4 ms·

As a long-time employer the answer is "no" ... I don't necessarily care how long it took to earn a degree. But ... From my observations, earning a BS (or BA?)

by smoyer 10y ago

As a long-time employer the answer is "no" ... I don't necessarily care how long it took to earn a degree. But ... From my observations, earning a BS (or BA?) requires a far less rigorous schedule than working at a full-time job. If you couldn't manage a normal class load because there was "stuff going on", I'd expect that "stuff will continue to go on" and that would distract you from what I need in an employee. What assurances can you offer an employer that you will be a functional employee? Many positions (in the U.S. at least) have a probation period during which you've got to prove you're carrying your weight (providing a positive ROI in some sense).

outworlder 10y ago
> From my observations, earning a BS (or BA?) requires a far less rigorous schedule than working at a full-time job. Pfft. A 9 to 5 job sounds like a piece of cake compared to some of my semesters. At least provided you are not working when you get home. I guess that some universities just don't push students too hard then. Also, the "stuff going on" could well be a full time job, as it was in my case. What then?
- dvtv75 10y ago
  9 to 5 jobs are a walk in the park compared with BS workloads. One of my friends, while working full time in the university I was studying at, once commented that I did more hours per week than he did. He said every time he saw me, I was on my way to the lab, or on my way to class from the lab. In the first week of the first semester of second year (Bachelors are normally three years where I live), we lost 12 people from the core paper. By the end of the second week, 20 were gone. By the time the paper had finished, 13 weeks later, fewer than 50% of the people who signed up remained, and of those, just over half were in a position to complete the paper. To complete one assignment, I had to sit in the same spot for 17 hours, with just half an hour off for some food. Went home at about 6am the next morning, slept for an hour, went back to the lab, and worked another six hours. That year, they seriously cocked up the expected workload for the entire second year and gave us what they acknowledged was a workload appropriate to third year. There are laws intended to prevent that happening to employees, but no such protections for university students. In fact, the only time I've had a job that even came close to comparing with this workload was a few years ago, when my employer refused to let me take breaks and working just my contracted hours was (in his deluded little mind) grounds for dismissal. No extra pay for the 15-30 extra hours I did every week, though...

by smoyer 10y ago

outworlder 10y ago

> From my observations, earning a BS (or BA?) requires a far less rigorous schedule than working at a full-time job. Pfft. A 9 to 5 job sounds like a piece of cake compared to some of my semesters. At least provided you are not working when you get home. I guess that some universities just don't push students too hard then. Also, the "stuff going on" could well be a full time job, as it was in my case. What then?

dvtv75 10y ago
9 to 5 jobs are a walk in the park compared with BS workloads. One of my friends, while working full time in the university I was studying at, once commented that I did more hours per week than he did. He said every time he saw me, I was on my way to the lab, or on my way to class from the lab. In the first week of the first semester of second year (Bachelors are normally three years where I live), we lost 12 people from the core paper. By the end of the second week, 20 were gone. By the time the paper had finished, 13 weeks later, fewer than 50% of the people who signed up remained, and of those, just over half were in a position to complete the paper. To complete one assignment, I had to sit in the same spot for 17 hours, with just half an hour off for some food. Went home at about 6am the next morning, slept for an hour, went back to the lab, and worked another six hours. That year, they seriously cocked up the expected workload for the entire second year and gave us what they acknowledged was a workload appropriate to third year. There are laws intended to prevent that happening to employees, but no such protections for university students. In fact, the only time I've had a job that even came close to comparing with this workload was a few years ago, when my employer refused to let me take breaks and working just my contracted hours was (in his deluded little mind) grounds for dismissal. No extra pay for the 15-30 extra hours I did every week, though...