If you worked while in school, what did you do?

whipping girl in 07, RN · Mar 5, 2003

I had several jobs during my years in college:

waitressing, "old lady" sitter (lots of study time), CNA (for a summer, hated it), and part-time office assistant on campus (occasional study time).

When I returned to school after taking off a couple of years to stay home with my baby, I was fortunate enough to not HAVE to work, so I worked the dinky on-campus job to fill the hours that I'd have as breaks at school (not big on going to the library for a couple of hours in the middle of the day to study) and make a little extra spending money (and trust me, it was a LITTLE...I don't think I ever deposited a check, always just cashed it :chuckle ).

Love-A-Nurse · Mar 5, 2003

didn't work while in lpn school and on and off while i am in rn school.

my hat is off to all of you who did work and go to school.

researchrabbit · Mar 6, 2003

I worked two jobs. I was a research assistant 32 hours a week. In addition, I assisted a quadriplegic gentleman 2 mornings a week. PLUS in my "free time" I was a normal control for gastric studies. Still don't know how I did it!

zambezi, BSN, RN · Mar 6, 2003

i worked as a clinical coordinator for clinical drug trials...very interesting, though lots of paperwork...it was in a neuro clinic and the neurologist was good about having me come and observe interesting patients...and i was able to do some traveling also...it was relatively easy to work it around my school schedule....also worked at a tennis club on the weekends...got paid for doing homework...

allnurses Guide · Mar 6, 2003

I worked the summer between my first and second year of nursing school only, as a waitress at a small local mexican restaurant. I didn't work during school. My husband worked and I'd been a stay-at-home mom since my kids were born and we were already used to being poor. :-)

Alot of people recommended that I get my CNA during the summer before school started. A good friend who has been a nurse for 30 years said "take the summer off, enjoy your family, kick back and relax because you are about to start the most stressful time of your life". I took her advice and never regretted it.

I've been a nurse for 4 years . . started when my kids were still in elementary school and now one is in college and one is a Senior in high school . .. . . .time passes too too fast and those years are precious.

I do alot of talking with high school girls . . .. get your education first and FORGET about romance (hormones). :-)

NURS4GOD · Mar 6, 2003

I worked as a CNA in a small rural hospital. When they find out that you are in nursing school, you get to step in on all the cool stuff like births, procedures, even surgeries at times!! It was INVALUABLE experience. Helped me tons once I got further into school.

PsychoRN · Mar 6, 2003

I worked nights as a corrections officer in a juvenile detention.

AHarri66, BSN, RN · Mar 6, 2003

I started out working full-time for the Postal Service in a processing and distribution plant 5p to 1-3a, but was only getting 4 hours sleep a night and never saw my older two kids, so....started working as a home health aide; then I moved and started working part-time as a pharmacy tech at a retail drug store. Then I had my last child, and didn't work until after graduation.

Wheeew! I'm glad that's over with.

RedKat · Mar 6, 2003

OMG you guys, how did you manage to find time to work while you were in school?!! I'm in the planning stages of a career change into nursing, and everyone keeps telling me that the program I'm going to take at the local college (ADN program) is amazingly rigorous and I will have to spend every waking moment studying. So my problem is trying to figure out how to pay the bills while I'm in school, if I can't work. I will take out student loans to cover the cost of school, but how to you pay all your bills meanwhile? Ugh! Will I be able to hold a job in addition to school, or not? I don't want it to affect my grades.

When I sit down & go thru our bills & income, I find that by the time I'm in school, we will have several bills paid off, so I can afford to bring home less $ each week than I do now (working full time)... but will still have to come up with approx. $250/week total to add to hubby's income in order to cover all our remaining bills. Is this going to be impossible for me??? Are there any gov't programs or anything to help out in this type of situation?

I'm stressing BAD over this!!!

AHarri66, BSN, RN · Mar 6, 2003

Mastiff, I can relate!

When I started school (also ADN program) I was single with 6 year-old twins. I had a h*ll of a time with babysitting, bill-paying, all that. My instructor at the time was concerned about my health and preparedness--I'd show up for clinical all but dead on my feet--and said "you either want to be a nurse, or a postal worker." Blunt, but effective. I liked the money (and needed it desperately) but I wanted to be a nurse. I quit the USPS, and focused on school. I met my husband-to-be at this time, and he took over some of the babysitting duties, and helped financially, even though he was still in school and working a low-paying job. We combined efforts, and found that we could get by with me working weekends only, and eating a lot of macaroni & cheese, LOL!

It was rough, especially since we decided to get married in the midst of all that. Matter of fact, we're still paying off bills from that time period. We relied on credit cards a lot, too, which isn't the greatest option, but we had little choice.

Look into working weekends, and if you can swing it, nights. The pay differential in night and w/e jobs is usually better, so your total take-home pay is higher. We divided study-time up, so that we each had time for school, and we each spent time with the kids. I also worked part-time evenings--the hours for the drug store job I mentioned were 4p-8p, 4 nights per week (including every other weekend). That way I had a few hours at night to study, as well. A lot of evening home health jobs allow time for study too, once clients are ready for bed.

It is stressful, and can mean a drastic change in your standard of living, but IMO it's worth it. OH yeah, a common complaint with my fellow students and myself was regarding housework. Our motto: The mess will still be there when we're done, but this opportunity might not be.

Good luck!

Angela

Shell7280 · Mar 6, 2003

I worked as a nurse extern on a GYN/URO floor through most of my school. It was only $9/Hr...but it is where I learned confidence and time management, etc. I'm glad I had that experience.

maggie7 · Mar 6, 2003

I worked as a Home Health Aide and pretty much set my own hours. Before classes for some clients who liked to get up early and after classes sometimes into early evenings. I used to have post-its all over my car, and the visors, so when I went from house to house and stopped for lights or in traffic, used the time to study. I only made $5.70/hr but amazingly was able to make the ends meet. Also small amount of student loans.