4 ms·

Good points, but remember it isn't an either or. I had several friends in high school who worked in addition to class. And yes, most of those were "McJobs" bu

Good points, but remember it isn't an either or. I had several friends in high school who worked in addition to class. And yes, most of those were "McJobs" but for at least one young lady I know that "McJob" brought in a nontrivial portion of the income for her entire household. And another ran his own business. Granted it was just a lawn maintenance business, but it was his and helped him start saving. In college it is even easier to do both because there is more freedom. I worked full time in tech support while I was getting my undergrad. Now I am going for my masters part time while working full time.

viraptor 17y ago
Yeah - I'm still finishing my masters while working on a normal position. But it's really tiring and at this point I feel like I'm doing it just because I started, to be honest. You really have to enjoy this environment if you want to go all the way to MSc or higher. I would not do it again. But it's hard to know what's waiting for you before you sign up... I'm not sure how to pass that knowledge to someone else - simply saying "if you don't actually enjoy spending the evening on reading those 5 papers (or can be motivated enough to do it during the best years of your life so far), it's not for you" is not going to convince anyone, even if it's true on some level. There's just much more to it than that. It's actually much easier to show someone what does a normal job feel like while s/he is in high school, than explaining what happens during the undergraduate studies (which can be completely different than you've ever experienced at school).
ams6110 17y ago
Despite the derisive use of the term in this piece, there's nothing wrong with experiencing a "McJob". Two good things that could come from it are: you learn that this is NOT where you want to work for the rest of your life (or even another month) or you follow the path to franchise ownership that is available in most such jobs. Even if you don't go all the way with it, a hard working entry-level employee at a "McJob" can quickly advance in to management and learn quite a bit about how business really works. And get paid for it, rather than forking over tuition to learn about "stars", "cash cows", "question marks", and "dogs"

viraptor 17y ago

Yeah - I'm still finishing my masters while working on a normal position. But it's really tiring and at this point I feel like I'm doing it just because I started, to be honest. You really have to enjoy this environment if you want to go all the way to MSc or higher. I would not do it again. But it's hard to know what's waiting for you before you sign up... I'm not sure how to pass that knowledge to someone else - simply saying "if you don't actually enjoy spending the evening on reading those 5 papers (or can be motivated enough to do it during the best years of your life so far), it's not for you" is not going to convince anyone, even if it's true on some level. There's just much more to it than that. It's actually much easier to show someone what does a normal job feel like while s/he is in high school, than explaining what happens during the undergraduate studies (which can be completely different than you've ever experienced at school).

ams6110 17y ago

Despite the derisive use of the term in this piece, there's nothing wrong with experiencing a "McJob". Two good things that could come from it are: you learn that this is NOT where you want to work for the rest of your life (or even another month) or you follow the path to franchise ownership that is available in most such jobs. Even if you don't go all the way with it, a hard working entry-level employee at a "McJob" can quickly advance in to management and learn quite a bit about how business really works. And get paid for it, rather than forking over tuition to learn about "stars", "cash cows", "question marks", and "dogs"