Working part-time, grad school full time?

<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>I was wondering how feasible it is to work 20hrs/week during grad school and not be completely stretched for time. 10-15hrs seem doable, but 20, to me, seems like a lot. Does anyone have any experience with this. Also, I am married, so that takes up a bit of free time as it is. Thanks for the insight,
Chuck</p>

<p>MS or PhD? For an MS is is likely doable as long as your employer and your advisor are aware of these constraints. For a PhD, it would be nearl impossible without a very special arrangement with both of those parties.</p>

<p>It’s for a non-thesis masters in industrial engineering.</p>

<p>Shoot, work full-time and just do classes part-time. Ha!</p>

<p>If I already had an engineering degree that would definitely be an option, but I don’t so I need to finish this thing full time.</p>

<p>I would love to hear from GLOBALTRAVELER and turbo since I’m considering the same thing and they have some experience with graduate IE.</p>

<p>It took me two years to get my Masters in IE. I worked full time, and went to class part-time, but I can easily imagine going through the program full-time, and working part-time.</p>

<p>My H worked full-time (with flex-time) and finished his UCLA PhD in 6 years. (We worked/lived in Orange County so he also spent a fair amount of time on the 405.)</p>

<p>Me?..I would keep that check coming in and attend full-time. Going full time is only going to accelerate obtaining the degree 1 year (maybe 1 1/4 years). It’s not like there are many employers evaluating you on how and when you get your M.S./M.Eng. In software engineering…</p>

<p>Graduate degree + Experience = Experience + Graduate Degree</p>

<p>…and unless you plan on going into academia or something research-related, employers won’t ask about a thesis either. Might as well do that coursework-only 30 credits and “check off the box”.</p>

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<p>As always GlobalTraveler, thanks for your help! Really appreciate some of the members on here, like Chucktown, GLOBALTRAVELER, turbo, etc…</p>

<p>So basically, working part time and studying full time isn’t gonna screw me over if I’m doing the Non thesis degree?</p>

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<p>Depends on what you want your masters degree to do for you. If you want a PhD, then a thesis-based M.S. is better (although you don’t need a M.S./M.Eng for a PhD program). If you just want extra “credentials” so you can qualify for more senior engineering positions (without having to work so many years), then a non-thesis M.S./M.Eng is better.</p>

<p>Trust me I have no interest in academia. Thank you.</p>