Working while in High school

[Zanarkin]

Recently i have been thinking on applying for a Part-Time job at UPS. It would be five hours during the evening-Night (5-10). Now the thing is I wanted to know if it would affect my grades too much. I'm wondering if a 5 hour part time job during high school would take too much energy and time that it would make my grades fall. Now i'm new at this job stuff and my schedule is rather heavy i would think.

Here are my classes for the 2 semesters (not the exact schedule cause i forgot :/).

Semester 1:

English 12

Bio 12

Physics 11

Advance functions

Semester 2:

Religion (philosphy)

Chemistry 12

Phsysics 12

IIRC something to do with calculus.

These classes are Academic classes (according to a quick search which lead to a Yahoo answer page, they seem to be the same as AP classes).

It seems like a pretty tough schedule and classes, and i was wondering if it would be too hard for me to maintain my grade up. I like to keep them at 90+ (mostly for sciences and math, english and religion can be lower (around 80)).

Tl;dr: do you guys think its a good idea to have a job during high school or is it too time consuming and it would result in grades dropping by alot?

Edited August 26, 2011 by SlayerX

[I.M. Gei]

It should be fine as long as you know how to manage your time, and if you do manage to pull off high grades with a job, it'll show colleges that you're responsible and competent and thus, you'll likely have an edge on other applicants.

[Celice]

Even the "higher level" courses at high school don't seem to really be higher courses. They just lay work on you differently. It is a bit better than basic high school courses however. The problem is, for most of the schools, students are given huge wakes of busy work to finish and turn in--this mostly helps the school look good, not make sure you get your education straight. So if you're going to mark out five hours of actual labor-work, you still need to put in the busy-work hours your school demands of you. It's like a bad internship you have no say in.

You should ask yourself if it would really be worth it to lose a lot of your old personal time in exchange for making money. Working that late also might be a bad option for you.

Edited August 26, 2011 by Celice

[eclipse]

Depends on two things:

1. How many evenings a week is this?

2. Are you in any other extracurricular activities?

You should be able to sort the answer out by yourself.

[Zanarkin]

Depends on two things:

1. How many evenings a week is this?

2. Are you in any other extracurricular activities?

You should be able to sort the answer out by yourself.

1. its the 5 days iirc.

2. 0

I could, and i want to experiment upon it, but i wanted to hear other people's opinion as well.

[eclipse]

It kinda seems like an after school sport, but without some of the other BS that comes with it (like trying to make weight in wrestling, for example). When in doubt, give it a shot, and if you notice that your schoolwork's falling behind, tell your boss to cut your hours down.

[Original Alear]

I got through high school and got into a "highly competitive" liberal arts school with a substantial scholarship without doing any work. What I mean is, I only occasionally did homework outside of school. And this was taking classes like AP biology, US and world history, language and composition etc and scoring 3-5s on all those exams. (5 on world history and language and composition IIRC). There's my faggot filled boasting out of the way. In other words, I don't know that I couldn't have done it while also having other stuff to do in the meantime, since most of the time outside of school was spent gaming or reading.

I think you should focus on your studies if 1: your family doesn't need the income and 2: you don't need the income. There are also extracurriculars you might be able to do like a fed challenge or debate team that would make you look shinier than a job, at least potentially. Of course, it might not matter unless you are doing fed challenge at a school that has a shiny fed challenge team (tending towards highly placed finishes in regional tournaments).

I LIVE THE LIFE I LOVE

AND I LOVE THE LIFE I LIVE

[Zenester]

As long as you can manage your time and not have school and work schedules clash, you should be fine. Perhaps you should even do some of your school work during the break times at school or break time at work as well?

If you have good work ethics and won't let a hint of procrastination overpower you, you should be fine. But you should also remember to watch your limits. If things are getting difficult, you may want to talk to your employer or boss about it and re-arrange some things.

That's my opinion.

[shroudening]

If you are taking AP-equivalent courses, then you are taking college level classes. Keep that in mind.

If "Academic" means honors, not AP, then you're most likely fine... especially if you're only taking 4 classes per semester.

Edited August 30, 2011 by 55caasi

[Deliriyum]

I'm in the same boat. I'm going to be a junior and NEED a job to pay for insurance, gas, and spend money on random shit.

[Zanarkin]

If you are taking AP-equivalent courses, then you are taking college level classes. Keep that in mind.

If "Academic" means honors, not AP, then you're most likely fine... especially if you're only taking 4 classes per semester.

I actually have no idea whether it is or not.... I doubt it is, some google search seems to indicate its similar... but i don't think so. I think its more closely related to honors.

I think you should focus on your studies if 1: your family doesn't need the income and 2: you don't need the income. There are also extracurriculars you might be able to do like a fed challenge or debate team that would make you look shinier than a job, at least potentially. Of course, it might not matter unless you are doing fed challenge at a school that has a shiny fed challenge team (tending towards highly placed finishes in regional tournaments).

Well i don't need it rigth now, but i'd like to have some for college, seeing as i think at least some of the money will have to come from me.

[Celice]

but i'd like to have some for college, seeing as i think at least some of the money will have to come from me.

If you're in the U.S. (and haven't done so yet) fill out the FAFSA and find out. Make sure you go to the actual site, and not one trying to get your information. If your EFC is too high, remember that you can explain your situation if your parents have no influence in your income (unless you're maried/over 24/deceased parents I think legally your parents' income is tied to yours regardless). You can appeal--the process isn't unbiased however and so sometimes making a pity story helps out, from what I remember working at my colleges financial aid office. Each school does it differently.

Also, some states have their own forms of aid. California has both the CAL Grant(s) and the BOG fee waivers which help out. If you're going to a community college first and then transferring (which there's nothing wrong, and it's often incredibly affordable), and you're poor, you can essentially live off the PELL and CAL grants combined, covering basic rent and utilities. If you have financial obligations like insurance or a family, it's not really enough though unless your significant other also collects grants while attending The BOG would also cover most of your class fees, if you're at an affordable community college. This is California though--you'd have to check out your own state/area to see if there's similar aid around. The PELL grant is national however.

[Zanarkin]

I'm in Canada, although the help for schooling here is great i think. Except you have to pay all money borrowed after school, but i shouldn't use much anyway seeing as i'm planning on living at home... I think i'll do alright even if i don't get a job. I have applied for the UPS job, but i don't think i'll get it. If i don't get it, i won't pursue other jobs. If i do, however, thats great and what not, but i won't kill my grades just to keep it.

[Strawman]

I'd say take a little time to get used to your schedule and your workload then if you think you can handle it get a job. That way you know what you're working with.

Though this is probably late and not helpful anymore.

[Balcerzak]

I would recommend that you absolutely not work during school. It's a nightmare, and not worth it in my experiences.

[Death']

unless you're in desperate need for money, I'd say no.

I mean the best part about high school is locking yourself up in your room after class and lay there doing nothing. at least that was my idea of a good time. 8)

[Zanarkin]

unless you're in desperate need for money, I'd say no.

I mean the best part about high school is locking yourself up in your room after class and lay there doing nothing. at least that was my idea of a good time. 8)

I agree somewhat with you, although i lock up in my house not my room.

Anywho now that this topic has been revived i have actually decided not to take a job. School is getting extremely heavy, and my procrastination while it has improved somewhat is still very bad. In fact i'm procrastinating right now, but anyways, with a job i would have no time at all. In fact, i'm behind on my math homework because I had 2 test this week, and studying for it seemed to take my whole night (due to my unprecise time distribution [along with Cash Cab and Big bang theory and the occasional stops for how i met your mother :3])... So yeah no job because i just would have no time at all, and i'd like to be able to go to extra help sessions in case i ever need it (which is somewhat likely seeing how my math class is going right now, lets hope everyhing gets better with the homework).

Thanks to all the suggestions i appreciate it.

Edited October 15, 2011 by SlayerX

[Defeatist Elitist]

Nooooo I was too late. I'd actually really suggest you reconsider. I worked a part time job from the age of 14, and it never negatively affected my grades in High school. I definitely think it helped me in a lot of ways, but the money alone makes it pretty much worth it.

[dondon151]

Anywhere you apply to after high school will generally not consider an entry-level part time job important. If anything, put your time into extracurricular activities (second priority to schoolwork, of course).

[Tangerine]

First of all, what exactly do you even plan on doing? Do you have a specific job in mind you want to be trained for? College or University? Things are different in Canada and I'm not sure many of the posters here know that the advice they are giving you may not apply depending on your plans.

Edited October 16, 2011 by Tangerine

[Zanarkin]

I'm planning on going to university. Go into something in physics.

[Tangerine]

So what's your desired job path ? You generally don't go into something like Physics thinking "eh, I'll find something along the way", haha.

Edited October 16, 2011 by Tangerine

[Zanarkin]

So what's your desired job path ? You generally don't go into something like Physics thinking "eh, I'll find something along the way", haha.

Astronomy, maybe astrophysics.

[Defeatist Elitist]

Tangerine reminded me that you live in Canada. Yeah, in that case I would say you definitely should try to get a job. While curriculum does change between provinces, from what I've experienced it's about as difficult all around. I highly doubt your marks will suffer at all if you take on a job, though I guess if you really study a lot in order to get the marks you get then it could hurt you, but again, since it's high school, I doubt you have to. I would argue that a lot of the benefits of getting a part time job do not depend on what you intend to do after high school, though a part time job is certainly far more useful if you plan to go to university (considering you'll need a lot of money and this provides some of it).

[Zanarkin]

I find that when i don't do my homework (it isn't checked so its not for marks) i do worst in school. Having a job would just leave me with little time.