Student Life vs. Work Life

My Alma Mater - Washington State University

The other day I was chatting with one of my good friends, Rylan, about the differences between being a full-time student and a full-time professional. Having now personally experienced both areas, I decided I would share my thoughts. Besides, now that I have experienced the professional world for a year (officially this next Wednesday) I am practically an expert on the matter -- NOT -- but these are my thoughts either way. 

By full-time student I mean a normal college class load and by full-time professional I'm referring to a 40+ hour workweek. Obviously, everyone's college experience is unique, much like our lives, so I'm going to try and take into account the different variables but this can obviously be a tough comparison.

Living in the Lap of Luxury

I've spent a lot more time as a full-time student than as a professional so I'll start there. For parts of my student career  I had a part-time job, some of the time I was playing basketball (practically a part-time job in regards to the time commitment), but for a lot of my student life I didn't have either and just focused on my studies. As I recall, school didn't become any harder with additional responsibilities, there was just less room for fun and mindless activities. Keep in mind I was living at home for four of my collegiate years, so most of my cooking and cleaning was taken care of by my wonderful mom! Actually, come to think of it, my years at WSU, while living in the NuHouse, didn't require me to worry about meals or cleaning either. This provided quite a bit of free-time that I definitely took for granted.

Free Time

Before graduating, I remember looking forward to my career because not only would I be making money, but I'd have so much more free time. I am sad to say, I have not found this to be the case. Now, of course for Rylan, who is holding down a part-time job and going to school full-time, I can imagine he will find more free time in his life once graduated. But I'm focusing solely on the differences between full-time student and full-time professional (since that's what I have experienced), part-time jobs and other endeavors aside.

Now as an adult in the real world, my life is quite a bit different from when I was in school. For one, I don't have my meals prepared for me or my residence cleaned regularly, or at least I didn't for the first six months (I'll explain that another day). A lot of my evenings seem to get snatched up by making dinner, running errands, doing some cleaning, or completing some other tasks that seem to turn, what seemed like a long, free night, into an hour or two left over before bed.

These extra duties that I now have as a professional and didn't have in school definitely skew my comparison of the two lives. I think that, as far as free time goes, it may be a tie between the two lifestyles. Assuming I had my own place in school and had to provide for myself like I do now.

Structure

School is very much compartmentalized into relatively short terms where, to me, it feels kind of like a sprint to the end of the term. You are intensely focused on a specific topic/subject of study for those few months and then it's done, over, finished and you get your reward. Hopefully, a good grade for your hard work.

My Employer - Micron Technology

Work on the other hand, really has no end in sight. It's a marathon . This is just how real life is, I will work until I cannot work anymore, or at least that's my plan. I have come to accept that fact and while it can be kind of a depressing feeling to never have another summer break, I'm just fine with it, change is good and it feels good to think I'm all grown up, or at least on my way!

Mental Freedom

In school, I would always be anxious about the final projects in my courses. Even if there was a weekend where I had nothing due anytime soon, my mind was never completely free of the impending doom of the final project, or the next week's assignment that I could get started on, but really didn't need or want to. There was always that evil, little voice in the back of my head saying that I should get started, making it impossible for me to completely relax until the project was done and semester over.

Now, of course this can happen in professional work as well and it very well may get me in the future as I gain more responsibility and risk in my job. But, so far, I have avoided it and that is my goal going forward. On my weekends and evenings I have been able to completely relax mentally and not fret about any deadlines or projects at work. It has been great and has been a nice change from the constant cloud of deadlines I could never seem to shake during school. That I do not miss. 

And the Winner is...

Overall, both full-time student and full-time professional require commitment and lots of hard work. They are difficult in different ways. I have yet to have to take and pass a written test in my job, thank goodness. And in school you don't have to worry too much about teaching yourself the material, which is pretty much all I do at work. In the end, I'm a fan of the real world, sure I miss the friends I made and getting a different schedule every term (always loved picking my classes and getting my schedule), but making money and actually contributing to the world is so much better and more fulfilling!