Full time Uni AND full time work? (1 Viewer)

[Sonesful]

Hi guys, so I'm in a bit of a predicament. I've recently been offered a trial for a full time job which would be in Ultimo, working 35-40 hrs/week. If I were to get the job, I would also be doing 4 subjects (chemistry, biology, economics, analytical thinking) at USyd at the same time.

Now I know most of you would probably say doing both these things at the same time would be very hard/impossible, due to the sciences and their high contact hours BUT, the job would only be full time for the first 4 weeks of Uni (beginning of March - end of March) after which I can go part-time.

Now I've done a fair bit of research into this and know that USyd timetables are fairly inflexible, which really doesn't help my situation but yeah, with how hard it is to find a job these days I think not accepting the job offer would be a last option.

So to sum up I'm asking three questions:
- Would it be in any way possible to balance full time Uni with science subjects and full time work?
- Would it be possible to maybe skip some lectures/tutorials without it having too much of an impact on my grades?
- Would I be able to finish all classes on any given day by 2pm?

I'm really hoping I'd be able to get a timetable which accommodates both so I can just push through the first 4 weeks.

Thanks for any help or advice you guys might be able to give me!

 

[madharris]

4 weeks worth of classes... yeah i don't think so.
Talk to you boss and see what he suggests tbh. Like he/she probably knows that you're a full time uni student so maybe he/she can work something out for you.

 

[HeyJes]

I dont think so.....
Yeah prob talk to your boss abt this

 

[Carrotsticks]

Sonesful, I would do it if I were you, assuming this job is something that would normally be very difficult to acquire. 4 weeks is NOTHING and a TINY sacrifice compared to what you could acquire in return by having the position (you are so lucky to have such an opportunity). It will be painful but think of the long term benefits. You have a potentially stable job for the rest of your degree. The cost is 4 weeks of hard hard work out of the 78 weeks that there are in a 3 year degree.

if you go ahead with it enjoy having no social life (actually very important in staying engaged with uni life) And those first few weeks are fairly important, especially if you're a first year.

Also, science has a compulsory attendance rate, otherwise you immediately absent fail the subject.

ie. Don't do it.

Acquiring the position is much more important than sacrificing a teeny bit of social life. I don't think uni life is THAT important. There are many students who enjoy studying and attending classes whilst having little to no participation in uni life throughout their whole degree. This is merely for 4 weeks.

I've worked 40+ hour weeks whilst also taking the full credit point load for the entire semester (not to mention writing and marking BOS Trials too), and it's most certainly do-able. You just have to be smart about what you skip, what you don't skip, and what you have to sacrifice. In my case, I had to sacrifice sport. However, as you are only doing this for 4 weeks, any sacrifice would be very temporary.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Also Sonesful, you can get away with a Distinction in Analytical Thinking easily with 0 attendance. Attendance is not compulsory and the first 4 weeks are piss easy. Same for some Economics subjects but read the handbook to double check.

Also, for Chemistry and Biology, only the practicals and workshops (which iirc are fortnightly anyway) are compulsory, but lectures are recorded. I don't think lectures are recorded for economics.

So really, you could get by with attending ONLY the Biology and Chemistry practicals/workshops (maybe one class of Economics if it is compulsory).

When you enrol in the subject, they should have a 'Course Guide' .pdf which outlines all the assessments, outcomes and requirements. They also tell you stuff like "If you miss more than 3 practicals you absent fail", IF there is such a rule. Read the rules for each subject carefully to find out which ones have compulsory vs. non-compulsory classes.

Also, since you are on holidays now, use this period to study ahead. Ask a friend (or even somebody on BOS!) who may have done the subjects already for their material or the prescribed textbook for you to go through. Chem and Bio are commonly taken subjects, so finding somebody who has done them already should be easy.

====================================

Remember, be smart about what you skip, don't skip, and sacrifice. Most importantly, read each course outline CAREFULLY and be absolutely sure about your decisions.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

 

[InsoulvencyReaper]

Good luck! I had a hard time just putting together my timetable, trying not to let it clash with work hours, it overlapped a little but work doesn't mind. I guess you'll have to stick it out. Go to the classes which get attendance marked (if any) and you'll just have to put in a few extra hours to catch up. No biggie, first year content is manageable.

 

[Rafy]

You would likely fail to meet your attendance requirements if you missed 4 weeks worth of classes.

 

[williamdaft]

Mmmm.. I don't think that's possible, as the many hours in your full-time job would reflect not attending some classes in your full-time study in university, plus you pretty much have very little time to study for your degree :/

I'm doing full-time study with part-time work / casual.. which I would recommend because you can have time to study and work well plus some time for social life and hobbies, etc

 

[Darth_UNSW]

4 weeks is a long time. Participation is an important element of your university results.

 

[Sonesful]

Hmm, there seem to be mixed responses about this, should I also mention I can work on Saturday and so potentially not have to work one day from Mon-Fri? Maybe work 9-6 on Sat and maybe that'll lessen the hours I have to work during the week?

 

[Galapagos]

I have to say you are nuts if you think you can study AND work full-time, especially with science subjects.

 

[Sonesful]

Well, I've added up the hours for all my lectures/tutes/labs if I were to attend every single one of them and it averaged out to 18.5 hours/week...

 

[Parvee]

I have to say you are nuts if you think you can study AND work full-time, especially with science subjects.

it aint hard
last sem i had like 22 contact hrs over 3 days (eng/sci degree) and also managed to work ~30hrs a week
plus i managed to have a social life as well

 

[Sonesful]

@Blue Suede: Okay... I might consider going part-time. Is it possible to go part-time for the first 4 weeks then switch to full-time?

 

[Sonesful]

Aw It all seems so impossible... I really don't want to go part-time though because I want to transfer next year into another course I'd much rather do... if I did do part-time how would they consider a transfer next year? Would it be just based on my HSC atar?

Edit: Or, what if I did two units of economics next semester bringing me down to 3 subjects this semester. 18CP in semester 1 and 30CP in semester 2, Would that be doable?

 

[brent012]

If you want to transfer courses doing full time work sounds like a bad idea. You want to give yourself the best chance at getting the marks you need to transfer and that might not be easy while you are working. I also believe that at some unis you need a years full time load to transfer, the definition of full time varies from uni to uni.

I don't know what your work ethic is like, don't know how much study you'd need to go well in something, don't know how difficult your possible subjects are etc. but what I can say is that you will likely have difficulty finding motivation for your subjects if you are also working full time. It can be pretty hard to concentrate completely in a night lecture after you've been working all day knowing that after your classes you'll have to go to sleep straight away if you want a good amount of sleep. (depends on how much procrastination you can do at work I guess and how mentally or physically demanding your job is though)

That will be made much worse if you're not particularly interested in your course/are planning on transferring anyway. Think back to school - did you have a subject you knew you were going to drop, or wouldn't count towards your ATAR?

Why do you want to work full time and what kind of job is it? If it's relevant to what you want to be doing at uni/your future career then maybe you should try to work something out, but if you want money and to start working then possibly you should reconsider what your priorities are and what you are planning to do etc. Maybe even take a gap year.

 

[Galapagos]

it aint hard
last sem i had like 22 contact hrs over 3 days (eng/sci degree) and also managed to work ~30hrs a week
plus i managed to have a social life as well

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you are the exception, not the rule. Most people can't handle that AND get decent marks.

 

[Katebrunner]

Is it a really good job or something? How come you don't just find a job that is properly part time? Loads of places are hiring at the moment

Sent from my GT-I9507 using Tapatalk