Going back to school with a full-time job

Hello, friends!

I hope you are doing well and enjoying these lovely final days of summer. I am going to be registering for classes soon for my doctorate in letters at Drew University. I was so happy to know that there is a distance-learning option since I live about an hour and some away from the university. I'm a high school English teacher, and I finish my work day at about 3:00 PM, and my university classes start at 5:00 or 7:00 PM.

Do you ever feel worried about balancing school and work? Is it really hard to go back to school after I've been away from grad school for almost ten years? Any words of wisdom would be wonderful. I'd love to hear your experiences!

 

Congratulations on your decision to return. First, will it be hard? It's not easy, it's a doctoral program, but it's doable. Designed for adult learners. But in the end. it will absolutely be worth it. Will you find balance? If that's a concern, you many not want to do this. How much do you want it? Personal benefits? Salary increase? What it is worth? I had a young woman last semester with 3 children, and a husband deployed now for 9 months. Full time student and finds a way. You will too! Best wishes for great success!

 

Thank you so much! I have wanted my doctorate for so long. I love teaching literature, and I would love to open more doors for myself and learn more so I can better service my students. I think I just need to find balance.

 

I'm a small business owner who treated my PhD studies as a part-time job. I utilized the 8-8-8 rule to maintain balance

 

I did all my education, including two doctorates, while working full-time.

At the doctoral level, there is a question of "embeddedness" regarding your thesis/dissertation/project. Fully embedded projects are those that are carried out as a part of your job. This is very rare. Partially embedded projects are those that are related to your work, but are still done outside of your normal duties. More common. Unembedded projects are the most common of all. These are done separate from your work and are the hardest to pull off. You have to do them on your own time, with your own resources, and must find a researchable problem outside of your work.

In both of my degrees, the dissertation (for the PhD) and thesis (for the Doctor of Social Science) were unembedded. In the former, I had more than 1,000 HR professionals participate in an experiment to assess the acceptability of degrees from various types of schools based on their accreditation status. In the latter, I interviewed 20 chief learning officers to develop a grounded theory on the CLO phenomenon. Neither of these projects had anything to do with my jobs at the time.

If I ever do another degree, it will conclude with research consistent with my work and for which I am being paid. Bet on it.

 

Your research sounds so wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing your experience with me. I am feeling excited. I've been going back and forth on whether I should go back to school, but my heart keeps telling me that I should go for it. Drew has this wonderful program where I can specialize in literature and writing. I feel like it will help me become a better teacher and scholar. Fingers crossed!

 

As a coach, I would ask you to consider not the inputs--time, money, stress, opportunity costs, etc.--but instead this: what outcome do you wish to achieve? Only then can you consider this (or other alternatives) effectively.

For me, ego was a huge part of it. (Not in a good way.) I didn't go to high school for very long and I put the PhD thing out there as an over-compensating goal. But I never had a vision of why I would want such a thing. I think that's why I let my personal and professional lives get in the way of finishing it--I kept setting it aside to deal with other priorities. I got it done eventually, but I never answered that question. Until....

I considered going back to school. When I entered the University of Leicester, I had a very clear goal: I wanted to write a grounded theory about the chief learning officer and use the degree to climb atop the professional AND academic knowledge of my field, human resource development. I was driven, focused, capable, and had all the means I would require. And it was STILL damn hard.

Now I'm interested in field testing my theory about purposeful leadership development to the executive level. I've already articulated it in a self-published book, so I'd like to test the idea to see if I'm right. (Like all good theories, it's based on the theories of others.)

Another possibility: I have 7 bankers' boxes full of school materials from the 70's through the 90's. Brochures, advertising, letters, etc., all of it from nontraditional schools and diploma mills from those days. I'm thinking about doing a history of the rise of DL, using those materials (and other sources). I haven't examined them yet, having inherited them from a colleague.

Or I'll just work on getting my handicap from a 6 back down to a 3. It's hard to say.

 

Rich is spot on. I once had a man come to me for similar advice. I want to go back to school, but I'm too old. He indicated it was decade on quest. My question to him.......in 10 years, if you go back, what age will you be? If you go back, you'll be the same age, but with your doctorate! He just enrolled in and EdD program at age 62, and still working. Outcomes should be the focus!

 

Thank you so much, my friend! I think I’m gonna go for it. I will register for one class since my job is a bit hectic right now. I’m teaching six classes, but I think one course at Drew would be doable.