NationStates Jolt Archive

I'm thinking about trying to pick up another degree (in English this time), however this would be on a part time basis; ie night classes. Has anyone here got any experience in this sort of thing, if so how did you get on doing a full-time job and a degree at the same time?

I'm thinking about trying to pick up another degree (in English this time), however this would be on a part time basis; ie night classes. Has anyone here got any experience in this sort of thing, if so how did you get on doing a full-time job and a degree at the same time?
Sucks and totally worth it, though the full time job I had was not a 'real' job, it was retail, so.....(it was still full time-no sleep)

Distance education. Study in your own time. Plenty of universities offer such distance courses.

I had to finish my last semester of college like that....I worked from 7-4:30, drove to class, sat in class until 9:30, drove home, did homework till I couldn't stay awake anymore, and then passed out until it was time to go back to work.

It was worth it though.

Just don't plan on having time to do ANYthing else.

It's certainly worth it, although I can tell you from experience that a degree in English, while not worthless, isn't exactly a fast track ticket to wealth and success. But I'm sure you knew that already. :D

how heavy is your course load? how much will you be working? You should be able to do one or two full collage courses while working full time.

I did the same thing while taking computer science and that quite a bit ummm more "heavy" than english courses, lol.

Actually a english degree is a good foot in the door to go on to a biz major or something like that...

Thanks for the replies, still looking into it but I don't think it will be that bad. I think if I worked really hard I could have done my last degree in a year and a half. As far as getting a job that uses an English degree, I'm not too bothered about - I orrigionally studied English for a year before switching to Computing, and I kinda regret doing that so doing this degree would be more for personal gain than proffessional.
How did you guys find the social aspects of the course?

Haven't done it myself, but a friend of mine from University did the full-time degree, worked full-time as well (different hours from 9 - 5, of course, but it was still nearly a 40 hour week) and she had two children!!! I don't know how she did it, but she ended up with a 2:2. That disappointed her somewhat, but I thought it was excellent given all her other committments. So, while it's obviously hard work, extreme cases like hers prove that it can be done :) She also managed to maintain a reasonable social life, but then as I say we were on a full-time course so it's possible that people knew each other better. Still, one point is that she managed to have time for it, so you probably could too.

I think Von Witzleben has a very good point about distance learning as well. Whatever you do, very best of luck with it!

Thanks for the replies, still looking into it but I don't think it will be that bad. I think if I worked really hard I could have done my last degree in a year and a half. As far as getting a job that uses an English degree, I'm not too bothered about - I orrigionally studied English for a year before switching to Computing, and I kinda regret doing that so doing this degree would be more for personal gain than proffessional.
How did you guys find the social aspects of the course?
Personally, I found it very rewarding, mainly because I used it as an excuse to explore a wide range of subjects, both inside literature and outside the department. My degree had a lot of leeway as far as humanities electives were concerned, so I got to take everything from theater to philosophy to psychology, as well as courses in the hard sciences. I was the well rounded student when I finished. It was also a jumping off point for my writing, which I carried over into graduate school and from there to my current position holding a fellowship at Stanford.