Working life vs Student life
July 3rd, 2005
So now that I’ve been working for a whole month, I’ve gotten into the hang of working life. 8 hour work days, or 10 hours for me during the summer (with Friday’s off), and no more homework. Seeing how I pretty much started work right after I graduated from UB, I had little transition time and basically went from being a student to being a worker.
I’d have to say that there are benefits to both working life and student life. One of the big benefits for working life is the part about getting paid. You get paid to do work instead of paying to do work. That’s the definite plus that working life has over student life. However, the biggest benefit to student life is time. Although this can vary, depending on how much of a geek you are, the typical college student has tons of FREE time. You have maybe 10 hours of class a week, and the rest of your time is left up to you for you to do your homework or to do whatever you want. When you’re working, you find that your life becomes a routine.
For me right now, I wake up at 6:15, get ready for work, get to work at 7, then work from 7-5:30, then go work out till 7ish, before I come back home to eat and relax before I go to sleep around 11, only to start the cycle over again the next day. Gone are the days where I can stay up till 3 AM and sleep in till noon. I’ve gotten so used to waking up early that I now wake up everyday around 6ish before I make myself go back to sleep if I don’t have to wake up. Having all this extra time as a student is very nice. However, you’re then expected to use that extra time to do things such as homework. That’s one thing I’m glad I no longer need to do. When you work, you only need to work your hours. When you go back home, you can leave work at work.
Personally, I’d have to say I enjoy working life more than student life. Despite the lack of free time, and having more responsibilities, you just don’t have to deal with stuff like homework and test anymore. That’s definitely a big plus. No more standardized tests! 
Leave comments on which life you guys like more. Working life or student life?
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i disagree. When you’re 9-5, 5x/week, when you’re done - you’re free! Whereas school, there’s people to meet, meetings, clubs, committees, profs… classes are scattered throughout the day, track in the evenings, coffee & raisins for dinner, then you hit the library until they kick you out at 12, study at home until the coffee dies and then wake up 6 hours later to do it again. All throughout you’re stressed because your self-worth is constantly being translated into letter grades. And you’re poor
or maybe that’s just me
Comment by Aileen — 7/3/05 @ 8:07 pm
Seeing that I can’t compare both lives yet… I’ll just have to wait and see. =) As for now, have fun at work.
Comment by Elaine — 7/3/05 @ 11:19 pm
life is just one big cycle. how depressing
Comment by jenn chen — 7/4/05 @ 11:43 am
I like both, though I must admit that working life (for the most part) is MUCH LESS STRESSFUL than student life. This is of course assuming that you enjoy your job as much as I enjoy mine. If your job sucks, you’d probably want to be a student instead of a worker… or you’d want a better job.
Student life: though stressed, you feel so alive because you’re involved in so many things, meeting so many people. You are CHALLENGED and you are LEARNING… two things that you seriously want to continue into your working life… without these two things in your working life, your working life will SUCK.
Working life: money and more time to DO EVERYTHING YOU WANT!!! woohoo! yes, i do like this… even though I no longer have several months in the summer to just chill, I do not mind the routine (8:30-4pm for me) every day. Now, I can go places and take vacations far away, and normally a weekend or a week is already enough. I’d want to get back to work and accomplish more. =) Also, when I get home from work, I no longer have to think about work (unless i wanted to). I like not having to study, though I liked the projects I had to do in school.
I like both. I suppose if I HAVE to choose, I’d favor working a bit over student life… proof that it’s less stressful: my face cleared up after I graudated! LOL
Comment by maggie — 7/15/05 @ 2:27 pm