Balance work, study and personal life

Some of you may want to know if it’s manageable to work and study at the same time. There is no unified answer. All I can say is it’s up to you. Hanken officially recommends students study full-time. But many of the master students I encounter at Hanken are either working part-time or even full-time while also having a family with small children. To keep both going, you sure need to exert more effort.  

Just a few tips from my personal experience: 

  • Be prepared to progress slower than your peers who are studying full time. You may feel stressed seeing other students started the same year graduate earlier. But since you have less time to study, you must progress on your own pace.  

  • Plan accordingly. Sometimes you may get ambitious and take courses more than you can handle. It’s also a personal choice whether you want to get higher grades or just complete as many credits as soon as possible. The workload varies a lot from course to course, even among courses bearing the same amount of credits.  

  • Read course description carefully on Oodi. Course descriptions list prerequisites and contents to help you evaluate the workload. Some courses are intellectually challenging. Some courses are more time consuming. Many courses arrange group projects.

  • Prioritize things you want to do. With limited time at hand, you really need to prioritize the things of your choice. So instead of asking if you can manage, try ask if it’s your priority. If it is, get determined and start working on it. 

Are you still hesitant? Well, that’s a good start! It means you are actively looking for a solution.