<p>For my son, earning money during the summer has helped get him through at least a semester’s worth of “fourth meals” and other incidentals. Unfortunately, this summer his employment options are limited as he is going to be out of the country for two months (leaving next week and arriving right after school starts up again). His dad and I disagree on whether he can handle a job on campus in the fall. One problem is that he doesn’t have a car, so he is restricted to the few jobs that might be in walking distance. We are still figuring it out. </p>
<p>If he doesn’t have a job already this summer have him get one.That should give him enough pocket money for the school year. I wouldn’t have him work the first year until he adjusts to college. If he ends up with a lot of spare time he can always try and get a research job in his area of interest.</p>
<p>I agree with everyone: keeping his scholarship is job one, and the transition to college is difficult for many. Working 10 or 15 hours per week is not a big deal, and is good for many kids, but it can wait until second semester, or even sophomore year. I would definitely advocate his earning money this summer, if at all possible.</p>
<p>S1 did not work his first two years of college. During the summer between second and third year, he got a job with a national supermarket chain and was able to transfer to a store near his college. It was his first semester off-campus and he had a heavy workload with his major as well as the job. His semester GPA wasn’t good but his overall was still good enough to keep his scholarship. We told him everyone’s entitled to an off semester, but he had to get his grades back up for scholarship purposes. The next semester, he was named sports editor of the school newspaper, which paid about as much as the supermarket did (and looks a lot better on his resume.) He did that until he graduated this year and his grades came back up.
I’d say let him adjust the first year, then talk about a part-time job. But whatever he does, don’t have him work more than 15-20 hours a week.
ETA: @intparent - I can relate to your daughter’s experience. Nothing drove me into college faster than a summer flipping burgers at one of the “top three” fast-food chains. </p>
<p>I worked all throughout college, and didn’t have any problems. One issue that I had was that I can’t focus on academics too much, or I get drained mentally. I think this is the case for many people. So for me, working was an alternative to playing video games or getting drunk on a Tuesday night or something like that, and did not take time away from studying.</p>
<p>Since there is no financial crunch, let him have the luxury of getting situated and keeping an eye and ear open for opportunities for jobs. You never know when one comes up. Also, give him the gift of a term or a year without that pressure to work, but let him know that the costs are likely to go up and that you and his dad want him to be working a few hours a week.</p>
<p>My kids all found jobs after the first term without our requiring them. The opportunites simply came up and they took them. Might not have happened if we’d pushed hard for them to find them first term. A freshman has a lot to learn, not just academically, but in getting to know the area, and how things work.</p>
<p>As far as I know all around my D. when she was in UG worked including my D. She was able to graudate in 4 years (no single summer class) with 3.98 (Summa Cum Laude, Phy Betta Kappa) with Honors and Music minor that was completely unrelated to her major (which covered her pre-med requirements). She was working as Supplemental Instructor for Chemistry prof. for 3 years, volunteering for 3 years, interning at Medical Research Lab (poster presentation) for 3 years, was on board of sorority (went to Nationals), had to prepare for the MCAT (painful few hours/'day process that lasted for many weeks) in her junior year and go to Med. Schools interviews at various cities in her senior year, she also went abroad and was on a sport team for the freshman year, dropped for the lack of time later. As a pre-med she could not afford having 3.3, that would not get her anywhere. As a recepient of full tuition Merit award and being in Honors, she had to maintain 3.5, but that also would be on the very low end of Med. School applicants. Working was very rewarding, she improved substantially her already great communication skills (sometime explainig Chemistry to a class of around 40 kids), she was told by prof. that she improved GPA in his class and she received a leadership medal at graduation for that work. It also gave her some pocket money that are still there in her 3rd year at Medical school when she cannot afford working at all. As a cherry on a cake she did not need ot prepare Chemistry portion of the MCAT at all and her knowledge of Chemistry has helped her even at Medical school.
I say, never turn down the job. Great benefit to your future to learn to deal with the real life responsibilites. No grade suffered, I would say opposite.</p>
<p>I agree…school work is his work. If he has a job, then that leaves less time for any research or extra things.
I would push to make sure he has a job in the summer. I tell my kids that the summer job is for them to earn pocket money for the next year.</p>
<p>I agree that first semester is the time to sort things out and get used to college life, but after that I expected my kids to work at least 10 hours a week to pay for their own entertainment costs and other extras. Unless a student is woefully underqualified for college work, it’s absurd to say that a part-time job will detract from maintaining a good GPA. Let’s be realistic here. College kids are actually in classes very few hours out of the week and not at all on the weekends. They have more than adequate time to study, sleep, socialize, engage in EC’s AND work–and if they claim otherwise, they’re either lazy, partying too much, or desperately in need of time management skills. If one of my kids had whined about working with a “college is hard” excuse–well, they know me and wouldn’t have dared. </p>
<p>
This reminds me of my freshman year roommate, whose parents picked up and delivered back her laundry because “she was at college to study, not wash clothes”. We’re all capable of multitasking and will have to do it for the rest of our lives. No reason not to start developing that skill at 18. Work, including juggling employment duties with other responsibilities, builds character and helps students get accustomed to adult life. I consider it a integral part of one’s education.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! I think my SO and I both gained some good insight. For some dumb reason we had never considered having DS get a summer job. I think that is a GREAT idea! Calling in a favor now at the local supermarket (saw a bag boy position available!) DS is going for a BS in History on a pre-med track. Sigh. Every doctor I know says he MUST be majoring in Chemistry/Biology or something similar. However, DS says everything he’s read says to “pursue your passion” in undergrad. Take the science you must have and ace the MCAT. Simple, he says. Ha. I’m betting it’s a bit more difficult than that. This is probably a whole separate thread regarding opinions/findings on getting into med school with a BS in History. I really think my DS should be a museum curator or a professor of History. But, he is certain he will become an MD.</p>
<p>it depends on the school and the major. My oldest had spare time – she was at a college where her stats were high end and not in a super rigorous or competitive major. My youngest is at a very difficult STEM school and is working very hard for grades that would not meet your kid’s scholarship requirement. Average GPA mid-way through sophomore year at her school is a 2.8. So you can’t assume all schools and all majors are the same in this respect.</p>
<p>And OP, my nephew is a physician – he went to a top LAC and double majored in philosophy & history, and took his pre-med classes on the side. Took a year off after med school to get some experience as an EMT, and was accepted to med school. Now… he is a super bright young man, not everyone could pull it off. But as a word of warning, your son does not need a 3.3 – he needs more like a 3.6 or better to be considered for med school admission. All the more reason to earn in the summer and study during the school year.</p>
<p>Medical school applicants and matriculants come in all majors, although about half were undergraduate biology majors. About 5% of matriculants were humanities majors, and about 11% of matriculants were social studies majors (not sure what AAMC puts history in, since it can be either or both). Majoring in biology can be “convenient” in that the major covers all or most of the pre-med courses; in other majors, the student would have to take some of the pre-med courses as out-of-major electives.</p>
<p>Every MD I’ve talked to…including a Med school Prof has said a pre-med concentrator in a humanities/social science field like history will actually get a tip in his/her favor from Med school adcoms assuming GPAs are within pre-med standards over the pre-med majoring in the usual suspects precisely because it is relatively unusual. </p>
<p>In some ways, this is no different than law school adcoms giving a tip to law school applicants who majored in anything highly challenging and outside the usual suspects of poli-sci, history, and philosophy…the top three most common majors among incoming law applicants…like math or engineering majors. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Unless maybe he’s going to MIT, I don’t think there’s any university that awards a B.S. in History. Not an important point, just noting it.</p></li>
<li><p>I agree with what most others have said re majors: An undergraduate degree in history is fine for medical school. That’s what my sister the doctor had. We had one college friend whose major was painting and who went to Harvard Medical School. It may be easier to complete pre-med requirements if they are also your major requirements as a Biology or Chemistry major, and easier to get involved in medical research if it relates to your coursework, but it’s really not that hard to qualify for medical school while majoring in something entirely different.</p></li>
<li><p>Neither of my kids worked their first year of college, but both worked after that, and both had their grades and sense of wellbeing improve dramatically when they started working. (Of course, maybe it was just being a year older and more experienced, but both attributed it to working.) One of them worked 20-30 hours a week. She worked up to three jobs, and her university actually cut her off because she was about to qualify as a full-time employee for benefits purposes. She found the work relieved academic stress, got her into contact with different sorts of people, forced good time management, and really relieved economic stress. Several of her jobs related to her academic interests, and they were helpful in her post-college job search. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>The other kid never worked more than 10 hours/week. He had a job directly related to one of his main extracurricular interests. It provided a real community for him, and led to a fun and valuable second job in the years after graduation. If he had really wanted to make that his career – and he thought about it hard – the job would have been the most important thing he did in college.</p>
<p>My point is that jobs and academics aren’t necessarily either/or. But I can’t speak to whether it makes sense to do that as a freshman.</p>
<p>I think it depends on the child and the situation. I just had this ‘work/don’t work’ discussion with one of my daughters yesterday. She was going to spend the summer away, so quit her fast food job just before HS graduation. Plans changed, and she asked for her job back. Nice manager said yes, and even let her work last night. She said if felt good to be back on a schedule. For her, working a few hours a week will be the right choice even as a freshman. She does better with structure. And she’ll need the money!</p>
<p>My other daughter will not work. She has several scholarships which require a certain GPA (all different requirements), and she’s a student athlete. She’ll be working out 20+ hours per week, so that’s her job. She won’t need a lot of money because she has a full (and then some) meal plan, and she’ll be on campus all the time. She’s not a coffee drinker, doesn’t have a car, and there just isn’t much to spend money on. She’ll make enough this summer or I’ll give it to her for what she needs.</p>
<p>S1 started working 10-15 hours a week during his 2nd quarter. Besides the obvious financial boon he said that it helped manage his reading and studying time better. You have to remember that from attending high school for about 35 hours/week you’ll jump to attending class for maybe 15-16 hours a week with lots of time between classes that many times will be wasted idly. By S’s own admission, the quarter he managed to get all his classes squeezed into 4 days and have Thursday “off” was his worst time managed one since he basically accomplished nothing on that day.</p>
<p>My D worked 10 hours a week in the library so when it wasn’t busy she was able to work on homework. She did have to keep her GPA for scholarshis like above they were different for each one. She is also a performance major so she was always rehearsing for a show and in a sorority so she was quite busy. The nice thing we found about a campus job is they really do work around your schedule. Since she is a perfomance major they easily worked around rehearsals and shows as well. </p>
<p>Very few first semester freshmen work at my school, not so much because they don’t want to, but because it takes some time and some degree of connections to get most on campus jobs. It’s easier to find one once you’ve been around for a while.</p>
<p>Additionally, I’m quite certain that the most common job title on my campus is undergraduate research assistant. This can be done for credit or pay and is hardly a job that would “distract” from studies. It’s a great way to get experience in your field and to get to know professors well, in case you should ever need a rec letter. Since you’re working with academics, it’s usually easy to explain that you have a heavy homework or test load at a particular time. My research advisors were always happy to end my work the week before exams started, just to be nice. When I was a DI student athlete, with all the time that required, this was pretty much the only job that was flexible enough to fit my schedule.</p>
<p>I also worked more traditional campus jobs, in the library and at my dorm’s front desk. Desk jobs, as I’ve heard it at many schools that my friends attend, are considered the ne plus ultra of campus jobs, because you can do your homework while your there. At my school, we were also allowed to give up or trade shifts with absolutely no penalties, so you could always move your work to fit your schedule.</p>