<p>I'm very fortunate in the fact that I'm actually making an almost 18k profit from going to my current state school which I use to pay for my living expenses and other school related expenses. I was thinking about looking for a part time grocery store job (15hours a week) to get some supplemental income and to not look like a total bum but I am worried it might hurt my academics since I will probably take 18 hours next semester.</p>
<p>Well I’m sure some people are capable of it, but it’d be impossible for me to remain sane with 18 hours and a job. I took 18 hours last semester and I barely had time for friends and family, much less work…</p>
<p>Your posting history suggests that you’ll be attending Austin in the fall. 18K should be plenty of money for living expenses. Grad students in my department at Austin get paid 15K/year and they say that they can comfortably live on that.</p>
<p>YES. Employers are wary of hiring people with little to no work history. Even if you don’t need the money, it’s good to have a job for references, resume, etc.</p>
<p>Try to get a job on campus for less hours if you want.</p>
<p>Yeah I’m probably going to cut back to 15 but we’ll see. I’m not really worried about money, I just don’t want to seem like I’m not doing anything.</p>
<p>If you want to fill up that resume, I would recommend looking for a position more relevant to your field or get involved on campus. If you really dedicate yourself to something on campus, then there’s a good chance you can get an officer position or even president of a given student organization a year or two later. I’m afraid cashier doesn’t carry a lot of weight on the resume. Low wage, not much skills, no promotion…</p>
<p>^ This.</p>
<p>Since you’re lucky enough not to need the money, you can afford to be a little picky about what kind of job you take. You could even consider an unpaid internship … but maybe not the first semester with all those credits.</p>
<p>^^Double this.</p>
<p>Being involved with things more closely related to your major or a job you would like in the future will be more beneficial for you than something low skill. I also second trying to find this type of thing on campus first before spreading out your distance to cover so it has the least amount of an effect on your academics.</p>
<p>^^^Triple this.</p>
<p>It’s fine if you want to work part-time. If you can manage your classwork and your job, it’ll be no problem. However, as an incoming freshman, I’ve recently talked with my major’s adviser…and she suggested not got for any type of part-time work until your senior year. Yeah, workload will be heavy as you close in on graduation and senior thesis (depend on college), but most ppls will be able to manage both edu/job come their senior year.</p>
<p>As a student who took the part time job and didn’t really need it, thinking that I’d have time for a social life, adequate sleep, and keeping up (barely) with homework, I agree with the idea of focusing more on internships & campus organizations. I loved my job, for the month that it took me to realize that I couldn’t take 17 hours and balance the rest of my life. I met a lot of future classmates & great people working 10+ hours/week. I’d say it definitely hurts your academics to get a job, and I’m hoping the academics pay more than the minimum wage job in the long term… I mean, we are deciding to go to school instead of the “world of work” for a reason, right? After I quit my job, my boss told me that I could always come back if I figured out the rest of my life, which was wonderful. Instead of going back, though, I looked forward, and I found on-campus opportunities to work one-on-one with professors in my field of study, helped my community, and narrowed down what I want to do with an eventual career. All of these I think will be a bit more valuable than $9.80/hr today or next week.</p>
<p>It’s good for students to hold part-time jobs, even if they don’t need it, and especially if they did not have a job in high school. But only apply if you know you will take the job seriously. Sometimes when people work when they don’t have to they tend to do things they wouldn’t do otherwise if they were depending on that job (showing up late, doing a lackluster job, etc.)</p>
<p>As an earlier student mentioned, employers like to see at least SOME kind of experience, even if it seems unrelated. Working a basic part-time job at least shows that you know how to handle yourself outside of a classroom, know how to follow instruction, and are respectful of authority.</p>