working while u r undergrad

[cooldudeee123]

hey

how much important is it to work while in undergrad and be a full time student..

any views.....

thanks!!

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[piyi]

I would only do it if you have to. I worked part time and was a part time student and got into USN with no problem. I suppose it depends on the school, some do look at your course/work load. I would do some research on the school's website (most schools will tell you if they look at this), and if the school you are interested in does not look at how demanding your schedule is, then I would only work as a full time student if I needed the money.

 

[Utterdevotion]

I agree; work only if you feel you can.
But at the same time, by working you can gain a lot of experience regarding time management. If you've never had a job before, it's a good experience to have. Especially if you can get a pharmacy/science related job!
A lot of jobs that are on campus, are usually much more flexible about hours since all of their workers are usually students.
Good luck with everything!

 

[PolarBear21]

I agree with the above, working while in school is great for your time management skills. The most "on top of it" i've ever been was when I was working a good amount of hours at this one lab I used to work at. You really learn to cut off the parts of your life you don't need (umm.. like posting excessively on SDN.. can you tell I'm only working 8 hours a week?) and you learn to set your priorities.

But you always have to remember that school is numero uno. I think having a job is only going to help you, makes you more well-rounded, especially if you get a job in a science related place. But definately don't do it at the expense of your GPA.

 

[lomikhay]

I think it's great experience and after a while you get used to it and its like 2nd nature - I work part-time in a pharmacy, am a full time student pulling 18 credit hours, and working undergrad research 10 hours a week (going to be published sooon - and I've been doing this second year in a row. And I have time to just chill every so often.
Good Luck

 

[miracal]

I would have to say that working is super important. I worked at least 15 hours during the week for all of my undergrad, and yeah, I didn't have a 4.0. But the pharmacy schools really look at whether you worked and still kept up good grades. Anyone can get a 4.0 if all they do is study and nothing else.

 

[Farmercyst]

I have absolutely lousy time management skills. Working 32 hours/wk right now, averaging about that over the course of my undergrad (minimum 20, maximum 48) I have managed to maintain 3.59 cumulative GPA, but you have no idea how many times I've come home from work, stayed up all night to meet a deadline the next day and came back to work for 8 hours before I could sleep. I'll be doing that tonight. I have two lab notebooks to turn in tomorrow that I haven't written in for ~4 weeks in molecular and 9 weeks in Microbiology. (I hate labs. )

 

[KellyBean]

Farmacyst,

If only you spent less time on SDN, you would have time to sleep

 

[Farmercyst]

Farmacyst,

If only you spent less time on SDN, you would have time to sleep

The best part about working in a call center is there's nothing else to do in the downtime. I can't really study for 1-2 minutes between calls, but I can post. Sometimes I take 20 minutes to post something cuz these stupid customers keep interrupting me. I've had to log in between posts occassionally. Not that I don't waste my study time posting, I do. Just not as much as you'd think.

 

[velvet75]

To be honest I say if you don't have to work then don't work. Maybe do volunteer work instead. I worked two jobs while going to school. One was full time Monday through Friday from 7am to 3:30pm at a mail order pharmacy and a part time job at a retail pharmacy. Plus I attended school part time and believe me it was NOT easy. But I didn't work 2 jobs because I wanted to, it was because I had to. A few months after I married, my husband lost his job and was sent to school yet he was not allowed to work. When he lost his job I was only working part time and going to school full time and it happened during mid-semester. So I had to dropped some classes to work a full time job so we could make ends meet. He had been making a lot more money than me so it put us in a hugh bind to be able to pay bills. I was SO stressed out but still was able to finish by Bachelor's degree. So, again, only work if you have to, otherwise find some volunteer work