How tough is it to balance work, grad school and family?

I'm planning to being a master's degree this fall in communications, and I was wondering if it's advantageous to work full-time (or even part-time) while I'm in grad school or to concentrate more on grad school and just go to grad school full time instead. I'm married and have a newborn child as well, so I would need to balance family too. What is the workload like?|||It depends how quickly you need to qualify and get back to the workplace. From my experience, I prefer to have time for my family and life, so I work part time and study part time. It will take a bit longer to complete my degree, but I have good quality of life in the meantime. I would start off with just one or two classes and see how well you cope - you can always load up in the next semester if it's more than manageable.





Good luck!|||It's hard...but it can be done.





I survived with a full time job...full time school...





The workload will get you to your computer in between


"baby sleeps", and studyng is done before work, on work breaks, and in between other baby naps.





Good luck...you can do it!!.|||My husband went to the full-time MBA program at Wake Forest, and the first year was *INSANE*. The second year was still crazy, but not nearly as bad... I think they try to weed out the less driven candidates.





My brother-in-law is currently working full-time and enrolled in an executive MBA program. Betwixt the two, his wife never, ever sees him; all his non-working/school hours are spent with his class groups on labor-intensive projects or studying for exams.





Unless you want to miss out on much of your child's first two years, I would forego the job for now if you can.|||First good luck, IF you can keep from working then do, even if this means taking out loans. When I was working on my graduate degree, I was doing my psych internship, my research fellowship, my med certificate, and trying to work!!! Eventually I had to JUST concentrate on school, after all that is why you are there. So good luck!