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Ask HN: What to consider when deciding whether to go back to school?

by jamesbrewer on 5/6/12, 7:13 AM with 8 comments

I've never been a great student and I'm not sure that I want to go back to school in the Fall. I've done two years at a university and I just don't think it's for me.

On Monday I will start a new full time job that could allow me to make a living while simultaneously bettering myself as a programmer. Assuming everything works out, I will have to decide in 3 months whether I want to go back to school. Because of the situation I'm in, I would have to work full time while taking a full course load, leaving virtually no time for programming.

This is obviously a big decision and I was hoping the lovely folks here at HN could shed some light on what I should consider before choosing.

  • by stephengillie on 5/6/12, 9:50 AM

    How is your life different now than it was during your 2 years at university? How long ago were those 2 years - a couple years ago, or more than a decade?

    Most universities like to talk about the rule-of-thumb of 2 hours study per hour of instruction. Full course loads are 12-18 hours of instruction per week in this part of the world, so the university would like you to spend 24-36 hours per week studying. In reality, study time may be 30-90 minutes usually, and 2-3 hours once or twice per quarter; this means 6-18 hours of study most weeks, and 24-54 hours during finals.

    To break it down:

    Sleeping - 56 hours

    Working - 40 hours

    Instruction - 15 hours

    Study - 15 hours

    Transportation - 20 hours (1 hour to work and 1 hour to return home, 1 hour to and 1 hour from university, including buffer for leaving late or being stuck in traffic * 5 days a week)

    -----------------------

    Total - 146 hours

    1 week - 168 hours

    Surplus - 22 hours

    During finals, you would have no time. Even people who really enjoy college find a schedule like this almost impossible to keep.

  • by StevenRayOrr on 5/6/12, 9:20 AM

    It certainly is possible to work full time and school full time, although I have not meet many people who are able to do both well. It requires a great deal of commitment and drive to be an excellent employee while being an excellent student -- particularly for two entire years, minimum, while finishing your degree. It is exhausting and puts a strain on you in other ways, not just having to give up on your free time to program.

    If your options are "work full time with the freedom to do what you want to do" and "work full time, take a full course load, and have have no free time", it seems a pretty easy decision to me. Particularly because you actually seem excited abut the job and not at all excited about the prospect of more schooling.

    Good luck choosing.

  • by res on 5/6/12, 8:43 AM

    Then you should probably ask them :)