Working? during full time ANP program

[hmboykin76]

Hey everyone! I am hoping to find a little (or a lot) of advice here. I am starting the ANP program at UNC Chapel Hill in just a few weeks...full time. I am curious if anyone can advise me as to the appropriate amount of work hours to schedule myself for. I know it is going to be intense, as I already have homework given to me to have done before the first day of class. Just trying to get an idea....would like to hear from anyone who is doing it now or has some wonderful hindsight to share. Thanks!

[BCgradnurse, MSN, RN, NP]

Hi,

I just finished my first year of a pretty intense (at least I think) full time Master's Entry program. I was able to work approximately 20 hours a week in a busy hospital lab. it was tough, but i did it, and made excellent grades. It made for some very long days when I had to start a clinical at 7, and then go right to work til 11 PM, and then to clinical the next day at 7. That being said, I have decided to cut my hours for year 2, and work only Friday evenings and every other weekend. Most of the people in my prgram don't work, but I have 2 kids that eat an awful lot, so there's no choice!!:) So it can be done, but I would try to keep it weekends as much as possible.

Good luck!

[carachel2]

You may very well be able to work about 10-20 hours per week your first semester and even your second. It gets very hard to do once your clinical hours start to kick in. Just be prepared to adjust along the way and not be hard on yourself if you can't do it. If you have kids, I wouldn't even think about doing it. Just think of school as your full-time job for the next few years.