Full-time Work & Grad Student | Finishing Grad School in 1.5 Years

How I completed my master's degree while working full-time in 1.5 years.

Kingteeuhh Grad '17

 

I’ve been pretty vocal about the fact that I work a full-time job and am a full-time graduate student for the last year and a half. If you’ve been a college student at any level, you’re probably thinking “oh hell no,” and trust me after undergrad I vowed to never do it again.

Short story time. During my last year of undergrad, my financial aid changed drastically and I didn’t have enough money to finish the year. I was made aware of this about halfway through the first quarter, which didn’t leave much time to adjust. After exhausting all options, I ended up dropping all the classes I didn’t need to graduate and was lucky enough to get an engineering co-op at a nearby pharmaceutical manufacturing company. The only class I had left to graduate was physics 2. Bruh.

 

 

Let me explain my schedule at the time. I worked as a packaging engineer co-op Monday through Friday from 7 am to 3:30 pm, then physics 2 class and lab 3 days a week from 4 to 6 pm. Did I mention this was winter quarter in Rochester (upstate), NY? Somehow I made it through that grueling semester, passed physics 2 and graduated. There is a lot of stress and little sleep already associated with college, but add a full-time job to that and it’s enough to drive you crazy. After that experience, I vowed that I would never work full-time and take classes again.Masters Degree Kingteeuhh

Fast forward to August 2015 when I started my first semester at Johns Hopkins University and what was I doing? You guessed it, working a full-time job with the federal government. Life is funny that way. I should mention that I didn’t end up in this scenario again for lack of trying. I got accepted to regular full-time graduate programs initially but because funding didn’t come through I deferred my enrollment. What can I say, I didn’t want to incur any more student loan debt.

Since I was working full-time, I decided to transfer my enrollment from the regular day program to the Engineers for Professionals program. This program is designed for people who work a full-time job and generally offer courses in the evening. The Materials Science and Engineering EP program requires completing 10 courses to in no more than 5 years.

Why Finish in 1.5 Years?

Throughout my time in grad school, I got so many questions about the pace I set for myself, which was without a doubt quick. Most semesters I was taking two classes, and one semester I even took 3…while still working a full-time job. My federal position is not to exceed 2 years and lucky for me I started school the same month I started this job. What this meant for me is that I needed to do whatever I had to do to finish school by or before I finished this job. I needed to be able to leverage a new degree to get my next position, otherwise, what was the point? Another thing I considered was that my agency was willing to pay for some of my courses. The more classes I took there meant fewer loans for me to take out and I’m trying to break up with Sallie. A lot of people didn’t understand my “rush” and encouraged me to slow down, but it was a good lesson in everyone not understanding your vision. I knew why I was moving quickly and that was all that was important.

 

MSE JHU Kingteeuhh

 

How I Did It

From start to finish it took me 5 semesters to complete the program, beginning in August 2015 and finishing May 2017. I graduate tomorrow morning, May 22, and it still doesn’t seem real. To be honest it still feels like I just started.

Fall ’15:

Structures & Properties of Materials

Spring ’16:

Engineering Materials: Properties and Selection

Introduction to Project Management

Regulation of Medical Devices

Summer ’16:

Intro to Electronic Packaging

Intro to Nanotechnology

Fall ’16:

Nanomaterials

Nanotechnology and the Environment: Applications and Implications

Spring ’16:

Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Materials

Environmental Policy Needs in Developing Countries

 

So many lessons to unpack from grad school, but I’ll tackle that in another post. For now (and the rest of 2017), we celebrate!

Kingteeuhh Grad Celebration

 

All photos in this post were taken by DMV photographer, @in11views, check her out!

24 Comments

  1. Wow, this is so inspirational! Congratulations! This just proves that if you put your mind to something, and really want it enough, you will find the time and energy to achieve it. Thank you for sharing. Go celebrate, you deserve it!

  2. You are amazing! CONGRATS and MANY BLESSINGS to you on your next journey. I love how you tuned everyone out and followed through with YOUR vision. It’s easy to get side tracked when folks are in your ear, especially when they mean well or are just concerned. But kudos to you for pursuing your goal on your set time! YAYYYYYYY! I’m so happy for you and I wish you nothing but God’s best 🙂

    Oh and these photos are beautiful!

  3. Wow, congratulations on not giving up and fighting on even after your financial aid changed so drastically.

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