Career at your University - Ideas?

[GreenPrint]

So I had an idea pop into my head. After completing my degree do you think it would be a good idea to try to get a degree related job on campus? That way I would never have to leave =). It's pretty screwed up but some kids I went to high school with got free tution to my university who weren't that good of students just because one of their parents worked at my university as like a receptionist or something. I guess getting a job on campus would mean that if I wanted to get a masters I could tuition free while working, I could just take random classes if I wanted to lol and be a permanent student forever and ever and be in school forever and ever =). But like I think it may be a good idea but idk. I guess I could even eat at the dinning halls still for the whole semester if it was cheaper than buying my own food lol.

Do you think this is a good idea?

 

[chiro]

Hey GreenPrint.

As for the suggestion to be a student your entire life, if that means just doing coursework and not doing anything like teaching, paid research, or something along those lines then I don't think it is a good idea.

If you want the student lifestyle you should probably aim for a PhD and then take it from there.

Alternatively you could look at becoming a TA and then taking courses in spare time, but this is pretty much what PhD candidates do, at least at where I go to university.

If you haven't been out in the workforce I strongly encourage you to do so. There's a lot out there to learn and it can be quite rewarding. Also you should realize that a lot of your learning is done on the job, at the dinner table, on the golf course, and generally outside the classroom.

You'll be learning a hell of a lot of stuff in a job, and in the right industry you'll never stop learning.

I guess if you are rich enough, you could just be a student for the rest of your life, but if that is not the case, I strongly recommend you think about any kind of start to the working force and get your feet wet. It might suck at first, but if you are proactive, you will find your way.

 

[GreenPrint]

hmmm... interesting thanks

 

[twofish-quant]

So I had an idea pop into my head. After completing my degree do you think it would be a good idea to try to get a degree related job on campus?

Looking back at my life, I think it would have been bad for me, but I'm not you :-) :-) :-)

One thing about universities is that they are often in "research heavy" cities so what ends up happening with a lot of people is that they go to a university, get a job in a nearby high tech company, and never really leave. If you go to Cambridge, MA for example, there are dozens of high tech companies just outside of the MIT or Harvard campus. The same is true for Austin, Texas or Silicon Valley. In Austin, they even made a movie out of "campus groupies" called "Slackers."

At MIT, "campus groupies" sometimes end up starting companies, becoming faculty, or being President of the university.

I guess getting a job on campus would mean that if I wanted to get a masters I could tuition free while working, I could just take random classes if I wanted to lol and be a permanent student forever and ever and be in school forever and ever =).

One doesn't have to stay in school to be a student, and sometimes it's an important part of your education to just leave and go somewhere else. Even if you move to another city or another university, you see people do things differently and that teaches you stuff.

The funny thing about Austin, Texas is that so many people were being "permanent students" that the state legislature passed a law (called the Slacker law) to get rid of them.