<p>I know it's not unheard of whatsoever, but how do folks balance a part-time job with school? Before this school year started I was working at a supermarket. I quit because the hours they could give me simply didn't work well with my schedule. On Mondays I don't get out of classes till 5, on Tuesdays and Thursdays not till 3, on Wednesdays not till 4. Friday is the only day I get out before 3. In addition, I'd have to work horrible weekend hours... I don't have much of a social life but that would have killed whatever bit I have.</p>
<p>Now, in addition to that, I also don't have a car. Public transit here is admirable, but it would take about an hour to get to the places I'm interested in working at (Apple Stores). Considering they're not open past 9, I'd have very few hours available to work. Mondays would probably be out of the question (never heard of a three hour shift), although the rest could work. But then it would also be about 45 minutes to get back home. That would leave very little time to do homework and relax.</p>
<p>So how do you folks with part-time jobs do it?</p>
<p>One of my jobs is work-study and I bend my hours around it. The other two are primarily weekend jobs.</p>
<p>Mondays go like this:
8-8:50 class.
8:50-9:30 walk to car, drive to work.
9:45-2 work.
2:00-2:45 drive back to school, go to class
3:00-4:20 class</p>
<p>Rest of the day off. </p>
<p>Tuesdays and Thursdays:
8:15-9:00 transport from dorm to work
9:00-11:45 work
11:45-12:30 transport from work to class
12:40-4:20 class</p>
<p>Rest of the day off. </p>
<p>Fridays:
8:00-8:50 AM class
8:50-9:30 walk to car, drive to work.
9:45-12:30 work
12:30-1:30 drive from job one to job 2
1:30-5:00 work
5:00-5:30 drive from job 2 to job 3
5:30-10:00 work</p>
<p>Saturdays and Sundays are pretty much work from 7 AM until 9 or 10 PM. </p>
<p>I also occasionally work shoots in the evenings so those nights “off” aren’t always off.</p>
<p>It seems like you have a nicely staggered schedule though. The biggest break between classes I have is about two hours. Tomorrow for example I’ll be on campus from around 9AM to 3PM. And might I ask how much socializing you get done? I think I’d go insane working that much on Saturdays and Sundays every single weekend.</p>
<p>@barium the vast majority of employers either near my campus or near my home are things like food service. I’ve already done that and I hated it.</p>
<p>DC- I get no help from the parents, so I need my jobs. I had to rearrange my schedule just to accommodate more hours. I kind of hate my schedule to be honest. Trust me, I am not a morning person and the 8 AMs are killing me. </p>
<p>Honestly, I don’t get much socializing done on the weekends. Luckily, my night job on the weekends is one where I get to spend time with my boy and my hockey friends… lol. Then my boy usually spends the night or I stay at his place. During the week though, I get plenty of socializing. I can say I have a great group of friends and it never seems like I lack time with them. </p>
<p>After about Thanksgiving, I probably won’t be working on Sundays. It’s just been super busy because it’s football, volleyball, and basketball season. Then there’s a little break and it’s high school sports and hockey. Then there will be a few weeks where I don’t work at all for the photography company. Therefore, I have to take the hours when they’re there. </p>
<p>Next semester I don’t have as flexible of a schedule so I will only be working (at minimum) 3 days, around 20 hours. Hopefully more if I can get some week day shoots.</p>
<p>Last year for a while I worked 12 hours a week. I had class from 10-6 every day without significant breaks between classes and I had all my shifts after 6:30 and on the weekend. After two months I quit because I couldn’t keep up with my schoolwork anymore. This year I have almost the same class schedule and am not working, I apparently can’t handle it. </p>
<p>I worked 25-30 hours a week my first two years, I worked at a kiosk in a shopping mall, because of the nature of the work most shifts were only three hours long. So during the week I worked 6-9 all the time, and on the weekend I’d have 5-10 hour shifts. I could probably be doing that now if I were only working 10-12 hours a week.</p>
<p>That’s intense. My roommate last semester had a part-time job. It was at a mall probably 30-40 minutes away but that was with a car… would have taken upwards of an hour for me since I have to use public transportation anyway he didn’t work much on weekdays, although I think his shift was from like 6:30PM to 10. He’d usually do homework when he got back until 1AM, as well as do it between classes. He didn’t seem to have a huge social life, least not at school.</p>
<p>I wish there were telecommute jobs for people in our age/experience group :|</p>
<p>You did not account for the ridiculous range of traffic in College Park.
It’s probably really late for this semester, and not many people are hiring at this time anyway. Just try to make your schedule for next semester so that you finish earlier.</p>
<p>I’d try to be of more help but I’ve been having similar problems finding a job here. I have a car, but very little experience. Shoppers didn’t even call me back.</p>
<p>My first two years I worked about 25 hours a week while taking 15 hours of classes. It wasn’t too fun a lot of the times, but most of the time I did like my jobs and it gave me great experience. Plus it taught me a lot of responsibility and gave me a different perspective of the “real world” than what many college students have.</p>
<p>I went to a community college and, most of the time, I had a car so transportation wasn’t really an issue. If you don’t have a car then honestly I would just consider getting seasonal work- even though all those places are starting interviews now. Most job postings I’ve seen hardly give any hours and/or give short shifts, and that just wouldn’t be worth it with your transportation issue. I actually wasn’t able to find a [decent] job at all here this semester, so I finally found a holiday job and will be working weekends and then winter break. </p>
<p>As for scheduling, I always scheduled my classes around work, which was a HUGE mistake. But my first semester I remember I went to school about 8AM-2 MWF and then worked 4-9, or something like that. Then I also worked on most of my days off from school, including weekends. For some reason I was the ONLY person they scheduled to close all days every weekend! Eventually I went to a job that was a little more flexible because the shifts were shorter, so I was at school until about 3 or so and then worked until maybe 7.</p>
<p>Oh, and as for having time for friends, I pretty much had no social life outside of school. I didn’t really care about it that much, but this semester (without working) I have had a lot more time to go do stuff with people. </p>
<p>It was a crazy life, and I made a lot of mistakes with it that I probably could have avoided and my life would have been a lot easier. It is definitely possible to work and go to school, but if transportation is going to be a major issue I wouldn’t deal with it unless you find a really, really good job with great hours.</p>
<p>Edit:</p>
<p>Just realized that you have to consider with somewhere like the Apple Store I imagine it involves a LOT of training. Some electronics stores actually have classes that you have to take for weeks before you can start working your regular schedule. But that might be different if they’re just looking for holiday help.</p>
anyway he didn’t work much on weekdays, although I think his shift was from like 6:30PM to 10. He’d usually do homework when he got back until 1AM, as well as do it between classes. He didn’t seem to have a huge social life, least not at school.</p>