<p>Im looking into work study for this year, but I was discouraged by something on the Smith website:</p>
<p>"Entering First Year students are limited to working in their houses or one nearby for Dining Services and Housekeeping, or for the America Reads/America Counts Tutoring Program."</p>
<p>Is this really true because on another page it seemed like they were simply trying to help first years by doing this so that first years don't have to go on a campus wide job search.</p>
<p>I ask because I would prefer to work in an office, I think it would be more beneficial in the long run. Please tell me there is a way around this.</p>
<p>Nope, sorry. If you are applying for a workstudy job and you are a first year, you have to do kitchens or the tutoring program. If you are a first year who does NOT receive workstudy, you can apply for any on campus job you want (but you probably won't get it because you will be competing with upperclassmen workstudy students and they get priority). Every first year has to pay their dues doing door check and dishes or tutoring kids, and then next year you can work in an office or anywhere else you might like. Sorry, but it's just the way it is.</p>
<p>more on workstudy. I just reread the page and it says that you can also apply to work at the Campus Center. I do know a few workstudy students who were first years who worked at the Campus Center as events staff (working the entrance lines for campus center parties, etc.), so that's an option if you don't want to work dining services. Also, I had a friend who worked in the post office, stuffing boxes and so on, and I'm pretty sure that was her workstudy job. You may be able to do that if the hours that the post office needs workers will fit with your schedule.</p>
<p>Sorry to keep giving you conflicting info Adrian, but I just realized that my friend who worked at the post office also worked in the kitchens, so I guess she did both in order to make more cash. So she still had to work in the kitchens.</p>
<p>hi quick question... if you've signed up for work study, once you fulfill those hours, can you still keep the job and work for extra pay? or does the job filter to another student who needs work study hours?</p>
<p>[[Every first year has to pay their dues doing door check and dishes or tutoring kids,]]</p>
<p>S&P, I understand the point youre trying to make, and I agree with you. But I'm not sure I would include tutoring kids in the 'pay your dues dept.</p>
<p>Helping the less fortunate by working for the America Reads/America counts tutoring program--1st yr or notseems to me it would be more beneficial in the long run than working a desk job.</p>
<p>Otoh--I realize thats easy for me to say b/c Im not the one trying to juggle, work, classes, studying, etc. </p>
<p>RLT, no I agree with you one hundred percent, tutoring is a great form of workstudy and it is very beneficial and important work. I was just speaking to the OP's dismay over the limits of workstudy for first years. Many students still opt for dining services because it's on campus and sometimes right in your dorm, which makes it convenient, especially for those with many extracurrics. </p>
<p>gcheng, you keep the job. No student is allowed to work more than a certain number of hours for on campus jobs (and off campus workstudy). It's 12 or something a week. But the way it works for workstudy is that if you work in dining services for example, you'll sign up for as many shifts as you want/your time will allow. So you can work hours beyond your workstudy, they just can't go over the campus wide maximum hours per week. if that makes sense.</p>
<p>Many students still opt for dining services because it's on campus and sometimes right in your dorm, which makes it convenient, especially for those with many extracurrics.]]</p>
<p>As usual, you present great points. I thought of the convenience aspect, which is why I couched my comment with the statement, "Otoh--I realize thats easy for me to say b/c Im not the one trying to juggle, work, classes, studying, etc."</p>
<p>My wife scrubbed pans, washed dishes, and at one point held down three jobs in order to afford Smith. Smith wasnt always as financially generous as they are today. And many yrs ago, Smith consisted of many more wealthy prep school students and far fewer from the ranks of lower income bracket. It was difficult for women of that era to be on work study. The class structure and associated arrogance were much more prevalent than today.
I have the utmost admiration for any student who works and attends classes full time, regardless of the job they hold.</p>
<p>As a first year, it's not impossible to find jobs outside of tutoring or dining services. For example, I had a friend who worked a work-study job at the Forbes Library downtown. But those are the easiest jobs to obtain. For Dining Services, there is a job fair all first-year students on work study are invited to where you can sign up for shifts right off the bat during orientation. It's incredibly easy and requires almost no effort on your part.</p>
<p>Honestly, I liked doing dishes because the kitchen staff was incredibly nice (I worked in Haven and Ziskind my first year) and it was nice to have an hour or two doing something that required no thinking at all. Also, dining services shifts are during meals which means that it's pretty much during a time when you wouldn't be doing homework anyway. Yes, you do miss out on socializing time but if you're doorwatching, you can ask a friend to sit with you for part of it. Or make friends in the kitchen. I befriended someone who became a Ziskind work coordinator the next year, and she added me to the payroll list so that I could pick up shifts over spring break when all the shifts at my job filled up.</p>
<p>Ok, so I have a question. Are transfer students limited to the same jobs as first-years? This is really only curiosity, since I'm planning on being a tutor for America Reads.</p>