Grad school

[sapphire bou]

glw and others who have done the same:

How do you cope with being in grad school and a) doing multiple jobs at your full time job and b) working full time period?

My boss encouraged me to get my Master's, stating that it would give me a better chance of moving up when she retires. I plan on starting next fall, but I feel like I don't get enough rest as it is. How am I going to deal with both? H and I will be doing it together, so that will be helpful, but I'm the kind of person who seriously needs down-time to stay sane!

How bad is it going to be? 

[glw]

It depends on how many classes you do at one time. I was able to keep all my regular non-work activities and do one grad school class at the same time. I could do two classes if I quit some fun stuff. My classes are online, so I rarely (like 3 or 4 times a semester) have "live" classes when I have to log-in at a particular time for video chat. Otherwise, I work at my own pace. So, I look at the syllabus at the beginning of the semester and schedule reading and assignment times for myself. Sometimes I finish early for the week (which is the best feeling ever) and sometimes I need extra time and I have to cancel something fun, but 95% of the time it's been fine.

My typical schedule is:
Monday- Friday, commute/work/commute 8am-5pm
Monday- yoga 6:00-8:00, 8:00-10 reading for class
Tuesday- homework 6-10ish
Wednesday- 3x's a month I have a meeting 7-10, otherwise homework
Thursday- 7:30-8:30 pole class, 8:30-10 homework
Friday- 90% of the time it's happy hour/dinner/other fun stuff. Rarely homework.
Saturday morning- double checking assignment and turning it in.
Rest of Saturday & Sunday- try not to think about schoolwork!

[sapphire bou]

That sounds manageable. I've been super stressed at work the last few months, so I've pretty much done nothing with my evenings. I should be able to handle a couple hours of homework instead. 

Remind me what program you're in? I'm either doing MBA or Management and Leadership. It depends on how soon I can get in.

[glw]

Nov 20, 2015 12:39:55 GMT -5 sapphire bou said:

That sounds manageable. I've been super stressed at work the last few months, so I've pretty much done nothing with my evenings. I should be able to handle a couple hours of homework instead. 

Remind me what program you're in? I'm either doing MBA or Management and Leadership. It depends on how soon I can get in. 

[MyName]

What was your undergrad degree in? I did management/business for undergrad, and my MBA is in accounting & corporate finance. Having taken all the core business classes helped immensely with my MBA compared to my friends who had liberal arts or engineering backgrounds. I worked FT and mostly took 2 classes per semester, so I was in class two nights a week from 6pm-9pm.

I don't think my experience is typical (my friends kinda hate me for how little I studied, lol). But I was able to get a lot of my reading done on the subway during my commute and did some homework at work. I have always been a procrastinator, so I'd start papers the night before and just pull all-nighters when needed.

The thing to be prepared for with the MBA is group work. There are so many group projects. I suggest trying to take control from the get go so that you can set the group's agenda and expectations.

[sapphire bou]

H and I are both business undergrads going into possibly MBA, but definitely a business-based master's program.

What's got me worried are the accounting and finance classes because they weren't my strong suit in undergrad. But hopefully I'll be able to refresh my memory and better apply it since I've been full time in the business-world for 6 years. 

I already hate you for how little you had to study, MyName! I'm afraid that H is going to be like you and I'm the one who's going to struggle and have to study more. 

[nsl]

I set aside an hour or two every night for homework/reading, and at least 2-3 hours every Saturday and Sunday for homework, research, and writing. More of the latter at the end of the semester, but less of the former.

I took two classes each semester for three years, and my H agreed to shoulder the majority of our home tasks during the last year of my grad work because I was also occupied with my thesis. We also got a cleaning lady. My work understood the value of my grad work for them, so they agreed to some scheduling requests so that I could attend in-person classes that were technically in conflict with my duty hours.

It wasn't a lot of fun most of the time even though I loved my program. I don't regret a second of it, though. I do recommend starting with a part-time schedule as it will give you a chance to see how time-consuming the program is before you invest time and money in a full-time schedule. There's no any I could have handled three classes/semester, but two were do-able.

[sapphire bou]

Nov 27, 2015 21:43:04 GMT -5 nsl said:

I set aside an hour or two every night for homework/reading, and at least 2-3 hours every Saturday and Sunday for homework, research, and writing. More of the latter at the end of the semester, but less of the former.

I took two classes each semester for three years, and my H agreed to shoulder the majority of our home tasks during the last year of my grad work because I was also occupied with my thesis. We also got a cleaning lady. My work understood the value of my grad work for them, so they agreed to some scheduling requests so that I could attend in-person classes that were technically in conflict with my duty hours.

It wasn't a lot of fun most of the time even though I loved my program. I don't regret a second of it, though. I do recommend starting with a part-time schedule as it will give you a chance to see how time-consuming the program is before you invest time and money in a full-time schedule. There's no any I could have handled three classes/semester, but two were do-able.

I definitely won't be taking more than 2 classes at once! I might even take just 1 depending on the class. 

My boss has already said that I can do homework during work hours. I don't know if I can bring myself to do that though.

Hiring a cleaning lady is a great idea!