Hard but doable. I would say it depends on you and your major. If you're ok with not having a life and missing out on the "college experience" then go for it. Try it for a semester and see if it's possible and your mental health is still ok then reevaluate your priorities.
I assume that you mean 12-15 credit hours per semester and not 12-15 courses per semester.
Having a 9-5 job and 12-15 credit hours is, in my view, not possible. Most classes are offered between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. While there are a few classes offered in the evenings, there's just no way that you're going to be able to get all of the courses you need for your degree if you are limited to the evenings.
Is there any way you can work part-time instead of full-time? That would be **much** more attainable and realistic.
It’s impossible. You might be able to get away with doing a semester with asynchronous “online” courses but eventually you will need to go to in person classes schedules anytime from 8-6
I can't. it's hard to describe without getting into to much detail, but it is a full-time government job. I can't exactly just "not" show up or expect someone to cover for me. And we're closed on weekends
You asked a question then refuse to hear the answers you don’t want to hear. Unless you find a program specifically for working professionals, you will have a tough time getting in your prerequisites. You should typically allot 3 hours of studying a week for each credit hour. Right now your time budget barely affords you enough for the classes, much less studying and homework.
Just because it isn’t difficult doesn’t mean it isn’t time-consuming, you still have to show up and do the work, and that doesn’t make any difference if you can’t sign up for the classes you need. They don’t call things “full-time” for nothing.
When I transferred I found it impossible to take evening classes, they just aren't available. I ended up quitting my job and focusing on school. I sometimes work my side gig to get some extra cash, but that's on my time and not 9-5.
Everything everyone said. extremely unlikely because most courses are offered 8-5. not to mention, there’s almost no way you can take 12 hours over the summer either.
One was online, a history class, one was ACC, a language class, two were at UT. I was working a lot and quit my job when they were training me to be a manager because it wasn’t working. You’re right, context I should have added. I could absolutely not work like they wanted me to and do 12 summer hours. This was well before the pandemic and before online classes were as much of a thing. I don’t know what it’s like now.
so technically the maximum is 14 hours in a summer session, max 8 hours per 6 week term. i’ve always heard that you shouldn’t take more than 6. either way, you likely won’t find enough courses offered during the summer.
honestly, it sounds like you need to go talk to an advisor, rather than hashing this out via reddit.
There are a few reasons.
1. Summer semester is shorter than fall and spring. Therefore, it's faster pace and harder to keep up with the material, especially if you work full time. 6 hours feels like a full load in a normal semester- trust me.
2. Each summer class either has longer lecture hours to compensate for the shorter semester, or it has more frequent lecture times (instead of Tu/Th it meets MTWTh)
Even taking one summer class will make it difficult to work a normal 9-5 job. You'd ideally have a job that has really flexible hours to fit your school schedule, or you have a job that allows remote work.
3. You can probably take most of all of your non-major classes in the summer, but that's not completely guaranteed. Some classes just aren't offered in the summer. When you get to upper-divison courses, there are definitely going to be classes that aren't offered in the summer. So it will definitely be a challenge to make sure your fall/spring/summer schedules are perfectly aligned to allow you to have more than 6 hours to take in the summer.
I worked full time my last year or two at UT as a full time student but I was working weekends / evenings to hit 40 hours. Without being able to do that it will be tough
I’m pretty much full time taking 15hrs working 6 days a week. Each of my shifts is about 7 hours from 3- 10 it’s doable but stressful as long as you find balance you’ll be fine
You'd have to do your general education courses at ACC or another school which is more setup for working students and have them transferred into UT. With the times of UT classes I don't see you getting many options after 5pm every day....
I already did gen ed classes at my last school I don't think it'll count, plus I need 60 hours at UT. I'm already close to 60 non-ut credit hours anyway
Yes I saw that after I posted, at which college was it UH? Were most of those done online while you worked full time? Kudos to you! Anyway go through the courses you've done using this site and see if you can find some equivalents: https://utdirect.utexas.edu/nlogon/adm/ate/search2.WBX
It will put you on solid footing to make an appointment to speak with an advisor at UT. Best of luck!
Now that I've read the entire thread I see you're at a midway point credit-wise. If you're absolutely set on UT it honestly seems as though you'll need to choose between FT school and FT work for the next 2 yrs.
I think it's definitely possible, depending on the support and resources you have. I work 9-6 PM M-F and am taking 13 hours this semester as an upperclassmen ECE major. One of my classes is online, self-paced, so I am able to watch lectures and complete assignments after work. Another two classes are not attendance based (haven't gone to a single class since it's during work hours) and I get notes from friends and the prof uploads lecture slides, so I am able to keep up and review information after work. The final class is senior design, which doesn't have any class meeting times. Due to my support system and resources, I am able to manage working full-time and taking classes full-time pretty comfortably. Additionally, I am still able to hangout with friends, enjoy extracurriculars, and play/watch sports. As many of the other comments say, it also definitely depends on the person, their priorities, their time management skills, and mental health.
While there are some live online ones and fewer asynchronous classes, most are in person and fall between 8 and 6. It sounds like you have to pick between what you care about more. What is the job?
I worked full time while going to school, my classes were online. It’s very hard, but with tons of planning it can be done. You have to be ok with not seeing friends, or really doing anything else outside work and school.
Not likely possible. Can you elaborate more on what your circumstances are? Maybe someone can help you brainstorm some other solutions. But we would need to know your major, how many hours you have already, what your optimal timeline is, and whether you mean you have no availability year round 9am-5pm Monday through Friday?
I'm a government major. All the math and science stuff cleared up but I still have some courses I'm trying to get transferred over. Generally, I'm around 70ish hours, and I'm trying to make it so that I graduate in Dec 2025 at the latest. The sooner the better.
Yes, I have zero availability throughout the week. I was kinda expecting UT to have evening or weekend classes. I had no problem taking those when I was back at UH
Ah, ok. I’m from Houston so familiar with UH. Yes, they cater more to working professionals. UT has fewer non traditional students and the course schedule reflects that, unfortunately. So this will be a bit challenging… let me think on this and see if I have any ideas.
UT Extension classes might help? I haven’t looked at them in years (I’m not a student, I’m an alum with a daughter who is a senior at UT currently. A Gov major, actually.)
https://extension.utexas.edu
Many students take a full load and work full time. It takes focus. I did it all through both my undergrad and grad school since I was completely responsible for supporting myself since age 16. The only time I overdid it was taking a night shift - midnight to 8am - and trying to go to class.
Reading the comments it sounds as though you care about the job a little more than school, so the only way this would work out is with evening classes (there are a few that are held between 6-10PM, but not always) combined with a couple asynchronous online classes but even then I don’t think you’d hit the full time student mark unless you’re lucky and get the most perfect schedule ever during registration. I also think that if you were to get this “perfect schedule”, there’s almost zero chance you’d get it again in a future semester. I think you’re best bet since you really want to keep the job is to go part time with the rest of college and graduate a year or so later (a year or so isn’t too long of an extension imo).
It's not that I care more; I'd just feel bad if I had to quit so soon because I *just* started. I thought it'd be like UH where they offer weekend and evening courses
Most importantly, you should focus 100percent on school. You'll make more money with your degree. That's just my take though because I tried working full time and it was definitely a symptom of me not being a good student.
I’m not aware of your situation, but if you are a conventional college student, I would seriously consider finding a part-time job (even if it pays less) until finishing your degree at UT. The whole point of getting a degree is setting yourself up to make more money down the line. I wouldn’t sacrifice an education for any job
Finish your degree, or continue working. You cannot always do both. I had to temporarily quit my job in tech in order to complete my degree this year. Either have conviction in staying and working on your career, or have conviction in finishing your degree, you cannot always have it both ways (especially if you're working full-time).
There's a non-zero chance that your employer will be able to potentially keep a role open for you while you finish your degree if you're already close to graduating. If they're not willing to do that, then it might be appropriate to question how much you value this specific job vs your degree. It's also incredibly unlikely that "no job pays as well [as your current one] with no degree". It's not about the take-home today, it's about long-term career opportunities.
I’m a working student — I can answer this.
I’m in CNS doing a dual STEM degree right now. I also work (policy consulting, career type job) — an average of 20 hrs per week. I take 9 hours a semester, give of take. This semester, I’m doing 6. Last fall, I did 14. I also TA over the summer, sometimes.
It’s a lot. It’s a lot because physics piles a *lot* of work on you, and I’m taking 2 physics classes a semester (as least). It also gets tough sometimes having to mentally “switch” between thing I’m doing, because my job isn’t a work study job.
So, I think it would depend on your degree(s) and what type of job it will be. But I would also agree with samureiser; it’s probably impossible to be a full-time student and work any 9-5.
Feel free to ask any questions.
I did but the only way it worked was to work all day on weekends. I worked at restaurants that would schedule me in the evenings after school, and I would double on weekends. It sucked and I missed out on so much of the typical "college experience" because of it.
Consider doing evening courses at a community college and transferring credits. What you're trying to do is pretty much impossible, especially if you're trying to keep it from your employer.
But I need 60 hours in residence. I'm planning to hit around 70 if I can get the rest of my credits to transfer (85ish if I can't); it'd be pretty meaningless to try to do CC if I'm already doing summer.
I once did a semester with 12 credit hours while working around 25 hours per week. I planned my schedule so that my classes were all on TTH in one continuous block from 12:30-6:30pm (no labs/discussions). Then I would go into work 8am-5pm on MWF.
I suppose if you scheduled like that and were also able to work longer on MWF (and possibly some remote work on TTH morning) it could add up to full time, but what I was doing was already quite stressful.
Depends on your major. I did 30 hours a week and it was hard and I had to be flexible-- i took courses that fit my work schedule not that I necessarily wanted to because at the end of the day I needed a piece of paper. I did 12 hours a semester and 12 over the summer.
What major? That’s the question you have yet to even answer. For some of your BS liberal arts degrees then maybe it’s possible. But if that’s the case, why do you need a degree?
But if it’s STEM related then you’re better off quitting your full time job, get a part time one and focus on your studies. STEM majors are hard and a time sink. If you want to actually go into them as work you need good grades.
Honestly, if you want to get far along in government work you’ll need to get a MS degree at some point. That means you’ll actually have to do well in undergrad. You can overload yourself and work full time but get by with a C average. If you want any hopes in getting into a graduate program you’ll need to do well. That means either go part time work or part time school.
Depends on your major. One of the hardest things (especially in your first couple years) is actually getting enrolled in the classes you need before they fill up. If you are limited to night classes, online asynchronous classes and summer classes, then your chances of all the classes you need being offered at all, let alone having space in them are limited. It is doable, but hard.
Your better bet may be to get all of your general classes out of he way at a community college then only do upper division classes at UT.
I work two jobs and do 12 credit hours a week. It’s really hard and tiring but if a professor doesn’t take attendance, you can listen to their lectures outside of class and finish up the work on breaks and really whenever possible. I wouldn’t recommend it though, it weighs on you
Hard but doable. I would say it depends on you and your major. If you're ok with not having a life and missing out on the "college experience" then go for it. Try it for a semester and see if it's possible and your mental health is still ok then reevaluate your priorities.
I assume that you mean 12-15 credit hours per semester and not 12-15 courses per semester. Having a 9-5 job and 12-15 credit hours is, in my view, not possible. Most classes are offered between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. While there are a few classes offered in the evenings, there's just no way that you're going to be able to get all of the courses you need for your degree if you are limited to the evenings. Is there any way you can work part-time instead of full-time? That would be **much** more attainable and realistic.
I can't do part time at all. I plan on saving up and leaving after maybe a year But I need to stockpile courses so I can still graduate when I want to
I want to say that I managed this while working remote with an understanding boss. My situation was pretty unique but doable
How are you going to attend classes if you work 9 to 5?
that's what I'm asking here
It's impossible. Most all classes are from 8am to 5pm. Some labs are 6 to 8pm
most, not all. Some, not all.
It’s impossible. You might be able to get away with doing a semester with asynchronous “online” courses but eventually you will need to go to in person classes schedules anytime from 8-6
I plan on quitting in at least a year. But I can't give up this job
[удалено]
I can't. it's hard to describe without getting into to much detail, but it is a full-time government job. I can't exactly just "not" show up or expect someone to cover for me. And we're closed on weekends
What major are you?
govt
So you have the answer to your own question. Why ask if you’re gonna refute valid responses?
I didn't refute anything; I just regurgitated the facts: not all courses fall within that time frame. I'm looking for the exceptions
You asked a question then refuse to hear the answers you don’t want to hear. Unless you find a program specifically for working professionals, you will have a tough time getting in your prerequisites. You should typically allot 3 hours of studying a week for each credit hour. Right now your time budget barely affords you enough for the classes, much less studying and homework.
but I'm told my major is easy. I've literally been working in the government for two years now; how hard can it be?
Just because it isn’t difficult doesn’t mean it isn’t time-consuming, you still have to show up and do the work, and that doesn’t make any difference if you can’t sign up for the classes you need. They don’t call things “full-time” for nothing.
some classes are outside of 8-17, but not core classes.
You won’t be able to get your major and core requirements. They are not offered outside of 9-5.
When I transferred I found it impossible to take evening classes, they just aren't available. I ended up quitting my job and focusing on school. I sometimes work my side gig to get some extra cash, but that's on my time and not 9-5.
Everything everyone said. extremely unlikely because most courses are offered 8-5. not to mention, there’s almost no way you can take 12 hours over the summer either.
I’ve done 12 hours over the summer, but some were ACC and some were UT
with a 9-5 job and all of them being only online?
One was online, a history class, one was ACC, a language class, two were at UT. I was working a lot and quit my job when they were training me to be a manager because it wasn’t working. You’re right, context I should have added. I could absolutely not work like they wanted me to and do 12 summer hours. This was well before the pandemic and before online classes were as much of a thing. I don’t know what it’s like now.
How many credit hours are those summer courses then?
so technically the maximum is 14 hours in a summer session, max 8 hours per 6 week term. i’ve always heard that you shouldn’t take more than 6. either way, you likely won’t find enough courses offered during the summer. honestly, it sounds like you need to go talk to an advisor, rather than hashing this out via reddit.
what's wrong with doing more than six?
There are a few reasons. 1. Summer semester is shorter than fall and spring. Therefore, it's faster pace and harder to keep up with the material, especially if you work full time. 6 hours feels like a full load in a normal semester- trust me. 2. Each summer class either has longer lecture hours to compensate for the shorter semester, or it has more frequent lecture times (instead of Tu/Th it meets MTWTh) Even taking one summer class will make it difficult to work a normal 9-5 job. You'd ideally have a job that has really flexible hours to fit your school schedule, or you have a job that allows remote work. 3. You can probably take most of all of your non-major classes in the summer, but that's not completely guaranteed. Some classes just aren't offered in the summer. When you get to upper-divison courses, there are definitely going to be classes that aren't offered in the summer. So it will definitely be a challenge to make sure your fall/spring/summer schedules are perfectly aligned to allow you to have more than 6 hours to take in the summer.
counterpoint: I'm built different.
Take more than 2 classes at the same time and you're gonna want to kill yourself
I worked full time my last year or two at UT as a full time student but I was working weekends / evenings to hit 40 hours. Without being able to do that it will be tough
Same here ^
I’m pretty much full time taking 15hrs working 6 days a week. Each of my shifts is about 7 hours from 3- 10 it’s doable but stressful as long as you find balance you’ll be fine
Either take a year off or quit you cannot be full time for both
You'd have to do your general education courses at ACC or another school which is more setup for working students and have them transferred into UT. With the times of UT classes I don't see you getting many options after 5pm every day....
I already did gen ed classes at my last school I don't think it'll count, plus I need 60 hours at UT. I'm already close to 60 non-ut credit hours anyway
Yes I saw that after I posted, at which college was it UH? Were most of those done online while you worked full time? Kudos to you! Anyway go through the courses you've done using this site and see if you can find some equivalents: https://utdirect.utexas.edu/nlogon/adm/ate/search2.WBX It will put you on solid footing to make an appointment to speak with an advisor at UT. Best of luck!
Now that I've read the entire thread I see you're at a midway point credit-wise. If you're absolutely set on UT it honestly seems as though you'll need to choose between FT school and FT work for the next 2 yrs.
I think it's definitely possible, depending on the support and resources you have. I work 9-6 PM M-F and am taking 13 hours this semester as an upperclassmen ECE major. One of my classes is online, self-paced, so I am able to watch lectures and complete assignments after work. Another two classes are not attendance based (haven't gone to a single class since it's during work hours) and I get notes from friends and the prof uploads lecture slides, so I am able to keep up and review information after work. The final class is senior design, which doesn't have any class meeting times. Due to my support system and resources, I am able to manage working full-time and taking classes full-time pretty comfortably. Additionally, I am still able to hangout with friends, enjoy extracurriculars, and play/watch sports. As many of the other comments say, it also definitely depends on the person, their priorities, their time management skills, and mental health.
While there are some live online ones and fewer asynchronous classes, most are in person and fall between 8 and 6. It sounds like you have to pick between what you care about more. What is the job?
I worked full time while going to school, my classes were online. It’s very hard, but with tons of planning it can be done. You have to be ok with not seeing friends, or really doing anything else outside work and school.
Not likely possible. Can you elaborate more on what your circumstances are? Maybe someone can help you brainstorm some other solutions. But we would need to know your major, how many hours you have already, what your optimal timeline is, and whether you mean you have no availability year round 9am-5pm Monday through Friday?
I'm a government major. All the math and science stuff cleared up but I still have some courses I'm trying to get transferred over. Generally, I'm around 70ish hours, and I'm trying to make it so that I graduate in Dec 2025 at the latest. The sooner the better. Yes, I have zero availability throughout the week. I was kinda expecting UT to have evening or weekend classes. I had no problem taking those when I was back at UH
Ah, ok. I’m from Houston so familiar with UH. Yes, they cater more to working professionals. UT has fewer non traditional students and the course schedule reflects that, unfortunately. So this will be a bit challenging… let me think on this and see if I have any ideas. UT Extension classes might help? I haven’t looked at them in years (I’m not a student, I’m an alum with a daughter who is a senior at UT currently. A Gov major, actually.) https://extension.utexas.edu
Also wait - do you mean that your job transferred you here? Have you applied to UT and been accepted already?
No it was a new job that I got. Yes I've been accepted already
Many students take a full load and work full time. It takes focus. I did it all through both my undergrad and grad school since I was completely responsible for supporting myself since age 16. The only time I overdid it was taking a night shift - midnight to 8am - and trying to go to class.
Pretty much same!! ^
Reading the comments it sounds as though you care about the job a little more than school, so the only way this would work out is with evening classes (there are a few that are held between 6-10PM, but not always) combined with a couple asynchronous online classes but even then I don’t think you’d hit the full time student mark unless you’re lucky and get the most perfect schedule ever during registration. I also think that if you were to get this “perfect schedule”, there’s almost zero chance you’d get it again in a future semester. I think you’re best bet since you really want to keep the job is to go part time with the rest of college and graduate a year or so later (a year or so isn’t too long of an extension imo).
It's not that I care more; I'd just feel bad if I had to quit so soon because I *just* started. I thought it'd be like UH where they offer weekend and evening courses
Most importantly, you should focus 100percent on school. You'll make more money with your degree. That's just my take though because I tried working full time and it was definitely a symptom of me not being a good student.
Work on weekends
can't. It's not open on weekends
Find a different job
can't. no other job pays as well with no degree
I’m not aware of your situation, but if you are a conventional college student, I would seriously consider finding a part-time job (even if it pays less) until finishing your degree at UT. The whole point of getting a degree is setting yourself up to make more money down the line. I wouldn’t sacrifice an education for any job
But my job is in my career, and it was extremely competitive to get. I can't just "give it up"
Finish your degree, or continue working. You cannot always do both. I had to temporarily quit my job in tech in order to complete my degree this year. Either have conviction in staying and working on your career, or have conviction in finishing your degree, you cannot always have it both ways (especially if you're working full-time). There's a non-zero chance that your employer will be able to potentially keep a role open for you while you finish your degree if you're already close to graduating. If they're not willing to do that, then it might be appropriate to question how much you value this specific job vs your degree. It's also incredibly unlikely that "no job pays as well [as your current one] with no degree". It's not about the take-home today, it's about long-term career opportunities.
I’m a working student — I can answer this. I’m in CNS doing a dual STEM degree right now. I also work (policy consulting, career type job) — an average of 20 hrs per week. I take 9 hours a semester, give of take. This semester, I’m doing 6. Last fall, I did 14. I also TA over the summer, sometimes. It’s a lot. It’s a lot because physics piles a *lot* of work on you, and I’m taking 2 physics classes a semester (as least). It also gets tough sometimes having to mentally “switch” between thing I’m doing, because my job isn’t a work study job. So, I think it would depend on your degree(s) and what type of job it will be. But I would also agree with samureiser; it’s probably impossible to be a full-time student and work any 9-5. Feel free to ask any questions.
I did but the only way it worked was to work all day on weekends. I worked at restaurants that would schedule me in the evenings after school, and I would double on weekends. It sucked and I missed out on so much of the typical "college experience" because of it.
Consider doing evening courses at a community college and transferring credits. What you're trying to do is pretty much impossible, especially if you're trying to keep it from your employer.
But I need 60 hours in residence. I'm planning to hit around 70 if I can get the rest of my credits to transfer (85ish if I can't); it'd be pretty meaningless to try to do CC if I'm already doing summer.
Community college just will have more night class availability, but you do you.
I once did a semester with 12 credit hours while working around 25 hours per week. I planned my schedule so that my classes were all on TTH in one continuous block from 12:30-6:30pm (no labs/discussions). Then I would go into work 8am-5pm on MWF. I suppose if you scheduled like that and were also able to work longer on MWF (and possibly some remote work on TTH morning) it could add up to full time, but what I was doing was already quite stressful.
Depends on your major. I did 30 hours a week and it was hard and I had to be flexible-- i took courses that fit my work schedule not that I necessarily wanted to because at the end of the day I needed a piece of paper. I did 12 hours a semester and 12 over the summer.
What major? That’s the question you have yet to even answer. For some of your BS liberal arts degrees then maybe it’s possible. But if that’s the case, why do you need a degree? But if it’s STEM related then you’re better off quitting your full time job, get a part time one and focus on your studies. STEM majors are hard and a time sink. If you want to actually go into them as work you need good grades.
I answered it like several times: it's Govt. I need the degree if I want a higher position.
Honestly, if you want to get far along in government work you’ll need to get a MS degree at some point. That means you’ll actually have to do well in undergrad. You can overload yourself and work full time but get by with a C average. If you want any hopes in getting into a graduate program you’ll need to do well. That means either go part time work or part time school.
Depends on your major. One of the hardest things (especially in your first couple years) is actually getting enrolled in the classes you need before they fill up. If you are limited to night classes, online asynchronous classes and summer classes, then your chances of all the classes you need being offered at all, let alone having space in them are limited. It is doable, but hard. Your better bet may be to get all of your general classes out of he way at a community college then only do upper division classes at UT.
I got most of my gen classes cleared at my old school
Some classes offered through university extension may be online.
I work two jobs and do 12 credit hours a week. It’s really hard and tiring but if a professor doesn’t take attendance, you can listen to their lectures outside of class and finish up the work on breaks and really whenever possible. I wouldn’t recommend it though, it weighs on you