full time school and work

[mouthwash4hobo]

15 credits semester
40 hr work week plus call once week
8 hr volunteer/month
12 hr/week pt job

those being my priorities, is this doable?

otherwise with my current plan it would take an extra year to finish undergrad

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[sumstorm]

15 credits semester
40 hr work week plus call once week
8 hr volunteer/month
12 hr/week pt job

those being my priorities, is this doable?

otherwise with my current plan it would take an extra year to finish undergrad

It depends alot on you. I managed to work 60 hours a week in undergrad. I worked 4pm to midnight as a CNA for alzheimer and end stage cancer patients in home health care. I worked 16-24 hours each weekend as a welder at a prefab building factory. I interned 2x/wk at 4-6 hrs per session (volunteer.) and I took 4.5 classes (we didn't do credit hours, so not quite sure how that translates, but they 3 sciences w/labs, 1 enviro sci w/out lab, and 0.5 applied psychology. Having said that, I lived on campus, worked within 5 miles of campus, had very little social life, and spent every waking minute slipping studying in. And it did depress my GPA to a 3.4 over 4 years. It wasn't fun, I didn't enjoy it, and it was stressful. And, if anything goes wrong, you are SOL. Get a bad case of the flu? your semester can be wrecked. Get a nut job professor? same thing. It is hard to recover from even the smallest mistake on that schedule. But it really depends on you and what you need to do and what you can handle doing.

 

[mandini]

Ok my question is similar. I've had to work full time+ to support me and my husband through school. I also had to be full time at school to keep a scholarship and/or stay in married housing. I had to work all shifts just to keep my job(s). My husband was in school and working too and when he got into nursing clinicals, he could only work a few hrs a week leaving me to take on more hrs at work. Still full time student. GPA: 2.8, MCAT 24 b/c I was working 56hrs/wk and in dire financial spot. Had to pay for husband's tuition on top of everything else. Anyway, med school is the only think i've ever wanted to do. Any thoughts?

 

[mandini]

Oh and mouthwash4hobo, best of luck but i don't see it ending well with that kind of schedule. If you have the option of getting rid of one of those commitments if things get sticky then I'd give it a shot. Some of those look like they might be optional though and if so, I'd scale back. Just don't want you to have to post crap like I do about crap grades because of a crap schedule.

 

[mouthwash4hobo]

well i'm retaking some classes to get my gpa up. I feel that I need to work full time to pay off sallie mae student loans that keep increasing. these loans are from 06-07 and have already accrued $4000 in interest. that and other bills. i could quit my part time job, it's only an extra $300/month. but i'm keeping the volunteer experience and 40 hours at full time job. since i have no other commitments i'm trying to tell myself i can do this and still manage to obtain a higher gpa.

 

[njbmd]

15 credits semester
40 hr work week plus call once week
8 hr volunteer/month
12 hr/week pt job

those being my priorities, is this doable?

otherwise with my current plan it would take an extra year to finish undergrad

If you can keep this schedule, your sanity and a high level of academic achievement, then this will work. If not, you will wind up taking the extra year anyway for grade "damage-control". A better strategy would be to cut back in the beginning, then add more if you feel that you are completely in control of both your academics and your work. Burnout is terrible.

 

[riverjib]

15 credits semester
40 hr work week plus call once week
8 hr volunteer/month
12 hr/week pt job

those being my priorities, is this doable?

otherwise with my current plan it would take an extra year to finish undergrad

I wouldn't worry about taking an extra year to finish undergrad. I worked full-time for the first two years while taking 17-18 credits a semester and doing research and a few other things.

I transferred and finally decided to live on student loans while working part-time to cover extra expenses. It's been a rough ride, but I'm graduating with a 3.9+ this May and I'm taking a year off to work while I apply to med school.

I don't know what your priorities are. My personal life is great, but I don't have a crazy social calendar and night life. I spend one day a week with my family (mostly my nieces) and I'm engaged to an amazing guy who is totally fine with staying in and watching movies on weekends when I need to study. It's definitely not exciting, but it's fulfilling.

You just have to decide what's important to you. Don't rush because you feel compelled to get there on a time line that keeps you from enjoying your life for four years. You have to make sacrifices, but you don't have to forgo everything you love, either.

 

[mouthwash4hobo]

Thanks. I'm going to take the three classes I'm signed up for this semester and see how it goes. I'll probably take two classes during the summer and if I really want to load up on classes in the fall, I'm sure I can afford to cut back a few hours.