School IS hard
When I went back to my old job for 2.5 weeks in April, my old boss kind of laughed at me and my colleague and said that “we had it easy since we were still in school – wait till we get into the working world”.
You know, it’s always really bothered me when people say that.
I have had the opportunity to dabble in the working world this past summer. And ya, ya, maybe I was only an intern and maybe it was for only four months BUT in my humble opinion, it was a lot easier than school.
I don’t mean the work wasn’t challenging and I don’t mean it wasn’t busy; but it wasn’t stay-up-until-two-am-cramming-for-a-test-and-writing-a-5,000-word-paper busy. It wasn’t learning-about-five-different-things-all-at-once busy. And it certainly wasn’t so-much-reading-your-eyes-hurt busy.
I’m only two weeks into my fourth year of University; and let me tell you, it’s not easy. Not at all. And no, I don’t think just “anyone” could handle the work load.
When you’re a student you’re not only balancing a full course load with as much reading and writing in one week as most jobs have you do in a month (or year), you’re also balancing a part-time (or full-time) job on the side, making ends meet, having a social life, late nights and early mornings.
Last week, on my very first day of classes, in my very first class my professor pointed out that getting your degree isn’t so much about showing your future employers what you KNOW, it’s showing them what you can HANDLE. Because if you can get through the four years, and earn your degree, it means you can handle stress and juggle several different responsibilities at once while still maintaining your sanity; something that will obviously impress future employers more than a piece of paper.
Right now I am juggling a full-time course load, working 10+ hours a week at my internship, writing for the school paper, training for my half-marathon and a social life among other things. I fall into bed exhausted every night and emerge from my room bleary-eyed 5 or 6 hours later to embark on another 10+ hour day.
So ya, working full-time is hard but I think school is much harder. At the same time, being a student is very rewarding; I forgot how much I enjoy socializing with all my friends every day. As much as I complain about it now I think I will miss school a lot once I’m done.
What do you guys think, is going to school full-time or working full-time harder? What was/is harder for YOU?
I definitely agree with you. My days are so much longer when I’m at school than when I’m working full-time over the summer. Even at my most obnoxious summer jobs, work hasn’t followed me home the way it does when I’m at school. I feel like when I’m at school there is always more that I can be doing, and I get nervous and anxious just thinking about it. I HATE it when people say, oh, but it’s just homework.
Being a student is a different kind of work load. I think that once you’re done with school and working full time with different responsibilities it’s just… different. I don’t know how else to explain it. Different kinds of deadlines, different kinds of bills, different kind of stress. Once I graduated college I felt like life should suddenly be easier. I quickly found it wasn’t (I know, naive, right?). It was harder to make friends because I wasn’t in a school setting anymore. It was shocking to start paying for everything on my own from car insurance, car payment, utilities, rent, water, cable annnnnd the dreaded student loans six months after graduating. It was overwhelming. So, I don’t agree nor disagree. It’s just different. I do agree that being a college student, ESPECIALLY your senior year is hard. Mine was especially tough. Although, it’s a kind of stress that I enjoyed and miss on almost a daily basis! I guess I thrive under pressure?
Hang in there lady, it sounds to me you’ve got a lot figured out and you’re doing great! Definitely enjoy your senior year… it’s a time in your life you will definitely miss once it’s over!
Just read Lizzie’s comment… I agree with the “work not following you home” that is so true. With a job you can come home and forget about work until the next day for most people anyway! Not so when you’re a student! You’re always preparing for some project or test!
Well, I’m currently doing both at the same time and it’s pretty hard. I think it depends completely on the type of job you have. My job is not stressful and I don’t have a lot of responsibility, so of course it’s easier than school. But, that’s not true for a lot people. There are a lot of jobs where you are responsible even for people’s livelihoods and I think that’s much more difficult than school where you’re really only responsible for yourself. Plus, school is very inconsistent where you have a lot of work sometimes, but then a significant amount of time off. Work is much more constant. Being in the working world usually comes with being in the real world, which is something I hated hearing as an undergrad, but things really do get a lot heavier when you get older and your finances are 100% your own and you have to start thinking about planning for the future and all of that. I worked really hard and basically supported myself as an undergrad, but I still wasn’t prepared for the reality of the responsibility that comes your way as you get older.
That said, I think that people out of school sometimes forget what it’s like. It’s pretty easy to look back and remember the fun of college and forget the pain of it.
School is SOOO hard. Let me tell you. I Finished my undergrad 4 years ago with a double major in psyc & philosophy. I spent the last 4 years in the “real/working-world” and I just returned to school last week and began a Master’s in philosophy. I think people who joke about having it easy in school maybe were not challenged enough or didn’t take school seriously. I’m finding school to be far more demanding and challenging than work. I think at many jobs it is easy to plateau after awhile- you get used to the challenges that arise and are able to perform your job without a great deal of hard, intellectual effort b/c many aspects of your job become routine. At school you are always challenged and always learning a new equation, grasping a new theory, etc. so you never plateau and go into auto-pilot. School is hard! My brain hurts! Back to my philosophy essay:(
I totally agree with Lizzie. I graduated college a few months ago and although the job search in times like these has been nerve-wracking already, I enjoy not having something constantly on my mind: the never ending to-do list of studying, writing papers, reading… After work you can leave everything behind and enjoy your free time doing things you love without constantly thinking “I should be studying right now”. Of course, just like Ashley mentioned, there are certain jobs that are not that easy not to bring into your personal life. My mom for example is a doctor specialized in cardiology and I see her struggle with trying to take her mind off of what happened at work, especially when a patient didn’t make it on her watch, when she did CPR for 2 hours trying to safer his/her life. Obviously this is not as easy as let’s say coming home from any job I would ever have (I’m a business major).
I think ‘hard’ in this case is very subjective. I finished school two years ago and miss it every day. Even carrying a full course load, being an RA in a residence hall, belonging to several groups or activities, and having homework to do and papers to write, I felt like I had plenty of free time to enjoy. Now that I work fulltime in a job I don’t find to be interesting or fulfilling, I feel like between eight hours of work and an hour long commute I have no time left. I don’t think about work after 5, but for me it’s harder to go into work everyday and try to muster motivation for IT all day long than it was for me to be in school.
School IS harder, but working full time SUCKS more. In school you feel overwhelmed, but hopeful. With working it’s like, “Eff not this shit again.”
Work (for me and many at least) is hour after hours of day after day of very similar activities, whereas in school you change classes every hour (and a half), and you don’t necessarily have the same class every single day.
You never realize how refreshing learning is until you have to struggle to find ways to use your brain before it rots out.
When I was in high school, I only went to school for four hours my senior year; by that point, I was working full time. When I started college (full time), I was also working full time. (School from 7am to noon, and work from 3pm to 11pm or later.) It was tough. When I quit school last year and just worked full time, it was easy. I’ve worked at my current job for almost nine months, and it has been easy. Now that I’m in school, it’s rough. I work 40+ hours a week, plus I’m taking three classes (just one class away from full time).
To me, work is easy. I have a REASON to work; I get paid. School? Well, you don’t get paid until you get the degree, so it’s a lot harder to remain focused.
I think your old boss was wrong. However, if I just went to school without working, I’d think school was easy. Of course, it’s hard for college students to go to school WITHOUT working, so it can be pretty difficult to juggle school + work + marriage/relationship + social life. Sometimes, I just want to crawl into my closet and sleep for a day or two.
I agree School is Harder and Working just SUCKS like April commented!!! I wish I were back in school and not goofing off like Iused to. Everything we learned in school was interesting now that I come to think of it but it was then to me, do you know what I mean. I wish I had paid more attention to it then boys. Boys are trouble…and I wish I had stayed at the all girls school (Notre Dame) I did much better there, no distractions. Anyway I’m rambling again….
I agree that school is hard, but work presents its own set of stresses that are a lot different than school stresses. In a work environment there are a lot more dynamics than I personally had in college. Dealing day in and day out with a demanding-not-all-that-helpful boss, where are in college if I had a prof I didnt like, 12 weeks and I never had to seem them again. Office politics are another thing that I didn’t deal with while in college because I was busy with my friends. The nice thing about work is that for the most part, I leave it all at work (like it was mentioned above). I suppose that both have postivies and negatives. Best of luck juggling everything!
Working full time is AWESOME! My summer was a breeze…wake up, cuppa joe, out the door…work my ass off for 8 hours…then at the end of the day I got to go home and do whatever *I* wanted to do. No homework! No part-time job! No stressing over exams! And my friends? Well, I actually got to see them…
If I survive this last year of school I will never, ever, EVER go back full-time. 5 years is enough.
I basically worked full-time all last semester and through the summer and it was a piece of cake. Granted I have a fairly simple job, but not having to prepare homework and study for tests and instead being able to read all of the books that I wanted and that I chose to right was awesome. Now that I’m back in school, there is always something due, and my job even allows me to study so I’d definately agree that school is harder.
I have found both to be hard, but for different reasons. There’s an art to having a full-time job…juggling everything, getting along with co-workers, finding out how to get a promotion, keeping motivated etc. But school is difficult too with so many different courses and sooo much studying and so many assignments to do. Oh, and handling $$ wisely.
It sounds like your schedule is SO full. But…if we don’t make time to rest (a sabbath), our sickness and injuries will become our forced sabbath. (I can’t find the exact quote, but it’s from Wayne Muller). I just listened to a podcast called “Longing for Rest” with that quote in it . (http://podcast.com/show/93852/)
Um…sorry for being preachy. I just don’t know how you do it, girl!
Two things:
1- I could be in third year uni this year if I wasn’t lazy.. and that makes me sad.
2- You are a tank. Seriously.
I think university is HARD, and I have so much respect for everyone who finishes, graduates, and survives life with good grades.
I really want to go back to school.
The only thing that is easier about school is that the hours are more flexible, usually. (Although for some people that makes it even harder.) Depending on your job, the working world can be tough too, but at least you (again, usually) don’t have to bring it home with you at night. With school you ALWAYS have something hanging over your head.
I agree that school is hard but full time work isn’t easy either. I agree that both are different. I work full time, waking up at 5am and done work at 4:30, and have class from 6-9 and the when i don’t have class we’re always so busy with other things….like working on the house, its just like homework and just as stressful. I have deadlines almost everyday at work. Yes I’m not cramming until 2am but I have mentally taken work home many many times…..lol That being said i don’t think after working full time for so many years that i would be able to drop it and go back to school. School has a different kind of dynamic that i just don’t think i could handle right now.
Seriously Amber you are like super women though!!! FREAKIN AWESOME!!!
I chuckled when Chuck said he starts going a little crazy working on 3 articles at once….”ummm, Chuck, I’m working on four and now having to think about a fifth research one for you.”
Sometimes I think I’m not going to make it, but in the end, I always manage to get things done. I hope it’s a continuing tradition.
I totally agree! Working full time allows me to leave work at work and go home and “play” while with school, even if I spend half the time in the classroom as I would at work, I still spend so much more time actually doing homework, etc. Its a nice relief to have weekends free without headaches of monday deadlines. Now sometimes work gets crazy but that usually doesn’t last for 10-15 weeks!
School and work are different types of difficult. Work is hard because it is repetitive. School is hard because it is always changing. Really though, I have always found school to be more challenging than work because the workload never ends. I take it home at the end of the day, I do it on weekends, I even study over some holidays. When I leave the office I work at, my work is pretty much done. When I leave class, I’ve just begun. Classes are starting for me today and I normally put in a 50+ hour week between them, my job, my thesis, and everything else. So yeah, I laugh in the face of people who tell me that having a full-time job is more difficult than school. Maybe they slacked off in college, but that just isn’t true for me.
~Amanda
I agree with the people who say it’s hard both ways.
I don’t find my job difficult AT ALL. And it’s definitely not something that I go home and stress about, but the things that go ALONG with working full time are what stress me out. Bills, payments, negotiations, raises, work performance, all those things that I have to work for and prove…it isn’t cut and dry, no this is the one answer and everybody has to acheive it.
HOWEVER, School is SO time consuming – though I would give EVERYTHING up to go back to it!! I love that constant pressure (to a point – I am an adrenaline junkie) and I love using your brain EVERY day (instead of feeling like a mindless zombie). And your hard work is rewarded by good grades (whereas promotions/raises at work come usually once a year)…School just suited my personality.
And oddly, I found the husband and I went out more and had more fun when we were students. We were broke, but we always had a good time!!!
School = much harder than full time work, no doubt.
Every time I think of going back to school (which I’m really excited about doing), I also think about how much work and stress it will be. But it’s all for a good reason in the end. Your future!
For all of you who say “at least work doesn’t follow you home” – you better not ever work in public relations or be a teacher or a doctor or any other profession where your work DOES follow you home. I sometimes have to finish powerpoint presentations for clients, or you have to go to events, or conference over the weekend and you lose your evenings and free time with your friends. My mom is a teacher, and she has to do all her grading and prep on the weekends because during the school day? She’s teaching! And doctor’s I know have to be on call days at a time, so they *might* have to work or might not, you never know. My dad works in sales for his company and he has to travel days at a time. It may not be “hard” but it sure cuts into your life! And it’s unpredictable!
I think the reason we think it’s easy is because we’re young and we don’t have a lot of responsibility when we’re junior whatevers. But wait until you’re older and are a VP or an executive. You’ll be working a lot more than you probably think now.
But yes, school sucked and took up a lot of time and I don’t want to go back to school either.
Being at school is *so much* harder! There’s always something you could be doing. Although, I think now with everyone so wired, there’s more likelihood of work creeping into home.
I enjoyed college. I would go back tomorrow. That being said I have not had a full-time job EVER and I have a degree. Wooohoooooooo. Not. I enjoyed college because I did soo much stuff and was always busy and there was a purpose. Now I sit on the couch every day and feel like the biggest loser of the world. One of my faovrite semesters and busiest was my last full semester of classes before my internship. I had 20 credit hours and worked two jobs ( had to quit the third cuz of the class schedule ) and planned my wedding. I honestly loved going to class. And would go back in a minute.
Oh, this is a tough one to answer.
I think for some it may depend on what their job is? I know that sounds odd but somedays my job is easy, others it’s crazy stressful/aggravating and I have to work 10 hour days which makes me want to go crazy. Some days I’m only doing one thing, others I’m juggling five different projects. Did I think school was tough? There were times where I did, that’s for sure. Especially when I had a boyfriend, had to pick up the kids I was nanny-ing for and wanted to have some girl time, too. I LOVED school. I don’t really love work. Maybe it’s because work’s hours start at 8am no matter what all the time and in school there was some flex.
Working full-time & going to school? Well, that just plan sucks and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
I wouldn’t ever tell someone that going to school wasn’t hard though, because really it’s all relative to what our experience was like/the major/time/place and etc.
I would say that in my job now, I am as stressful and busy as I was in college. this is partly because I am doing much the same thing. In college I studied journalism and wrote/edited for the weekly school paper. Now, I just write for my community weekly newspaper and get paid to do it. But I always have tons of meetings to go to (kind of like classes?), staff reports to read, people to call/interview, articles to write… and since I work at home, I don’t get away from it. I would like to have a job where you can leave work, come home, destress and not worry about work until you go in the next morning, like other commenters have said. But that just doesn’t happen for me. I stay up late and wake up early writing stories. It seems 24/7 to me sometimes and it can wear me down. so while school was definitely tough (though I slacked off a bit sometimes because I was so consumed by the school paper), my work life is just as tough if not tougher. especially when it is compounded by all the “real world” things you have to deal with after graduation, like paying the bills.
anyhoo, I hope you do enjoy your last year of school because no matter how stressed out I was in college, I really did love it and I miss it often. So take it all in!
I have to say that working full time is harder than school was. But my program was much different than yours. I have a degree in Math so wrote VERY few papers. Mostly I took tests and handed in assignments, and there was only so much studying you could do – you either understood the concepts and applied them, or you didn’t. So in hindsight, I didn’t study as hard as others did. But I worked 2-3 jobs at a time that amounted to about 35 hours of work/week.
But working full time is draining in a different way. I get up much earlier than I did in college. And working full time & doing grad school in the evenings was really, really, really tough.
So now that I am back to ‘just’ working, I feel like life is a bit of a walk in the park. But, ahem, I’m also on a 2 week vacay right now so I think everything seems rosey & wonderful. Once I start my new job, I think I”ll be pretty stressed.
But it is different for everyone. So you might find that just working is so much easier than your current schedule.
Work is definitly harder. but not why you think. Work also brings the inclusion of other responsibilities and debts like a mortgage and paying back those school loans. then after graduating college most people end up married with kids and more responsibilities than they could have imagined as a college student.
i’m so scared right now i’ve crapped my pants twice today (not really). but i did take a new job yesterday, and today quit my job i’ve had for the last 2 years. the decision to drop a course was never that difficult. in college you follow a curriculum and the next move or next semesters courseload was laid out for you, or at least you could choose your own pattern. what makes working so much harder is having nothing laid out for you like that. what if this new company doesn’t like my work as much as the old one did? what if i hate everyone in the new office?
if you fail out of a course or even a semester you just try again next term. but if you fail out of a job then i can’t put food on the table for my kids. that’s why working life is harder. enjoy the time in college amber, most think it’s the best times of their lives. heck, even i took 5 years to get out i liked it so much.
This is a hard question. In all truth, for me- school was easier. I had MUCH more free time on my hands, even though it was for studying- it was much more flexible time. I did have a part time job but I worked about 8 hours per week. When I did student teaching, things were hard but for the most part taking classes was easier than working full time. HOWEVER, now that I am finally JUST working (for the past 3 years I have been working full time and getting my masters) I definitely LIKE just working better. I have less time, but for the most part my free time is mine alone and not occupied by studying, writing papers etc. Sure I have to plan occasionally and I always have some work to do at home, but for the most part it’s not that NEVER finished feeling you get as a student. If I had a pick, I’d rather work- it’s more interesting and feels more like there is a point to my day- but most days being a student was easier for me. It’s going to depend what your student life is like and what job you take though- being a kindergarten teacher is not the average job haha.
I think part of it is when you’re out of college and you’re looking back the main thing I remember is all the good times I had hanging out and socializing with my friends. Yes, I remember studying for 3 tests I had the next day and staying up all night writing a research paper, but now I look back on those things with amusement. In a way it was almost fun staying up all night with my classmates as well all tried to write the paper we’d been working on all night. I think its a matter of perspective. I would easily go back and repeat college, mainly for all the good times, and wouldn’t really think about all the work that’d be involved with it.
When I read this post yesterday, I started to fire off a quick comment, but then I decided I should take the time to write something helpful and constructive… looks like you’ve had plenty of those. I apologize if I re-state what someone else has said.
I remember being soooooooo stressed out in college. Like you, I worked myself to the bone with classes, a part-time job, extra-curricular activities, etc. All for the goal of getting a “good job” after I graduated.
And I got a good job. At least a decent one. And you know what? I’d love to go back to school. It’s not quite the carefree, stress-free life people pretend to remember, but at least it has a definite beginning, middle, and end.
Work, on the other hand, is never “over.” Sure you get new projects and can switch companies, industries, etc. but there’s really no ‘end’ in sight.
Plus, I REALLY missed the peer-to-peer part of being in school. When I started my first job, EVERYONE was drastically older than me, married, with children. The idea of just bumping into someone my own age and who shared my interests was completely gone. In fact, I still miss that.
So, yeah, they’re both HARD…. just in different ways. But enjoy school while you’re there. And, honestly, don’t beat yourself up just to try to beef up your resume. It’s really, really, really not worth it!
I agree with a lot of answers, and I don’t think mine is really profound or anything or that I’m saying anything new, but:
Work – You HAVE to be there.
School – Your choice to do the work.
That is where my stress is. I am a full time student and I work full-time. They both stress me the hell out. But it’s all relative, right? I am going to school to get a better job, to be compensated better for my stress. Being stressed out isn’t as bad if I’m getting paid good money to be that way! Holla!
I am currently a med school student and I know medical school has to be harder than working full time. The sleepless nights, the hours upon hours in the cadaver lab and studying for 70 hours a week won’t compare to the 40 hour work week…it just has to be easier. At least I hope
It IS hard!! I feel bad because really, I only have 2 classes… total: 6 hours. And that’s it!! But I still do find it hard and really busy and I keep praying that I’ll wake up and 1 day will suddenly be equal to 72 hours!!! lol!
Repeating buttttt it really does depend on the job. I’m constantly worrying about the kids I teach and trying to plan/research or design new innovative ways to teach them/grade/etc. at home at night. It really just depends on the job.
AMEN! I agree 100%. I did a full time internship over the summer but it was so much more relaxing to be able to get in at 9, leave at 5 and have the rest of the evening free–no homework, no paper writing, no club meetings, just whatever I wanted to fill my time with. It depends a great deal on your job–doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc. put in LOTS of overtime. Janitors, hairstylists and others in the service industry are generally on their feet all day. But if your job consists mostly of basic office work, it’s a CAKEWALK compared to college.
Oh my goodness! I feel the exact same way… I find that work can be easier than school because (usually) once work is over, its over. You can come home and do whatever you want and not have to worry about doing another 3-4 more hours of “work” once you get home. When your in school, It is a constant thing. You always have to be doing homework and readings to keep up and you go to bed thinking about how exhausted you are and then you have to wake up the next morning and do it all over again! Work can be hard.. But in my mind, it is much easier than school.
I LOVED working fulltime! I made decent money and got to tune out when I came home from work. No assignments. No reading. No studying.
But assuming I get a career related job after graduation, I don’t think it’ll be that easy – I assume there’d be some long days, and a lot of after hours spent working on stuff in my own time and thinking up ideas and ways to contribute to the team and push ahead.
School IS hard because like you said, it’s not just those hours in class… it’s all the extra bits that make it as hellish as it can be. I completely agree with your point about having a Bachelor’s as a testimate to your ability to handle stressful situations moreso than credentials.