<p>I am a college freshman and I just got accepted for my first job at Subway. I study at a college which is about two miles away and am taking four classes (12 credit hours) from Monday to thursday (two classes everyday) 9:30 am to 12:15 pm. The hours I am supposed to work at subway are monday-wednesday and sunday from 4-9pm (20 hours total). This is my first job experience and am worried that taking that many hours will affect my grades. Any thought guys?</p>
<p>I’m glad to hear you got the job! </p>
<p>As for hours, it really depends on what you think you can handle. What kind of classes do you have? Are they extremely time-intensive? They say that you should average 2-3 hours of studying per credit hour, so that’s between 24-36 hours in addition to the ~13 you’re in class, so 37-49 hours of schooling. </p>
<p>With 20 hours of work, you’re looking at 57-69 hours a week. Do you think you can handle that? Personally, I’ve worked 70-hour weeks at a job before and they’re brutal. The only free time I had was eating, showering, and sleeping. It’ll be different with school, though, and you’ll find that it might be flexible. Sometimes I don’t even put in 20 hours of studying for 16 credits. Even though you should allot 37-59, it might end up being less. </p>
<p>Can you change your hours once you get going in the semester? That might be the best way to go. Try it out and see how you handle it.</p>
<p>I think that is a very do-able schedule, since you don’t have all that many credits. It’s a little tough that you don’t know what to expect for college or a job so it will all be new at once. Just keep on top of things because you may not have time to play catchup.</p>
<p>Seems very doable. </p>
<p>The rule of thumb about 2-3 hours of studying outside of class for each class is a bunch of crap IME. Some classes will require that, but very few and definitely not every week. Let’s be honest- most are going to cram for exams at the last minute and homework (if you have any) won’t generally take that long.</p>
<p>That’s very true. And if you can handle working while expecting to do that much work, then you’ll be fine when you actually have more time.
IMO, it’s better to overestimate than underestimate in a case like this. At the end of the day, it gives you more free time that you had planned, and you’re not scrambling to make things work.</p>
<p>Because you’ve already spent fall semester adjusting to college, I’d say go for it. Do the Subway job, but do not fall behind in your studies. More than 20 hours per week could sink your grades. Perhaps, use the school’s supports, like a writing center or math tutoring, to help keep up to speed.</p>
<p>Yea I’ve talked to the manager and she’s pretty serious about students in college and says she can adjust my schedule if needed.</p>
<p>Homework doesn’t take long? Depends on your major. I’m an engineering major and homework is the majority of my time outside of class (though OP doesn’t appear to be an engineering major).</p>
<p>You should be okay. I have a friend that works about 20 hours a week every semester with 12 credits and still manages to play lots of video games. He must have great time management or do homework on the job or something.</p>
<p>^Right now I’m just taking the basic stuff, this term i’m taking psychology, ethics, algebra and speech. then i’ll be able to start studying courses related to my major. (Software Engineering)</p>