Part time job during postgrad

I managed to get a weekend job.

Depends on the masters. The level of work on my course was just too much for me to work part time more than the Saturday (which they got rid of me from when the boss's son finished his MSc and was working for £2 an hour who was bullied in working my shift).

The amount of work was just too great and I really struggled with the end of semester essays having a combined word count of around 12,000 to 15,000 words plus the mid semester essays...

Reply 2

Zorg

I'd have to agree with the above. I attempted it in the second year of my Undergrad and seriously struggled. My academic work took a hit. Main issue was the significant contact time for the course and extra work required, organisation is key. It didn't help that my employers constantly relied on me for extra shift work, to the extent where I was contracted for 15 hours and ended up working 30 hours per week.

This year I'm hoping to make it work, I've got much less contact time and hopefully I can stick to 20 hours maximum. I've seen people manage it and from what I've experienced and been told, organising your work and academic work is key. Any spare time after that should be for socialising/fun.

Reply 3

Klix88

17

I would've strugged to work part time myself, but others I studied with did need to. However, there was no question of working full time during holidays - you'll find that these periods are more for concentrated research at PG level. Just because you don't have lectures/seminars scheduled, doesn't mean that you can gear back on your academic workload. During the summer I found myself working on my dissertation 7 days a week at times.

Reply 4

During my orientation, the speaker said if I want to fail the PG course, go get a job.

Reply 5

OP

Brilliant, looks like I'm in for a stressful year then! I really want to get a part time job, maybe work two shifts a week max. I don't think I could focus on my research if I was worried about finances all the time. Guess the only way to find out is to try it, I could always quit if it gets too much.

I don't mind sacrificing my social life for a part time job. Postgrad is serious and I've already done the studenty stuff during undergrad.

Reply 6

Original post by SkinnyKat

Brilliant, looks like I'm in for a stressful year then! I really want to get a part time job, maybe work two shifts a week max. I don't think I could focus on my research if I was worried about finances all the time. Guess the only way to find out is to try it, I could always quit if it gets too much.

I don't mind sacrificing my social life for a part time job. Postgrad is serious and I've already done the studenty stuff during undergrad.

Social life????

All I spent the last year doing is studying.

Reply 7

Original post by Politics Student

Social life????

All I spent the last year doing is studying.

Me too!

Now, I have a cup of coffee next to me in some place and doing work in front of some random strangers lol.

Deadline's next week! :woo:

Reply 8

OP

Original post by Politics Student

Social life????

All I spent the last year doing is studying.

Looking forward to it :zomg:

Seriously, nothing but pure love for my subject area (or greater career prospects :wink:

) could have made me embark on this expensive madness :biggrin:

Reply 9

Original post by kka25

Me too!

Now, I have a cup of coffee next to me in some place and doing work in front of some random strangers lol.

Deadline's next week! :woo:

haha I am also nearing the end of the MSc dissertation with 10 days left to go and its all over! :woo:

And then I am unemployed.... I feel rather depressed at the moment as I have ended up discussing my previous issues with the job centre in another thread. Just need to keep pushing on with the dissertation 10,000 words written up only another 2,000 to 5,000 to go!

Reply 10

Original post by Politics Student

haha I am also nearing the end of the MSc dissertation with 10 days left to go and its all over! :woo:

And then I am unemployed.... I feel rather depressed at the moment as I have ended up discussing my previous issues with the job centre in another thread. Just need to keep pushing on with the dissertation 10,000 words written up only another 2,000 to 5,000 to go!

Yay!

Mate don't feel depressed! You're doing great here! Keep the momentum! :bumps:

Reply 11

username196545

19

I have a part time job whilst doing my postgrad, I just do my postgrad part-time too. Found it really easy tbh (about to enter second half of it); plenty time to work, plenty time to study.

It's so much easier to balance it this way, I really think some people should consider it more.

Reply 12

Original post by kka25

Yay!

Mate don't feel depressed! You're doing great here! Keep the momentum! :bumps:

I really wish I could up vote your post.

Thanks. I am sure your work will go fine as well. So close to the end this is really just the last big push.

I have no idea what I am going to do with the free time after I finish the MSc. I mentioned to my supervisor that I have enjoyed waking up everyday for the last three months with something that needs constant work as life really has been quite straight forward. Her response was "You are going to get very bored very quickly". lol

Hopefully, I will be able to find a job sooner rather than later.

Reply 13

Original post by Bubbles*de*Milo

I have a part time job whilst doing my postgrad, I just do my postgrad part-time too. Found it really easy tbh (about to enter second half of it); plenty time to work, plenty time to study.

It's so much easier to balance it this way, I really think some people should consider it more.

I would have preferred to study part time but finding a job is quite difficult and finding one with the job security for the two years... Far too many jobs I apply for are temporary 0 hour contracts.

I would have done part time but I had no chance of affording 2 years living costs.

Reply 14

username196545

19

Original post by Politics Student

I would have preferred to study part time but finding a job is quite difficult and finding one with the job security for the two years... Far too many jobs I apply for are temporary 0 hour contracts.

I would have done part time but I had no chance of affording 2 years living costs.

Yeah, I imagine it's living costs (having to multiply them by 2) which stop most people doing their postgrads part time - I'm very lucky inasmuch as I live at home with no bills and a part time job that's permanent and fairly flexible.

Still.. if you can, I'd say it's a decent suggestion.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 15

thewaythingsare

7

I have just finished my MSc after studying full-time for the past year. Due to financial reasons I worked as well throughout the whole year except for 6 weeks in May-June when I took time off to study for my four final exams (they had scheduled them all to be sat within a 24hour period in mid-June). From October last year until end of April I worked 24.5hrs a week spread out over five days (two days 9am-5pm, three days 9am-12.30pm) and then from July until last week when I handed in my dissertation I worked full-time (35hrs/week). So yeah, it is possible to do it, but it's not recommended and it all really depends on the specific course that you're doing.

I do think it's a good idea to work part-time (paid work, volunteering, internship) if you can, just because it helps you keep one foot in the 'real' world and you are building up your CV with work experience as well as more education. Employers also really like to see that you are able to multi-task, stay organised enough to balance work and study etc. If I had aimed to get a Distinction on all assignments this would just not have worked, but I have been still able to keep a Merit average which is fine by me.

When you work and study at the same time you have to accept that you will have to give something else up. For me that has been my spare time, having a social life and having any kind of 'life' outside of working and studying over the past year. But I preferred to do my Masters over one year to get it done and over with more quickly. At least this way I had 'no life' for just the one year whereas if I had been working full-time and studying part-time for this degree I would have been this busy for two years. I strongly doubt that I could have kept my motivation levels up for that long.

Reply 16

OP

Original post by thewaythingsare

Thanks! So it is possible then. Mine is an research masters with no exams (I think I have to do a viva thingy at the end) and the grade is either a pass or a fail.

Yeah, I had thought about studying part time but for similar reasons I chose full time.

Reply 17

Original post by SkinnyKat

Thanks! So it is possible then. Mine is an research masters with no exams (I think I have to do a viva thingy at the end) and the grade is either a pass or a fail.

Yeah, I had thought about studying part time but for similar reasons I chose full time.

Depends on the subject I would imagine.

The amount of weekly reading expected by my lecturers were 2 to 4 articles for each seminar.

Also be careful what you choose to do for your MSc dissertation. I was recommended to take a quantitative research approach to newspaper coverage of climate change. I the last 2 months I have read 8,000 newspapers articles and classified them. I am finally onto the final write up of my results and conclusions now.

Reply 18

OP

Original post by Politics Student

Depends on the subject I would imagine.

The amount of weekly reading expected by my lecturers were 2 to 4 articles for each seminar.

Also be careful what you choose to do for your MSc dissertation. I was recommended to take a quantitative research approach to newspaper coverage of climate change. I the last 2 months I have read 8,000 newspapers articles and classified them. I am finally onto the final write up of my results and conclusions now.

It's an MRes; I chose my project when I applied (something about viruses and RNA). It's laboratory based research alongside the supervisor in his research group. I expect the lab will become my second home, from seeing other science research students.

Is it a massive jump from undergrad to postgrad in terms of workload? It kinda feels like I've bitten off more than I can chew now :biggrin:

Reply 19