Part-time school or full-time school?

College Majors
1

Hey, all. I am debating between two different paths on how I can go to college. Let me begin with a little backstory. Currently, I am 21yrs old and an electrician apprentice, although I am not in school for it because I had plans to leave. However, I am in school full-time to finish off my general associates degree and working towards an engineering degree after. Now here are the options I am debating.

Option 1:
Leave the apprenticeship and go to school full-time and find a part-time job that will pay enough (which may be possible because of past employers, I just have to wait a month or two until they hire for summer season). If I did this I would be debating on majoring in biomedical engineering, electrical engineering or possibly computer science.

or

Option 2:
Stay in the apprenticeship and go to school for both the electrician gig (getting my journeyman license) and going to school part-time for my electrical engineering degree. After I obtain my journeyman card I would hit school full-time.

The reason I am debating between these two options is due to a couple reasons.

1 - In high school I slacked off a lot. I had a set plan that didn’t work out in the end, and pretty much, when I graduated I felt like I didn’t learn anything and had no idea of what I wanted to do in life. Currently I am taking calc 1, gen chem 1 + lab, and an english class to finish off my generals. However, due to my high school slack fest, I am feeling the struggles of going into calc and chem. In high school I sucked at chemistry, and I missed so much math that I feel I am behind when I go into calc because they talk about things from previous math classes that I “should have learned.” However, I know that I can work through it, and learn the material (my gf is really good at math and chemistry and is willing to help me), it’s just going to take me 3x longer than anyone else. The thought of going to school part-time, especially for something like engineering seems appealing, because I can spend more time on each class and not stress about the work load.

2 - Being an electrician apprentice, if I were to stay and go part-time schooling, I would make enough money to feel comfortable and I would have a job I could fall back on. Also, I have heard that having electrical experience could help if I went into electrical engineering. That is very appealing, because then I wouldn’t feel like a fresh graduate hoping to find work. I would have some sort of experience to give me a leg up on competition. However, I am worried that if I took the part-time path, I would get stuck as an electrician for the rest of my life. It could take me until I’m 28-30 to finish both my degree and apprenticeship (the apprenticeship at most would take me 4 years if I started in the fall) I don’t know what could happen in that time.

I like what I am learning as an electrician apprentice, but I don’t want to do it for a long term career. I guess bottom line, would it be more worth it to leave the apprenticeship and focus on schooling while working part-time. Or stay in the apprenticeship and go to school part-time? I am a very tactile learner, so the apprenticeship stuff comes easy to me, I even enjoy it sometimes. But I don’t want it for a career, and don’t want to be stuck in it. Please any advice would help. I’ve flip flopped on careers so much since I graduated, I can’t keep doing that. I apologize for anything that is unclear. I couldn’t write all of my thoughts out without writing a novel. Thank you.
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2

I’m more attracted to Option 2 than Option 1, given that the job market is tight now and full of people (including college graduates) who can’t do what they prefer to do. It gives you more security. Being set up to work as an electrician is a very good state to be in, and it does relate to electrical engineering. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts electrician job growth of 13.7% and 182,000 openings during 2014-2024; it predicts 1% job growth and 41,000 openings during that time for electrical engineers (http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_102.htm).

According to the BLS, some areas of computer science have much better prospects than even the electrician occupation. http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_102.htm reveals that and the expectations for all other occupations. As far as biomedical engineering is concerned, the BLS doesn’t say it, but some people say you need a graduate degree to work at that.

3

I think this kind of depends on you and your level of discipline. Are you the kind of student who would focus and get what you need to get done if you are part-time? Since you would be going to college for computer science or electrical engineering, I would say that your job opportunities will likely be wide open (although who knows what will happen in 3-4 years). So I think it’s less about the choice between a ‘sure thing’ now and a ‘potential thing’ later and more about what it really is that you want to do and how you want to spend your time.

I’m assuming that as an apprentice you are getting paid, just not as much as a journeyman? (That’s how it worked for my brother.) If you are undecided, why don’t you stay where you are right now and think about it some more? You said you would get a part-time job that would “pay enough.” Do you need to cover your own living expenses, or can you live with parents or relatives? That has a big impact on the answer.

I will say that relying on someone else for help getting through your program is not a great idea. If you are not confident that you are able to work through the material without significant help, then that particular program might not be for you. Going to school part-time can be great, but remember that it’s not the only thing you’d be doing - you’d also be working!

Also, an electrician is not a bad thing to be “stuck” as if you like the work. Electricians make decent money and can have a lot of autonomy, especially if they have their own company. My brother made this choice - after high school he didn’t want any more college, so he became an [electrical line worker](http://www.bls.gov/ooh/installation-maintenance-and-repair/line-installers-and-repairers.htm) apprentice. He just got his journeyman card in 2014, the same year I finished my PhD. He really likes his job. Like you he slacked off in high school; he wasn’t big on school and he’s very much a tactile learner who loves to work with his hands.

4

If you struggle with math now, you have a very long and difficult road to an engineering degree. There is a lot of math. I would say that a solid backup plan and way to support yourself is important.

5

I would go with the apprenticeship + part time degree year-round for 4 years till you get your journeyman card - with this year’s credits, you’d likely be done with about 5 or 6 semesters’ worth of credits, right?*, then moving to full time for one year or so. You’d have to be disciplined and only you know yourself enough to know if you can do both.
In addition, is your job close to an ABET-accredited university?
I’d recommend Electrical Engineering or Computer Science - I imagine your experience as a journeyman would be highly valued.

*Sounds like you’d have at least 12 already, + taking 6-8 each semester + 3-4 in the summer = 15-20 per year

6

I will be done with my general associates this semester. After this semester I will have roughly… 14 more classes to take in-order to finish off my associates of pre electrical engineering. This would account for roughly half of my overall bachelors, so according to my calculations, I could finish those 14 classes over the next 3 years. I would take about 2 classes over spring and fall semester and maybe 1-2 over the summer since I wouldn’t have to worry about taking the apprenticeship classes over the summer. I like the idea of going to school part-time and working for my journeyman license just because I feel that the experience would help and having the journeyman card could open a lot of doors with a engineering degree. I think I could do project management or something. Anyways. Thank you for your advice. I appreciate it. Helps to clear my head.

7

Agreed. I think I’m overall okay with math. It could be how my teacher teaches. When I am alone I can do the math just fine, I just get anxious while in class I guess.