Juggling School & Work

Considering advancing in your career, or taking on a new career altogether? Further education can be essential to either goal, and balancing the demands of work, school, social life, and family life can be an immensely challenging task. Here is some practical advice to help you get through the stressful, but rewarding times ahead.

First Things First

Before you do anything, consider what you want to gain in the short-term and long-term. More money? New responsibilities? New knowledge or skills? New career? What is your timeframe?

Choosing the Right School

To choose the program or degree that will be most helpful in achieving your career goals, do some browsing on job boards and look up the educational requirements for the jobs you want. If you're unsure which program is best for you, talk to career counselors, professionals in the field, or college admissions counselors.

Find colleges that have a solid reputation in the field you want to study. Talking to professionals in your field, reading independent reviews of schools and programs, and researching details like each school's post-graduation employment rate can help you make an informed decision.

Does the program you want to apply for require completion of a standardized test, e.g. the GMAT for business school or the GRE for some graduate programs? If so, you'll need to complete this before you apply.

What are the course prerequisites? If you don't have the prerequisites, you won't necessarily be delayed, because different schools may have different prerequisites for the same program. What you're missing at one school, you may not be missing at another.

Be realistic: Consider which schools you're likely to be admitted to! Some schools/programs demand higher grades or specific types of experience. Do you have what it takes?

What are your needs and preferences? Factors to consider are many:

• Does the program focus on what is most important to you (e.g. heavier on administration than clinical).

• Tuition fees.

• The school's distance from your home or work. If your dream program is in another city, are you willing/able to relocate? Do they offer distance learning?

• Class size.

• For clinical programs, the balance of lecture times versus labs and hands-on learning.

• If you must continue to work and/or have family responsibilities, does the school offer part-time, evening, or weekend courses, online programs, intensive/compressed programs, etc.

• Your preferred method of learning. For example, if you're self-motivated and work well independently, then distance learning programs can be a good option. However, if you learn best by interacting with professors and other students, want access to college libraries, and more networking opportunities, then on-campus classes would be the best choice.

Money

Many workplaces will subsidize your education if it's related to your work. Find out what subsidy programs your employer offers and what requirements you must meet to receive them.

If your education won't be subsidized, or won't be subsidized enough, look at other options, such as loans from banks or family, putting off your education for a short time while you save money, continuing to work full-/part-time while at school, etc.

Preparing for School

Talk to your family and friends about the lifestyle changes you'll need to make, and convince them that this is an important priority for you. Let them know that temporary sacrifices might be necessary.

Anticipate and purchase the tools you need. This may be as simple as buying a day planner, or as complex as setting up a home office. If you are setting up a home office – perhaps buying a new computer and paying for high speed internet access for an online course – this is another expense you'll have to consider.

If possible, buy your textbooks ahead of time and skim them before class starts.

If you've been away from school for a while, don't expect to be able to get back into the groove immediately. It will take time to get up to speed with note-taking and to get back into knowledge-sponge mode, where you're able to absorb the vast amounts of information that will be coming your way.

Maintaining Balance Between Work, School, and Family

If you have to work, talk to your employer about creating a flexible work schedule. If you can afford it, temporarily switch to part-time hours, and consider using your vacation time during exam time, paper deadlines, or during other particularly busy periods.

Set both short-term and long-term goals, and give yourself rewards to help you stay on track, e.g. doing intense studying to ace an exam one weekend, and being rewarded by taking the following weekend off.

Since you were already leading a full and busy life before classes started, some things in your life will need to cut out to accommodate the hours of class and study time. Enlist family – particularly your spouse and/or kids – to do some extra duty. If they're busy themselves and balk, take the advice of a friend: She paid her two teenaged children to do all the cleaning and part of the cooking during the two years it took to complete her Master's degree.

When you're juggling so many tasks at once, it's usually better to be slightly behind in several areas than to devote all your time and energy to one area and have the others fall to pieces. But be aware of which areas can temporarily slip and which can't!

Prioritize. Make a list of your tasks based on the order of their importance and urgency, then work your way down the "to do" list sequentially.

Make a daily schedule that includes the tasks you want to accomplish, and set aside a specific time slot for each task. Setting aside blocks of time will help you to focus while working, and point out imbalances in your life. Make sure to leave some space in your schedule to accommodate unexpected events, fatigue, and other factors.

Set aside some downtime for yourself every day, and give yourself an evening off once in a while! Recognize the warning signs that precede burnout, and when you feel that you're reaching your emotional or physical limits, cut back on the amount of work you're doing.

Where to Find Additional Help

Friends and relatives can be a great source of practical and emotional support. Whether it's a weekend of babysitting or a shoulder to lean on, don't be afraid of asking them for help when you need it.

The other students in your class are probably performing the same juggling act as you, and can be a valuable source of information and emotional support. Swap tips on where to find childcare and how to persuade your partner to do the housework. Start a study group to help each other learn. Even if you don't form close ties with your fellow students, just knowing that you're in a roomful of other people who are pursuing the same goal can be a great morale boost.

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Remember that completing a degree is more like a marathon than a sprint, and the most important thing is to simply keep going. Best of luck!

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