Grad students - what's your work situation?
 

Do you work part-time? Full-time "9 to 5" job? Full-time non-office job? Is your job in your field of study?

Now that I'm back in school, I'm looking for a part time job. I might be working with an attorney, demonstrating pet food, or doing who knows what. I'm thinking about getting a job at a store that sells handbags so I can use my employee discount to feed my addiction while I am poor.

Of course, if I end up working with the attorney, I might end up quitting school and taking the bar here, LOL.

When I was in grad school, for one year, I worked F/T second shift and weekends, took classes during the day, and did an internship 21 hours a week. It was wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too much for me so I switched 2nd year to the Program for Employed Persons at my school where I was able to work in one of the programs F/T and use it as my internship. I always worked in my field while in grad school.

I'm a grad student in psychology and I've got an assistantship for 20 hours a week and I work midnights at a rehab facility in town. It's not bad because a lot of the GA stuff I do can be done outside of the school so I just do it at work.

- marissa

That's the key too, finding something you are able to get a bulk of your school stuff done while at work. Last year when I was doing my work internship, it was at a residence for MI/MR adults. My hours were 8-4 Tues-Sat. The clients were out of the residence for the most part from 8-2 Tues-Fri so I was able to focus on my papers while they were in their day treatment programs. From 2-4 and on Saturdays was when I did my client-centered stuff.

When I was in grad school, I worked full time (professionally) in my field of study. It was a life of hardly no sleep, lots of caffine, B vitamin energy shots, no weekends, an extra 15 lbs , and basically no life.

I started grad school for marketing in sept and will be done this aug.

Last fall I worked 10-12 hours on campus at the tv station. This spring i had an internship for 16 hours a week at a full service agency. Both of those semesters I had a full load of 12 credits (3 classes).

This summer I am interning 32 hours a week at the same agency (for 8 credits) and taking 2 classes so I can finish early.

This summer is already killing me but during the year I had no problems with balancing everything and I was fortunate to find a job/internships in my field.

This fall I will be starting grad school in space and planetary sciences... My acceptance there in general already says I will get a living stipend and after my first year will either be working as a grad assistant or a research assistant... So that will be my working situation... But that is also how it is with many of the sciences...

I'm a lazy bum...I just started my master's program in education and my "job" for the summer is babysitting. But hey--I'm making more than I was when I was waitressing, and I can actually get my work done! I was having problems because this program is very abbreviated (read: a whole lot of work crammed in a very short time) because it gives you certification AND a master's in about a year, and working 30 hours a week was making it difficult so I don't have a real job right now. I have a GA position for fall, though, and it's only 20 hours a week so that should work out OK.

When I was in grad school, I was taking 6-9 units each semester + worked 24 hours/week + held an internship which required me to put in 15 - 20 hours/week. I was also newly married and we had just bought a house...

The answer: MAJOR time management!

When I was in grad school, I worked full time in a related field, they had tuition reimbursement which was an awesome deal, and I met my second husband and married him. The kicker was getting pregnant with only 19 of the 45 credits left to go.. that was the end of grad school. I do work with women who are working on their PhDs, working full time and are mothers of small kids, but I sure couldn't do it!

Dee

I will be starting my second year of graduate school in the fall. I work in my field through a graduate assistantship. The money is pretty sad. I worked a year before pursuing a masters, saved money and jumped in. I would suggest getting a part-time job if at all possible, especially if you are use to a particualr type of lifestyle.

How about doing internships, paid or not? I found out that I will stay insured until next summer. That was my main concern. So, getting my feet wet is now more important than making enough money. I'm just wondering how do I get internships without my school's assistance, since I'm only required to do one internship. I want to do many internships as possible.

Look at a website like Idealist.org or craigslist. They often list internships. Or you can just go to a place you would be interested in interning at and ask. That is what I did for my undergrad internship.

I second this... I got my first internship by contacting someone I was interested in working with... From there I had connections and was able to get other internships...