because this is my schedule
Monday:
work: 8-4
Class: 4:30-6
Tuesday:
Work 7:30-9:30
Class: 10-12, 1:50-3:15, 6:10-9
Wednesday:
Work 8-12
Class: 1:20-4:20, 4:35-6:00
Thursday
Class: 10-12, 1:50-3:15
Work: 3:30-6:30
Friday:
Work 10-6:30
With a field like social work most places will close at “work hours” versus starbucks which is open late- I work at a daycare and I know I will never work past 6:45 (unless there is a meeting)
