Thoughts for a Career Change Student?

[Alpacalia]

How do you manage an 80-hour week productively?  

The breakdown is 14 school credits, 20 hours of clinical work at a hospital, and 20 hours of employment per week. 

With an associate's degree in the new field I've pursued (career change), I'm now working toward a bachelor's. It would be 4 semesters back-to-back with a lighter credit load in the summer. My program will then be complete.

I worked 60-hour weeks before, but I am apprehensive about 80 hours. I am not in my twenties anymore.

Where do you cut corners? My concern is that I might not be able to keep up with the workload and expectations. 

The people close to me provide me with a solid support system, so I'm not too worried about that. But I also don't want those relationships to suffer. I thought maybe I could stop working for now since I have enough funds to finance myself for the semesters without working, but I do not like being unable to work.

Give it to me straight. Am I being fooled into thinking I can tackle 80 hours per week for four semesters?

[Ray_xx]

12 hours ago, Alpacalia said:

How do you manage an 80-hour week productively?  

The breakdown is 14 school credits, 20 hours of clinical work at a hospital, and 20 hours of employment per week. 

With an associate's degree in the new field I've pursued (career change), I'm now working toward a bachelor's. It would be 4 semesters back-to-back with a lighter credit load in the summer. My program will then be complete.

I worked 60-hour weeks before, but I am apprehensive about 80 hours. I am not in my twenties anymore.

Where do you cut corners? My concern is that I might not be able to keep up with the workload and expectations. 

The people close to me provide me with a solid support system, so I'm not too worried about that. But I also don't want those relationships to suffer. I thought maybe I could stop working for now since I have enough funds to finance myself for the semesters without working, but I do not like being unable to work.

Give it to me straight. Am I being fooled into thinking I can tackle 80 hours per week for four semesters?

Good morning. I recruit for the NHS hospitals and curios to ask do you work the NHS as a clinical worker? I am a very senior recruiter with 9 years experience and I can tell you now that no one can realistically manage all this in the long term. Can you drop your hours perhaps? have you considered agency or using a NHS supplier so therefore you can choose your shifts each week and have the flexibility to support your work load that week? 

[Wiseman2]

14 hours ago, Alpacalia said:

. I thought maybe I could stop working for now since I have enough funds to finance myself for the semesters without working, but I do not like being unable to work.

Talk to the advisors and administration. With help from the institution's counselors, academic advisors and program administrators, you can come up with a reasonable curriculum, payment plan and course work requirements.  Are your associates credits figured in? Is it just 2 more years (or whatever 4 semesters is) in order to complete the bachelor's? Talk to the institution about it's requirements and ways to manage the course load.

[Alpacalia]

6 hours ago, Ray_xx said:

Good morning. I recruit for the NHS hospitals and curios to ask do you work the NHS as a clinical worker? I am a very senior recruiter with 9 years experience and I can tell you now that no one can realistically manage all this in the long term. Can you drop your hours perhaps? have you considered agency or using a NHS supplier so therefore you can choose your shifts each week and have the flexibility to support your work load that week? 

Good morning. I appreciate your frank thoughts! Clinical hours are organized through my school with various hospitals in their radiology departments. This is a radiology program that leads to becoming a radiology technologist with a Bachelor of Science. In the long run, I would like to work in Nuclear Medicine, but this is the first step.

All good suggestions. However, studies, classes, and clinical hours cannot be cut back. Shifts can be adjusted based on which days of the week, but I cannot reduce school/study/clinical hours. Initially, I thought I could divide the credits required for the radiology program over three years instead of two, but I have come to learn that we have to finish the program within two years.

It's just a matter of considering the benefits and drawbacks of 80 hours a week (studying, classes, clinic time, and part-time work). I've met a few people who did it, but they were mostly in their early 20s. I'm more like an autumn turkey at this stage in my life. I suppose the other question is, is there a way to make it more manageable?

Trying to learn from others who have taken on this kind of workload later in life. The feedback I receive helps me learn more about what's out there.

@Wiseman2Thanks for your help. Yes, I plan to speak with an advisor. The associate's credits do factor in, and I need 65 more credits for bachelor's. That's right, it'll be two more years.

The alternative is to pursue a bachelor's in healthcare administration. Compared to other programs, it isn't as intense, but the job market seems more limited in the areas I am considering.

 

Edited April 29, 2023 by Alpacalia

[LuckyM]

Yes much too much for anyone. I taught college a long time and I have read about nurse stress and breakdown

[Alvi]

On 4/28/2023 at 2:02 PM, Alpacalia said:

The breakdown is 14 school credits, 20 hours of clinical work at a hospital, and 20 hours of employment per week. 

That is a lot. Can you scale down on your work hours or quit your job (or at least temporarily) altogether? I went back to school when I was in my early 30 and I found it to be very overwhelming. I basically had no choice but to quit my two part time jobs. I quit my full-time job before going to school and thought that I would be able to keep two part-time jobs. I was wrong. I would probably go bananas otherwise due to the school demand and the lack of sleep. Luckily, my parents helped me out with the money and I was very grateful to them for that. Could you ask your parents or your siblings for a help and repay them later maybe??? Sorry, don't know what else to suggest.

Edited May 12, 2023 by Alvi

[Alpacalia]

2 minutes ago, Alvi said:

That is a lot. Can you scale down on your work hours or quit your job (or at least temporarily) altogether?

Hi Alvi,

Definitely challenging, but I know it will be worth it.

According to my school advisor, working for more than a few hours a week while in the radiology training is advised against. There's enough money saved on my end and I'm also applying for scholarships. I just didn't want to cut back on work hours initially but maybe I'll see if I can cut back a bit more on work hours like you suggested!

We had to do our prereq's first which I've already done so now it's just waiting to see if I'm selected. It's a lottery system so it's completely random (1 out of 5 applicants are chosen each year). I'm going to wait until after I find out if I get in before cutting anything back though.

Wish me luck, because if I don't get in, I'll have to start calling myself an X-Ray-enthusiast until the next go around.🤕 

[Alvi]

On 5/11/2023 at 6:50 PM, Alpacalia said:

We had to do our prereq's first which I've already done so now it's just waiting to see if I'm selected. It's a lottery system so it's completely random (1 out of 5 applicants are chosen each year). I'm going to wait until after I find out if I get in before cutting anything back though.

Wish me luck, because if I don't get in, I'll have to start calling myself an X-Ray-enthusiast until the next go around.🤕

Oh, wow. A random lottery system gets to decide someone's fate. Hmmm. Good luck! I am keeping my fingers crossed that you get into the program!