Do you guys work while attending University?

[Norman]

It was a great experience, especially because i learned a lot from it. I mean, there is a big difference between being able to complete a good physics exam and being able to teach physics in front of students and solve problems at the instant.

This is so true. There is a saying I picked up from somewhere (anyone know who said it or is it just an old saying), that you never truly learn something until you have to teach it to someone else. And if you are an academic and do research, a good test of whether you understand the material thoroughly is to try and explain it clearly to a lay person. Many times, after I have been working on something and my wife asks me about it, I realize in the course of explaining it to her that I don't understand some part of it (or maybe any of it yet). So, if you can get a job teaching, it will help you become a better student. Truly.
Cheers,
Ryan

 

[robphy]

I prefer that my students NOT work,

I am sorry, but that's none of your business. If you want to have a big audiemce when you give your lessons, be sure that you are a talented and inspiring teacher. Are you ?

marlon

We have an attendance policy. So, it is my business if students miss my classes. As I said, "I prefer that my students NOT work, unless it is work-study or somehow academically-related. In any case, work must not interfere with your education... "

I tutored students when i was in college, during the entire academic year. It was great extra money (at least for a student ). I gave both mathematics and physics to freshmen-students and high school students. ... It was a great experience, especially because i learned a lot from it.

So, you see for yourself the value of an academically-related job. And, I'll guess that you probably didn't miss class on a regular basis because you had to tutor someone.

Conerning if I "wanna have a big audiemce when you give your lessons", it's not so much that I want a big audience. It's that I'd prefer to teach my lesson once and not have to repeat myself for someone that doesn't make it regularly to my classes because of work. Classes are scheduled for a reason.

As to whether I am a "talented and inspiring teacher", I'll leave that to others to judge.

 

[marlon]

We have an attendance policy.

That is so childish

I'll guess that you probably didn't miss class on a regular basis because you had to tutor someone.

Yes i did, though i must admit i always made sure i attended the lessons that covered really difficult topics or subjects that were really important for examns. I always made sure i knew guys/girls who were one year ahead of me, so that i could inform on the important parts of some course...That i must admit. I did not just skipped classes without "thinking" about what i was going to miss, you see ?

I'd prefer to teach my lesson once and not have to repeat myself for someone that doesn't make it regularly to my classes because of work. Classes are scheduled for a reason.

Trust me, most of the students that attend classes are not even paying full attention. Just ask them a question like "what did i just say" or something... I am sure your lessons will become much more , err, entertaining.

regards

marlon

 

[robphy]

We have an attendance policy.

That is so childish

I agree... but I didn't make the rules.

I'd prefer to teach my lesson once and not have to repeat myself for someone that doesn't make it regularly to my classes because of work. Classes are scheduled for a reason.

Trust me, most of the students that attend classes are not even paying full attention. Just ask them a question like "what did i just say" or something... I am sure your lessons will become much more , err, entertaining.

I know... I used to be a student too. That is why, as an educator, I actively find [and enjoy finding] new ways to teach and engage students in my courses. (I don't mind repeating and further discussing things with students that heard me the first time, even with minimal attention on their part. In fact, an educator can learn a lot from doing this.)

 

[zeronem]

I tutored students when i was in college, during the entire academic year. It was great extra money (at least for a student ). I gave both mathematics and physics to freshmen-students and high school students. The took place in a private organization and involved planning a working schedule, meeting with partents/ other teachers (most of them also students) and ofcourse giving physics and mathematics. It was a great experience, especially because i learned a lot from it. I mean, there is a big difference between being able to complete a good physics exam and being able to teach physics in front of students and solve problems at the instant.

Trust me, try to find such a job, it is really good for several reasons (money, experience, learning and relaxing...). Just be sure that when you do a job while being at college, you need to have a strick planning that you must respect. Also, try to find a job that is closely related to what you study. In that case, outside teaching, there is not going to be very much.

regards
marlon

Wow, that's pretty much exactly what I am doing right now.

I am tutoring Calculus III and University Physics I to this one person. While I am also tutoring College Algebra to another. I also get frequent calls from people who need to be tutored. It seems like I'm the first name that comes out of various teachers mouth when recommending a tutor.

 

[amuron]

I think it comes down to choices... my roommate spent around 40 hours a week drinking beer and chasing women and worked 15 hours/week.

I put in 60 hours a week on 2 jobs, plus took full loads of 18-21 credit hours, but skipped the beer and woman chasing for the most part.

At the end, I had my pilots license and enough relevant technical experience to jump into a startup operation as the sole electrical engineer. My roommate had huge debt, lots of headaches, and a few scars from bar fights, but managed to get an entry level management position.

Its cool when you can apply what you learned in class the same day, or in a number of cases had done so before hand. One of my jobs was designing and building prototype electronics devices, so it worked out pretty well, the other was an airplane mechanics assistant.

Ron

 

[Dracovich]

I think it can definitely be done. Personally i'd love ot have more money but i get by ok on the government money i (and evreyone else for that matter) get. Personally I've kinda decided not to work unless i find something that really fits with my situation, since I'm at school from 8/9AM until around 3/4PM, then i get home, eat/digest for about 2 hours and then go off and train for about 2-3 hours each night. Then fridays i have set aside for drinking at the university bar.

So if i wasn't training i think i could easily work a few hours a day if i were to find a job that worked around the hours of my school well. Just think about it, are you studying every waking hour? or do you just sit around and slack off outside the hours you use at your school (selfstudy included of course)? That's what i do anyway.

Just a thought here though, i wouldn't recommend working with a mentally draining job like dealing with customers too much. I used to be a teller at a supermarket, and later working as a customer support guy at an ISP, and i was insanely drained mentally when i came home, i just wanted to punch something and go to sleep, i'd imagine that this coupled with a hectic study schedual would be hard.

 

[BobG]

The ideal case is to find one of those jobs that tend to exist on college campuses where you can get paid for barely having to do any work. If you're lucky, you can get paid to sit behind a desk and do your homework :D.

I work for the ITS department at my school staffing the helpdesk for students (about 8 hours a week). Libraries are apparently pretty good, too. Generally, we have little or nothing to do, so I'll just pull out my work and do a math problem set.

We don't get paid much, but if I'm only actually working 25% of the time (and time I'd probably be wasting anyways) it's like getting paid $35/hour for a couple of hours a week of lost time.

Admittedly, that's not a huge amount of work depending on the degree to which you need to support yourself, but there are opportunities out there if you look for them.

Night time security guards are good jobs for students. "Good worker" usually means being one that stays awake ... and what else could keep a student awake and alert all night other than homework and studying?

 

[Grogs]

Night time security guards are good jobs for students. "Good worker" usually means being one that stays awake ... and what else could keep a student awake and alert all night other than homework and studying?

I've always thought that would be a good student job too. I think the only real problem would be the hours. I find it's hard to shift the hours when I sleep around frequently. If it was a late afternoon-midnight shift, it would probably be no problem to keep a consistent cycle, but if it was from say midnight to 8 AM, I'd probably be sleepy either during work or class. I guess everyone's results would vary though.

We had a pretty nice deal going in when I lived in Virginia. We had a rescue squad that handled all the ambulances for the local area. At night we used volunteers, but in the daytime we had to pay people. It didn't pay all that well, but it was nice in that is was a 12-hour shift, so you could do it once or maybe twice a week and get a decent number of hours. Some shifts were very busy, but the norm was hanging out at the station reading, watching TV, etc while you waited for a call.

 

[Chaotic42]

I work 40 hours and go to school full time. The thing that I don't like about it is that I have to drive 2.5-3 hours every day. If it weren't for all of the time on the road, it wouldn't be so bad.

I'm a low energy person though. ;)