A 4-Step Survival Guide to Balancing Work and Grad School

Being a fulltime grad student and employee at the same time is no easy feat. By choice or not, some of us are pursuing this ambitious and intense approach for the year ahead. The Muse - a dynamic website offering career resources and advice, job opportunities, and a peek behind the scenes into places to work and career paths to explore - also has it's fair share of resources for graduate students. In their post 'Balancing Work and Grad School, Your 4-Step Survival Guide', they say 'Just think G.R.A.D.: Get prepared, research financial options, add some strategy, and don’t forget yourself'. Getting prepared includes talking with your boss before the school year begins, explaining how your degree will help you be a better employee. The more your degree benefits the company, the more flexible your boss is likely to be with your schedule. Adding some strategy to the projects and research you carry out as a grad student can be beneficial to both your studies and your job. Why not try to tie your school project into something you’re already working on at your 9-to-5? For example, a friend of mine is working on a film with an interactive web component, outside of school. For one of her projects in a media theory class, she did several case-studies of interactive web-docs and integrated it into a literature review. And remembering to not forget yourself seems obvious, but being mindful of eating properly, getting enough sleep, and exercising frequently - even if it means cutting back on social time or taking a lighter class load - will make everything more manageable.