I'm working while doing my master's
Plan a realistic study load around paid work, use your employer's support and protect time for your degree.
In short
Start here, today. Write down your fixed weekly commitments: work hours, commuting, caring, classes and sleep. Count the hours that are left, then put three realistic study blocks for next week in your calendar, at times you're least likely to be interrupted. This takes about 20 minutes.
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Plan at your real pace
Base your course load on the hours you actually have, not the hours a full-time student has. If your program allows it, taking one fewer course in a busy season at work is better than falling behind in three. Check how part-time status affects fees, funding and time limits before you change it.
Talk to your employer
Prospects advises open, honest conversations with your employer and your course leader before you start. Ask about flexible hours, leave around exams or deadlines, and whether your employer supports tuition for relevant study. Frame the request around what the organization gains from your new skills.
Fix your study times
Choose regular slots, such as two weekday evenings and one weekend morning, and plan them each week in your Weekly Plan as firmly as work meetings. Use short gaps, like a commute or lunch break, for reading and planning, and save longer blocks for writing and problem sets. At the start of each term, compare your busiest weeks at work with your assignment deadlines.
Stay connected to your program
Join at least one thing that brings you into contact with classmates: a study group, an online chat or a writing session. Goodall and Keyworth found that peer networks were what part-time students valued most. Classmates also pass on news about deadlines and opportunities you might otherwise miss.
Ask for extensions early, not late
If a work crisis is about to collide with a deadline, contact your instructor as soon as you see it coming, explain briefly and suggest a new date. A request made a week ahead lands very differently from one sent the night before. Keep a record of what was agreed.
Watch your energy, not just your hours
Studying after a full working day is tiring in a way a timetable doesn't show. Keep at least one evening a week free of both work and study, and notice if you're regularly sleeping badly or getting ill. When everything collides at once, the 15-Minute Reset can help you choose the one thing to do next.
Words you can use
Is this you? Signs to look for
- You study in the evenings and at weekends, and there's never enough of either.
- Work deadlines keep winning over assignment deadlines.
- You're asking for extensions more often than you'd like.
- You rarely see classmates outside class and feel a step removed from your program.
Why this happens
Many master's students work, whether part time to pay the bills or full time while studying part time. The arithmetic is tight. Prospects, the UK graduate careers website, suggests that a part-time master's needs about 20 hours of study a week and takes at least two years, while most full-time jobs expect 35 to 40 hours. Add commuting, family and sleep, and there's very little room left.
The difficulty isn't only hours. Paid work comes with a manager and immediate consequences, while study deadlines feel further away and easier to move, so work usually wins. Prospects also points to the quieter costs of part-time study: less access to campus events, staff and services, and less time to get to know classmates.
People do make it work, and their strategies are fairly consistent. In a study of part-time master's students who were also full-time teachers, Goodall and Keyworth found that students managed mainly through time management, personal organization and rewarding themselves, and that what they valued most was working and talking with fellow students.
Worth a look (5)
- Working while studying part time, ProspectsPractical advice on combining work with part-time postgraduate study, including hours, employer support, and pros and cons.
- “The balancing act: combining higher level study with work and family life”, Goodall and Keyworth, Online Educational Research Journal (2016)A study of how part-time master's students balanced study with full-time work and family life.
- Shut Up & Write!Free writing sessions, online and in person in over 80 countries, where you write quietly alongside others for a set time. It's a gentle push when you keep putting off your thesis.
- FocusmateBook a short video session with another person, say what you'll work on, then work quietly side by side. The free plan gives you three sessions a week.
- Time managementVitae's guide to managing research time, with simple techniques like logging your hours, separating urgent from important, and working back from deadlines.
When to bring someone in
Talk to your graduate coordinator before you change your study load, since part-time status can affect fees, funding, time limits and, for international students, immigration status. If you're falling behind in a course, speak to the instructor early. If work and study leave you exhausted or anxious for weeks at a time, contact your counselling service or your employer's assistance program.
Find the right person, or talk to Ify