Working full time during grad school

Graduate School
1

<p>I currently work retail full time in a fairly well-paying position, all things considered. The problem is I am on my feet all day and under a lot of pressure as a Lead and one of the most flexible employees at my store. In one day, I am usually placed at 3 or more stations while other people cover 1 or 2. We're having a rough time right now after our manager was fired following months of complaints from customers and employees alike so it's going to be trying until we fill not only our manager position but the half dozen vacancies said bad management created.</p>

<p>Two of my classes start 8/25. One of those ends around the end of September and is pass/fail. Three other classes will start 9/29 and end in December for a total of 12 credits at once. If I stay at my current job, I can make enough to put a sizable dent in my graduate loans as I go. If I go part time, I lose about $10k a year.</p>

<p>The tougher part of me says to just suck it up and work full time but the worried part of me says my varying schedule may prove to be too much. Any advice on what to do would be appreciated, stories of similar experiences, etc.</p>

2

<p>So you’re taking four graduate level classes this semester? I think it will be too much of a stretch to work full-time and take four grad-level classes. Perhaps if you dropped to 2 or 3 - even 3 is much, as 3 grad classes is more like taking 4 undergrad classes. Four grad classes is really a lot; it doesn’t sound like it since you haven’t started, but trust me when I say that’s a lot of work. I took four classes my first two years of grad school while working 20 hours a week as a research assistant on campus and I felt like I never slept.</p>

<p>This is especially important if you are doing a PhD. If you are in a doctoral program the expectation is that you are going to be around in the department most of the time, so you can go to brown bags, speaker series, etc. Even if you are a master’s student, though, I think you’re going to get stressed out.</p>