Going back to school, what do I need to know?

amother

Mon, Feb 17 2020, 8:39 pm

I can't believe I'm doing this but looks like I am. I'm hoping to get a Bachelor's in Social Work and work on my Masters at a later point.
I'm feeling very lost and overwhelmed since I don't know anyone who did schooling after having kids and I have two under two.
Please share anything and everything you think I should know, people I should call, programs I should look into etc.
I will be looking for a part time job to do at the same time since I need to leave my current job. I'm looking to either do online schooling or evenings.
Of course I'll be doing research in real life as well, I just don't know where to start and it's very intimidating.

amother

Olive

Mon, Feb 17 2020, 8:41 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Do you have help? Two kids under two, part time job, and school in the evenings? You're a brave soul Smile

amother

Mon, Feb 17 2020, 8:43 pm

amother [ Olive ] wrote:

Do you have help? Two kids under two, part time job, and school in the evenings? You're a brave soul Smile

My husband is on board, my kids will be at daycare during the day and I'll have some cleaning help even if I have to take a loan to afford it. But yes, definitely feeling like this is a huge undertaking.
I feel like I need to do it now when my kids are very little so they won't really remember the chaos and since they have early bedtimes. Also because I want to be all set in a proper job by the time they reach grade school

amother

Olive

Mon, Feb 17 2020, 8:46 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

It is huge. I'd suggest starting slow, and seeing how much you can handle. If you'll get overwhelmed, you'll burn out pretty quickly.

HonesttoGod

Mon, Feb 17 2020, 8:48 pm

Where do you live?
I’ll assume NY. Do you want to go private (Touro/NYU) or public (CUNY).
Cuny will definitely save you money. Best bet is to
Look up colleges near you that offer th classes you want for the degree you want.

Make sure you have all your documents in order. Everything. All credits, diplomas, etc etc.

Make the most of the school of your choice by seeing an advisor there to help you choose classes etc. Many schools offer some in class some online options so you may be able to do eg a Sunday class for one subject and online for another. Online sounds easier than it is - they usually involve a LOT of reading and self discipline. And a LOT of work that in person classes don’t.
Night classes also sound great, but trust me no one enjoys going out of the house at 730 pm when the kids are in bed. That’s when you want pjs and pillows.

To balance a job/school I’d recommend to try work study - many schools offer it that you get a job on campus and get paid for it. They work with your class /home schedule.
Or a part time job on some days and choose classes only on the other days.

In regards to kids : it’s hard, I won’t lie. Cleaning help at least once a week isa. Must. Create a schedule and stick to it. Once the kids are in bed use a couple hours to study and get the sleep you need. Sleep will take over everything else such as dishes laundry and organizing Purim meals.

Good luck!

amother

Royalblue

Mon, Feb 17 2020, 8:53 pm

I took a break from college when I got married and started again after my second child was born. I realized that life wouldn’t be slowing down any time soon and it’s only going to get crazier as I have more children. I’ll be honest, it’s not easy at all. It’s impossible to get anything done while the kids are around. It takes a lot of dedication and late nights.

amother

Scarlet

Mon, Feb 17 2020, 9:34 pm

I went back to school for a second masters after several children while holding down a job. Best advice- realize some things are gonna have to slide. Make sure it is not your family. It is ok if the house is not perfectly tidy or meals are simple. Put your focus where it needs to be the most.

I did an online program which was easier in some ways (flexibility ) and more stressful in others (more assignments, stricter testing guidelines since professors didnt know us, and lack of the classroom atmosphere ) BUT it worked for me. Good luck- it's a lot of work, but well worth it!

amother

Vermilion

Tue, Feb 18 2020, 3:23 am

I went to school and had my baby in the beginning. It was extremely difficult as I barely had any time with my child. I had another baby when I graduated. I also worked part time. Yes! It is possible! There were a bunch of people in my class with more kids. Make sure the degree that you are going for is worth it. My degree was worth it, but for alot of others in my class they still dont have jobs.

amother

Tue, Feb 18 2020, 4:24 am

I want to work with people so that's why social worker spoke to me the most. I enjoy that kind of work and want to make it my main job. I don't know that much about the market for it but I do think there's a demand in the local schools. The other option I considered was special education, but social worker speaks more to me. Is the demand for special education in the frum community higher that social work?

Has anyone found scholarships for mothers that helped a lot?

jd1212

Tue, Feb 18 2020, 6:52 am

I really would discourage you from spending all that time and money and stress for a meaningful career that is unfortunately one of the lowest paid, if not the lowest paid degreed careers. If you’re getting a masters, I really don’t think it’s worthwhile unless you’ll be making AT LEAST $70,000. You just will be getting a poor return on your investment financially. From my understanding, social workers are more in the $35k-$45k range unless you’re in a hospital, which can be closer to $60kish, but I hear it’s not generally as well-liked of an option.

amother

Burgundy

Tue, Feb 18 2020, 6:56 am

jd1212 wrote:

This.

I’m a social worker, 5 years in and none of my friends or I cracked 40k a year. I only got this degree because I didn’t pay a dime for it, I love what I do but still think it was a poor investment financially. I would never take a dime of loans on it...

ora_43

Tue, Feb 18 2020, 7:11 am

JMHO, consider the option of doing school in the mornings, and working in the evenings from home, if that's an option.

Why - because classes sometimes need more brainpower than school, and it's easier to read 50 pages an hour or solve statistics exercises at 10 am and to do data entry or something else low-brainpower at 8pm, than the opposite.

But of course what's easiest depends on what jobs are available, what your classes are, etc.

One other thing to consider - if you go to an actual classroom with other people, you can often save time by working with others. Eg breaking a book into chapters, with each of you summarizing a chapter for the rest of the group, or doing exercises together. Learning online is more flexible but also tends to mean a lot less support. Again, it's up to you how important that factor is to you personally, doing this specific program (for me, learning social sciences online was fine, but math and programming were significantly harder that way).

amother

Tue, Feb 18 2020, 7:46 am

Thank you for sharing that about social work.

The other option I was considering was special education, there's definitely a demand in the frum community in Brooklyn but I feel like it's an over saturated market by now.

I really just need help figuring this out and have nowhere to turn to ask. I appreciate everything you're sharing, this is extremely valuable.

jd1212

Tue, Feb 18 2020, 7:56 am

The same goes in terms of salaries for special ed regarding salaries, except maybeeee if you’re working in a good public school system like NYC and you’ll be starting in mid-50k range but have superb benefits and a pension. I suggest looking on Glassdoor.com and browsing salaries for different professions. How about OT? That’s somewhat better-paid and probably $70k ish. You could work with kids or populations with special needs, etc. or a nurse, likely in mid 80k range in a hospital in NY, I believe.

Don’t think too much about demand, consider salary more. Do any of the healthcare fields interest you? Better paid than OT but still requiring only 2-3 years of graduate school (plus lots of fieldwork) would be a PA, a physician’s assistant, close to $100k.

amother

Bisque

Tue, Feb 18 2020, 8:06 am

amother [ Burgundy ] wrote:

If you didn't pay a dime, who paid for your masters?

amother

Burgundy

Tue, Feb 18 2020, 8:14 am

amother [ Bisque ] wrote:

If you didn't pay a dime, who paid for your masters?

Scholarship Bh. ( to clarify, I paid for my bachelors)

I also had very little expenses because I was single so family expenses were not a factor.