Balancing graduate school, home life, and work life can be hard. Webster tells us that balance as a transitive verb means “to bring into harmony or proportion.” What this means to individual graduate students depends on where they are in their lives.
One type of graduate student is those who graduate with their undergraduate degree and immediately start graduate school. Another type is the graduate student who has been out of school for a while, like years, in some cases many years. This type may seem to “have more on their plate,” so to speak. They may have established careers, families, mortgages and maybe even a dog. One isn’t “better” than the other, they just may look at things differently.
The first type of graduate students may have jobs at the university, as graduate assistants, research assistants, or in some other capacity at the university. One would think that for those types of graduate students balancing life and work may look different. Afterall, they may not have “left” school, but are “continuing” their education. They may be in their early to mid 20’s and still single or newly married, and perhaps have a fur baby or two.
Alexis MacAllister is this type of graduate student. She first graduated from Tech in 2017 with a degree in communication. Now, she is pursuing her Master of Professional Studies degree with a concentration in project management and will graduate in the summer of 2023. She currently works in the iCube, a grant-funded office on Tech’s campus.
MacAllister said her classes allow her to incorporate real job experience into homework assignments and projects, which she said makes the coursework even more engaging and applicable to her future career goals. It has increased her confidence in her abilities. She has obtained real-world experience as she worked on her master’s degree.
The online format has been convenient, according to MacAllister, and she is grateful for the opportunity to pursue a degree while still maintaining her professional career.
“I appreciate the flexibility of being able to take my master’s classes online while still working in my current career,” MacAllister said. “This allows me to balance both aspects of my life effectively and chip away at assignments during nights and weekends.”
At times the process has been challenging, according to MacAllister, but the sense of accomplishment she feels now has made it all worthwhile.
Mollie Mahan is an example of the other type of graduate student. She is a registered dietitian who first graduated from Tech in 2005. She currently works for the State of Tennessee’s Women, Infants, Children program, but she recently started back to school to get her master’s degree in community health and nutrition. She works full time, has two daughters who have lots of activities, a husband, a home, a ‘normal’ life.
Why is she getting her master’s degree? Mahan said she hopes to expand her knowledge of programs and evidenced based research of community health risk and programs. This will help her to strengthen her ability to assist with WIC participants. She also hopes to show her daughters that “you can do whatever you set out to do.”
How does she do it? With the help and support of that husband and her daughters. Her daughters recently helped her film a video in a local grocery store about choosing healthy foods for one of her courses. The girls thought it was “the funnest thing EVER!” Mahan thought it was an opportunity to include her daughters in her life as a graduate student. On that day at least, she had the best of both worlds.
What’s her secret? She took to heart a piece of advice given to her by one of her instructors in her program.
“One of the best pieces of advice came from Dr. Hutson. She told me to utilize all pockets of time that I can. I have found that reading journal articles and completing other small tasks when I have small pockets of time makes assignment completion smoother,” Mahan said. “While my daughter is at her 30-minute piano lesson, I usually read assigned material and make quick notes on my phone.”
She also tries to stay ahead of assignment deadlines, that way if someone is sick or something keeps her from assignments, she does not miss deadlines. The online program allows the students to work ahead on most things.
Tyler Gentry, a graduate student who is pursuing his Master of Science in Nursing Education degree is perhaps a combination of the two. He first graduated in December 2020 from Tech with a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing and is currently in his first semester of graduate school.
Gentry is working two jobs, has a wife and an almost one-year old son. He currently works full-time at Cookeville Regional Medical Center as a Registered Nurse, and his second job is part-time as the lab specialist at Tech’s Whitson-Hester School of Nursing.
He puts in 65 hours a week, employment wise, and then with school he has his schoolwork, which he spends “anywhere from three to five hours a day.” The work is involved, and it does take a lot of time according to Gentry.
Time management is always an issue. He said you always want to do the best and just continue doing as much as possible. One must pick and choose what are the most important aspects of life. He said family is important, as well as work and education, and “we provide for our families through education.”
“Working two jobs and going to grad school is a challenge. Everything for the graduate degree is online. So that really lends to my ability to just, on my own time, be able to do things. I’m not really time constrained, which is fantastic,” Gentry said. “I also have a new baby at home, and I do get to spend time with him while doing this, which is really a main drive in choosing Tech’s program, because it is all online. With nursing, clinical hours that are required come later so it gives you time to prepare, so to speak. But it’s been very doable, and I have no regrets.”
The ability to reach out to the instructors and get quick responses is a component of the success of the programs at Tech according to Gentry.
“Tech’s program is fantastic, and the master’s education is very well laid out.” Gentry said. “They make it easy, it’s convenient and affordable, honestly. And everything is on your time, it bodes well for working professionals.”
These are three real examples of graduate students who are making it work for them. They have figured out that harmony and proportion are not always possible, at least not on the same day. Is that okay? Yes. Will the world end if everything is not exactly balanced? No.
One day, the most important thing that needs to be done may be a paper that is due, and you zone in on that; however, it may mean the laundry or dinner dishes must wait. The next day it may be getting your child to the baseball game on time for the district championship game, and all thoughts of school assignments are banished to the furthest recesses of your mind. Which may lead to getting up early the next morning to complete an assignment.
Real life can sometimes be hectic and messy and overwhelming. But there is a light at the end of that tunnel – graduate school is not forever. But the prize you get out of that Cracker Jack box at the end will change your life, and the lives of your family, be it man or beast, forever.
There are all kinds of tips and advice from academia experts on how to balance graduate school, work and life out there. Find the ones that fit your life and utilize those, let the others fall by the wayside.
The balancing act does not look the same for everyone and as long as it works for you, that is all that matters.
What does that balance look like for you? Do you have any advice for keeping this balance?