Working part-time while going to school full-time

Question

Hi All,

I was wondering if any current or former MBA students could provide some thoughts on working part-time while going to school full-time. Is it possible to work 10 - 15 hours per week? Obviously, I'm sure almost everyone would prefer to just go to school full-time, but the idea of making a few thousand dollars a month to minimize debt is very appealing to me. Is it doable? Or, is it something that you absolutely should not do?

There is one thread that exists here: working-while-doing-a-full-time-mba-94156.html. I just wanted to get some additional thoughts.

kingfalcon · Answer

Is it realistic to think you could make a few thousand dollars per month only working 10-15 hours per week? That would mean you're effectively receiving a prorated salary of 120,000-145,000, which seems pretty optimistic to me.

I'm not sure how it is at other schools, but Sloan seems to encourage its students to TA, which yields sizable tuition waivers. You may want to look into that at Ross/Anderson.

ManhattanReview · Answer

While at Wharton I knew of a few students who did this -- and did it very effectively. Most MBA candidates have skills that companies value so many are willing to work around your schedule. I also know that many were paid quite well. As for me. I worked full time in admissions while I took a slightly reduced course load. I am not going to say it was easy as I dedicated myself fully to both endeavors. This did not leave much room for socializing, but I did graduate with no debt.

Just be aware that the first semester of school is very difficult and time consuming -- so you might want to think about dedicating yourself fully to school during this short time period.

Good luck.

Kimberly Plaga
Senior Admissions Consultant
Manhattan Review

Just be aware that the first semester of school is very difficult and time consuming -- so you might want to think about dedicating yourself fully to school during this short time period.

Good luck.

Kimberly Plaga
Senior Admissions Consultant
Manhattan Review

AlexMBAApply · Answer

Unless you are in dire need of the money, I wouldn't do it. Having done it myself (worked for a VC-backed portfolio company for one semester), it's not worth it. For many of us, we go back to b-school to get *away* from work, and to focus solely on the b-school experience. Working on the side can be enough of a distraction, taking time away from the b-school experience which you're paying so much for. In b-school, your time is more valuable than money, because you're faced with way more activities than you have time to commit to, and you want to prioritize accordingly.

VeritasPrepMike · Answer

It is certainly possible that you can work during business school. But it will require some major sacrifices on your end. You will have to schedule around classes, homework, recruiting sessions, social events and interviews. Your calendar will be very packed immediately. Now add ten to fifteen hours of work into all of that? Sounds like a recipe for disaster. I have known of a few people doing this and it almost never works out. One thing suffers. School or work. You are paying so much for school, do you really want to compromise on it? I say stick to classes and interviews.

Working part-time while going to school full-time

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