School and Work

[NRyan2013]

Hey everyone,

Here's current plan for life.

Starting in the Spring I'm enrolling in a AAS Paramedics program here in KC, MO. I'm planning to use that to hopefully get a job while I start/finish my schooling to become an ASL Interpreter.

Here are my questions:
1. Does this seem too farfetched to actually work out?

2. Based on your experiences, would it even be possible to juggle working as a paramedic and going to school part time? (roughly 2-3 hours of class per day, 3 days/week)

3. Do you think it would be possible to be both a paramedic and an medical interpreter for the deaf? Whether I do both of those at the same hospital or not.

4. When it comes to money, would I make enough to live on my own (probably paying $400-500/month for a place to live) or would I need to find a roommate?

Thanks for all your help! I really want to know if this would be a good idea or if I should look at doing them one at a time...

 

[Arovetli]

Hey everyone,

Here's current plan for life.

Starting in the Spring I'm enrolling in a AAS Paramedics program here in KC, MO. I'm planning to use that to hopefully get a job while I start/finish my schooling to become an ASL Interpreter.

Here are my questions:
1. Does this seem too farfetched to actually work out?

2. Based on your experiences, would it even be possible to juggle working as a paramedic and going to school part time? (roughly 2-3 hours of class per day, 3 days/week)

3. Do you think it would be possible to be both a paramedic and an medical interpreter for the deaf? Whether I do both of those at the same hospital or not.

4. When it comes to money, would I make enough to live on my own (probably paying $400-500/month for a place to live) or would I need to find a roommate?

Thanks for all your help! I really want to know if this would be a good idea or if I should look at doing them one at a time...

Seriously...do the this things in life that make you happy. Coming to the internet with your life plan is going to cause people like me to just tell you to go play with girls, which is a true and valid reply, but is a humorous response to everyone who comes here looking for Yoda to emerge from Dagobah swamps and hit them with a one-liner of jumbled syntax to live their life by. Its a huge world and you can do whatever you want. Yes you can be a paramedic plus whatever the heck you want. I don't know how much it costs to live where you are at but apartments.com will be glad to help with that. Everyone works a lot and/or attends school. blah blah blah girls.

Just be smart, safe, and happy. Life will be alright.

 

[Akulahawk]

I will say something very similar: you need to do what makes you happy. There is a possibility that doing what makes you happy becomes a big conflict between what you can afford and what you need to do. That being said, it may very well be possible to do what makes you happy and achieve the goals that you have set out for yourself. Since I do not know the likelihood of you getting a job as a paramedic in your area, I do not know the schedule that you would be wanting to have as a student, and a whole host of other variables, there is no way that I or anyone else could give you anything close to a realistic review as to whether or not your plan is workable or not.

Since only you know your variables that are in play, I suggest that you take a calendar (preferably a very big one) and essentially plot out all of the things that you have to do in order to make your life plan work. That means figuring out what your paramedic schooling is, what your ASL schooling would be, when both would occur, and how you intend to blend the schooling and work together. There is also a very big possibility that work as a paramedic may end up dominating your decision-making process because your boss may tell you that you can only work certain days, or your boss may assign you certain shifts, or your boss may say that your availability does not match what they need, and therefore you need to make a decision about work vs. school.

So, do what makes you happy, and try to figure out the rest so that it is all workable.

 

[rockyfortune]

I'm not in the same boat as you...i was recently laid off from a job of 12 years...for about the last 2 years of the job i hated it...it sucked and i couldn't wait to get out..the money kept me there though--until they forced me to leave...it took me about a month of not working to realize that unless YOU do WTF you want to do with your life--someone else will make that decision for you..whether its going back to the same miserable type job you had or taking some boring...unfulfilling sentence of a career...

i may not make the same money as i was making and that takes time to get used to..but i know this is what I want to do...and doing what makes you happy is the only way to go. Take the shot..be fearless..if it works out then you are happy..if it doesn't go the way you planned at least you gave it a shot.

 

[joshrunkle35]

It is perfectly possible to do school and work at the same time. I just finished medic school two weeks ago, and for a long while there, I was doing medic school, clinicals, working two part time jobs, taking 4 classes at a different school towards my associates and taking 2 classes at another university towards my bachelors. This fall I am taking 5 classes towards my associates (Columbus state) and 3 towards my bachelors (OSU) and still working 2 part time jobs with hopefully a full-time position in the ER as well. As long as you don't mind never sleeping, anything is possible. I have a 3.8 at Columbus state and a 4.0 at OSU.

So...time-wise, it is very possible. My girlfriend and I see each other for an hour or two 3-4 days a week and try to spend one night a week as a date night. Life is very manageable, but I really don't sleep much.

My sister is deaf and I have used sign language my whole life (SEE and ASL). If you have a very specific passion to do that, then you should. If you're thinking of it as an "opportunity", it's not. You'll go to school for 2 and a half years to make $10 an hour. If you are looking to make money, finish your bachelors and go to PA school. Or really, do any other field except being a translator. If, however it's something you are passionate about, then, by all means, do it.