Best During The Semester Job for College Students

Hey WSO,

As a current college student, I've been looking to put a little more cash into my pocket. I know that the stereotypical job for a college student during the semester is an on-campus job. But, I'm curious to know if you guys have any other unique suggestions for earning some money during the semester. Preferably, not illegal.

Bartender? Paid fall internship? Prostitution (just kidding)?

 

Like syntheticshit said, just about any campus position you can get (parking attendant, library checkout guy, etc) that lets you study and occasionally press a button/ring up a purchase.

If you need to build your resume, look for a paid internship.

If you can't pull either of those, Starbucks, at least you should be able to pull some tail.

"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee
 

i worked at a MM bank 3 days a week for about 3 months, 25-30 hrs a week

advice: do NOT fall behind in classes, come midterms and finals you will be BURNT THE FUCK OUT to cram a lot of material (without adderoll or coke that is)

also, make sure you go out and seriously party at least 1 night a week (prob sat night). you need to blow off steam since your gna be busy as hell and still have school work to do on top of work

best of luck and congrats on the position

 

I worked two to three days a week at my current firm all through college. Nothing wrong with the extra cash. Just make sure to not overextend yourself and blow off steam every now and then.

CNBC sucks "This financial crisis is worse than a divorce. I've lost all my money, but the wife is still here." - Client after getting blown up
 

This would be gold on the resume, assuming you keep your grades up and fulfill all your other responsibilities. You have to have the endurance to give your job 100% and then get off work and start cranking again while your less ambitious friends are screwing around. In a future interview, you can show you can burn the midnight oil and keep your work output high.

I wouldn't set any particular night to go out and blow off steam. I'd let your workload dictate it. No homework/quizzes/tests on a Wednesday with a light week ahead? Do something crazy Tuesday night. Just go with the flow but try not to have too many "I know I'm going to regret this in the morning but it's worth it right now nights" too often through the week and you should be ok and avoid burnout. If you put your mind to it, you'd be surprised how you can get everything done and still have some free time.

 

a full time position during the school year? Not with a bulge bracket, and probably no small team either. And even then, it would be an internship, not a job. A real job by definition is something you dedicate all your time to (at least here) and therefore couldn't handle if you had even 3-4 classes. Your question is not clear.

 

I started interning bet. Fresh/Soph year and interned for about a year and a half throughtout the year as well until they hired me. And yes I am currently in college entering senior year. There are a couple people who have done the same but the only way you can get to that step is having a relative open the door for you, the rest of the road you pave yourself.

 

It depends on how you define working. A "standard" analyst position supposedly requires ~80 hours per week of your time. If that is the case, I would say no. You barely have enough time to wipe your ass, forget about going to class full time and still doing well. Anything less, I don't think most people would consider a "hired analyst". Most would consider you still an intern until you work full time.

 

One friend of mine worked full time while in school. He worked at a real estate ib boutique that he got into via family connections. He was in a full course load and would frequently skip class to work instead. He pulled mostly Bs in his classes while working about 60 hours a week. He would tell his bosses when his exams and major assignments were coming up in advance and they were pretty reasonable about him taking a day off when school was intense.

 

Anything that gets you in the door at a big name firm would be fine. You're an 18 year old in coming Freshman so itll be tough to impossible to get anything substantive but just being there and meeting people could help. The other option is to do something you want to do/have fun at a job for a year or two and not worry about getting the resume fodder just yet.

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 
happypantsmcgee:
Anything that gets you in the door at a big name firm would be fine. You're an 18 year old in coming Freshman so itll be tough to impossible to get anything substantive but just being there and meeting people could help. The other option is to do something you want to do/have fun at a job for a year or two and not worry about getting the resume fodder just yet.
Thanks. Do you have any suggestions?
 

I would just do a search on google and find the email addresses for financial firms and such then just email them and explain the situation. Put enough out there and you'll eventually get some hits. You have nothing but time so get at it and be patient.

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 

You can try search engine evaluation if you have a PC (most require one). Usually pays $13-16/hr and you can do it from home.

"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee
 

Worked in food services (Pinkberry) and did freelance design/PR/marketing the rest of the time. Pretty lucrative. I just crawled Craigslist and Elance and picked up odd jobs here and there (and got some great hits for the resume).

Currently: future neurologist, current psychotherapist Previously: investor relations (top consulting firm), M&A consulting (Big 4), M&A banking (MM)
 

Worked in the communications school, I literally sat there for my shift and stared at the hot communications major girls that walked by or into the office to get filming equipment.

Did a bouncer gig for a little too which paid pretty nice but got sick of it real quick.

Frank Sinatra - "Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy."
 

I knew a girl that was a liquor rep while she was in school. She'd get free cases of booze delivered to her dorm every weekend and basically got paid to drink it and promote the different brands. Not a bad gig for while your in school if you ask me

 
VersacePython:

I knew a girl that was a liquor rep while she was in school. She'd get free cases of booze delivered to her dorm every weekend and basically got paid to drink it and promote the different brands. Not a bad gig for while your in school if you ask me

Had a few friends do this for energy drinks.

"For I am a sinner in the hands of an angry God. Bloody Mary full of vodka, blessed are you among cocktails. Pray for me now and at the hour of my death, which I hope is soon. Amen."
 

I work as a TA for a finance class teaching bloomberg/capIQ and get 12 bucks an hour. Pretty sweet deal, not too hard and can work a decent amount of hours, plus it looks great on a resume. If you have the chance TA could be a good route for the spring semester

"I must create a system or be enslaved by another man's." William Blake
 
floppity:
chicandtoughness:
floppity:

online poker

Where did you play?

ftp. cashed out when i started work which was about a year before black friday

Nice. What were your limits? I did some low/micro-lim poker in college and earned maybe $50 total over the course of the few months I played. Always regretted not trying for higher stakes.
Currently: future neurologist, current psychotherapist Previously: investor relations (top consulting firm), M&A consulting (Big 4), M&A banking (MM)
 
Best Response
chicandtoughness:
floppity:
chicandtoughness:
floppity:

online poker

Where did you play?

ftp. cashed out when i started work which was about a year before black friday

Nice. What were your limits? I did some low/micro-lim poker in college and earned maybe $50 total over the course of the few months I played. Always regretted not trying for higher stakes.

My bread/butter were 55/110 6-max nlhe turbo sngs. I sometimes took shots at 220+'s but found the competition to play a really diff game there that I didn't adjust to well. Usually did like 6 tables at a time for this.

And then 6-max superturbos came out and I was crushing them at 10%+ ROI so I just 12-tabled $10 - $20 games for a while before I stopped for work. I used to be pretty active on the 2p2 sng forums.

Earnings were good enough to cover all my expenditures + exgf expenses in college and an unpaid internship in NYC. So I was able to say I financed my internship in NYC with poker but didn't make nearly enough to cover tuition like some other people I know.

 

I don't know why, but one summer when I stayed at school I took a job as a dispatcher aka like Farva from Super Troopers. It was fun to tell you the truth. I got to learn the best ways to deal with situations that might arise in college (underage drinking, dui, etc) and how to maybe get out of them. We had a couple bomb threats on campus and also some big time athletes get in trouble so I got to deal with media outlets. Kept you entertained to say the least.

 

Last summer I was a wildland firefighter, because of that last spring I had to do 80-hours of training in one month while I was in school. I have so many stories I don't even know where to start: running away from wild bear, trailing fire, saving small community (w/ my teammates), encountering two wild dogs, hiking for few miles up the slope while carrying over 70lb of equipment (40% of my weight) on my back.

You think working 80 hours/week in office is hard? Try over 100 hours/week when all you do is physical work under hot son while wearing thick pants, 2 shirts (w/ sleeves), heavy boots, gloves, and 25lb backpack (most of it was watter). We've got 6 hours of sleep every night. Every time we had 10-15 minute breaks (1 break in 2 hours) everyone were napping. During 1-hour lunch we ate food under 10 minutes and slept the rest of time. Between 8AM and 8PM we drank at least 2 gallons of water.

 

My jobs have been, in order of oldest to latest, with age included:

Caddy [15] Writing random 200-word paragraphs about random words for a search engine-optimizing company [16] Barista and then Baker (Cosi) [16] Barista (Seattle's Best Coffee) 17 Bookseller (Borders) 17 Dairy Queen [18] Vector Marketing Sales Rep (Bull**** job/company) [18] Optician, and later lab technician, at three different opticals [18-20]

I also made a couple grand in middle school buying and re-selling Air Heads Roll Ups before the vice principal told me to cut it out. And one of the opticals at which I worked was closing their Ray Ban line and I bought about 300 pairs or sunglasses and Rx frames at $30 a pop. I sell them on Ebay when I find time for around $80 on average.

I'm 20 now and quit my last job because I don't need the money anymore (Undergrad is paid for with a good bit left over) and am focusing on school.

The quantity is high because I always left for better offers; never been fired and always put in my two weeks.

Got lucky at 18 with the optician jobs because I was averaging $30./hr with commissions at 19 and working up to 60 hours a week (overtime).

I don't know whether I should reveal at how many places I've worked during interviews. I usually only list the last two employers, but I've had no IB interviews yet.

 

I worked at a printing factory in a troubled area in my hometown. Aside from the mundane labor, working with my co-workers taught me A) who in the neighborhood could bootleg cable for me B) how to pick out fake jordans and C) that hypnotic goes with almost all mixers if you can be creative enough.

No joke - I got paid $10/hour to work the night shift and be cultured by Larry. Unforgettable experience, but it will not go down on my resume.

 

I worked with the Athletic Director at my UG to pretty much create me an internship for a semester and did that part time. It was sweet. I also got paid to be Student Government President. Also sweet.

Other than that, part time jobs suck horribly. I worked at GameStop for 6 months. Kill me

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 
CRE:

I worked with the Athletic Director at my UG to pretty much create me an internship for a semester and did that part time. It was sweet. I also got paid to be Student Government President. Also sweet.

Other than that, part time jobs suck horribly. I worked at GameStop for 6 months. Kill me

Haha Gamespot...oh boy. At least you got to see peoples' faces when you tell them you'll buy a completely new game for $3 when they're selling you their used.

 
CRE:

I worked with the Athletic Director at my UG to pretty much create me an internship for a semester and did that part time. It was sweet. I also got paid to be Student Government President. Also sweet.

Other than that, part time jobs suck horribly. I worked at GameStop for 6 months. Kill me

Were you guys carrying Battletoads at the time?

 

I took a job as a chef at a dive bar for a while. Free food, free alcohol, fun coworkers, and the hours were like 6-midnight, so you get off work and go out. It was a sweet gig.

 

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