Pros and Cons of having a job in college

I’ve talking about my job a lot this semester, because it’s the first time I’ve had to balance school and work since high school. Deciding whether or not to work during school will be an extremely important decision you will need to make once you get here, and I thought I might give you the low-down on my experience so you might have an easier time.

After working consistently from the time I was 15 until two weeks before beginning college, I decided not to work my first two years at Transy. I feel that this was probably one of the best decisions I made for myself, as it allowed me to really be present on campus, get involved, volunteer, and focus on my academics. I didn’t qualify for work study, but having a work study job doesn’t interfere with school and campus activities perhaps as much as an outside job. I would probably recommend taking work-study if you qualify, but I can honestly say that I don’t think I would have been able to integrate into the Transy community as well had I taken a significant part-time job off-campus my first year especially.

That being said, I understand that some of you will have to take a job for financial reasons, and while I would be lying if I said it were easy, it’s doable. My job this year at The Reading Room, a speech and language pathologists’ office specializing in dyslexia, as a tutor in a special reading and spelling program has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my life, and I wouldn’t trade it. I have, however, had to learn to say ‘no’ to some of my on-campus activities; I have had to miss fun outings with my friends; I have had to learn to go without a couple hours of sleep here and there to get my school work done, but it has taught me a great deal of responsibility, accountability, and time management and has opened my eyes to an important field with which I had no previous experience.

Do I regret missing out on some of the fun of college this year? Having to cut down on my campus involvement? Yes. But do I regret taking a job? No, but this is probably due to the fact that I found a job I was passionate about and found internally rewarding. I’d say the first step to take if you need to find a job once you arrive at Transy is to visit our Career Development Center and have them help you find a job you can look forward to going to every day. Because let’s face it—school is stressful enough, who wants to leave a stressful day at school to go to a job you hate?