katzanova

A friend of mine already studying at Columbia opted out of work-study cause he said that it was better to get a real job since there was no limitation to how much he could work and get paid.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

cerberus08

Depends on what you want to do. Research may be a better option on campus or at the med school, if you're interested in other things then you may want to look off campus.
In general, though, you can get paid more off campus, but your pay may increase if you stay in a research job through your college career.

FarrCT

Hey cerberus08, would you recommend a freshmen get a research position during first semester or would it be better to just get a regular workstudy position at like the library? And also I was interested in the Academic Associate Program at St. Lukes, does anyone know if this is a good program or not? And finally what would a freshmen make per hr in a research position through workstudy? Thanks in advance guys!

Denzera

I found it easier to do some freelance IT consulting where I could charge $20 or $25 an hour, and work in my pajamas at midnight or whenever I felt like it, than to slave over a hot swipe desk for the peanuts they're paying you.

Marketable skills are the shiznit.

Shraf

if you're lucky enough to get a research position then and you are interested in that research then by all means go for it. The work study job you should do only if you need the extra money but you shouldnt do it instead of research

it gives you some good exposure to clinical research, the ER, and ER doctors...its an 8hr/week commitment

$0

why would they pay you to do it when there are 20 others who would be more than willing to do it just for the experience


in general, the reason why people opt to do work study or work on campus even though they could make more money elsewhere is because work study jobs tend to be really easy and you can actually sit there and do your HW while getting paid in some cases.... also they are more understanding of your class obligations and are more accommodating

Columbia2002

They only way to get paid in a "research" position would be if you're doing something in a lab that's not research at all, like being a lab tech or dishwasher or something.

katzanova

Denzera - how do you get that type of freelance? Through a company or advertising on your own?

confidentialcoll

"They only way to get paid in a "research" position would be if you're doing something in a lab that's not research at all, like being a lab tech or dishwasher or something."

i get paid to do research but it's not science research it's more engineering / international development, to be fair I started off doing office work and some research btch work, and worked my way up to independent research.

cerberus08

"They only way to get paid in a "research" position would be if you're doing something in a lab that's not research at all, like being a lab tech or dishwasher or something."

Not true. I worked in an opthamology lab. My best friend worked in Richard Alex's lab. My roommate worked in the Chem department and was pretty much a fixture. There are plenty of opportunities, and there will ALWAYS be ***** work, whether you're in a lab or an I-Bank. It's the way you learn: no one's going to make you do Western Blots during your first month. Your responsibilities will grow as your co workers learn your abilities and as you learn your way around the workplace

I agree with Denzera. Do freelance consulting or work at Credit Suisse like I did for a semester and get $18/hour--some of the big firms do hire interns during the semester, PM me if you'd like to talk about this more. Or work in a lab and get $8-$15/hour--not the $0 that Shraf claims. Although there may be kids who are willing to work for free for the experience, there are also smart kids out there who need the money. You decide what the better investment is.

Denzera

exactly. Nobody with a good work ethic is forced to work at swiping desks for $7 an hour.

Speaking personally, I got my jobs by (1) developing expertise in housing and talking to the housing director about a job, which I then had for 3 1/2 years, (2) browsing the Temp Time list and offering my services to PhD students working on their thesis, (3) Taking a summer job programming that resulted in part-time work periodically thereafter, remotely, (4) Working on the side for a partner in my consulting firm, who had a startup he was running on the side, and (5) Playing poker in clubs, I met a guy who needed some help with his small software business, so I would freelance for him.

Opportunities come in many shapes and sizes and if you're looking for them out there they can be found.

Shraf

denz, if i remember correctly you came out of HS with some marketable skills, like knowing how to program in certain languages....yet you don't really mention that and you make it seem like anyone could've walked into the housing office and gotten that job... i dont think it was ur "expertise" in housing that got you that job but your skills

Denzera

I hadn't programmed squat before I turned 18. I kinda-sorta-not-really taught myself PHP and MySQL between HS and college. That helped me very little to get the job with housing.

What helped me was, when people started wondering about housing for next year in january of freshman year, I read the 26-page document explaining the lottery rules and it made sense to me. I considered it complex but straightforward and found, to my surprise, that no one else seemed to get it. I started answering questions, then I started answering them on the message board, then when I went in to talk to Rob Lutomski (late of Columbia, now of New School) about something unrelated he offered me a job. Everything I did for him I learned on the fly, but I guess he was already convinced of my ability to learn things on the fly.

The habit of "going the extra mile" pays off in unexpected ways. Most people found this out simply by getting into Columbia, which requires a lot of "going the extra mile" just to stand out enough to get in. That sort of mentality should be stranger to nobody here. But the same that gets you recognized for your science project or your journalism skills will also get you jobs around campus and around the city.

karot

Well I think his skills lent him the expertise really. If he was answering housing questions before even getting to columbia and giving better answers on the housing boards than the staff, then I think you can attribute part of his hire to his familiarity with house.

Of course, that doesn't mean that anyone could have done what Denz did. He put in some serious work into figuring out how the system works to give the superb advice he had. Naturally, part of that came from skills but it's probably more accurate to say that the skills led to the expertise rather than consider the two separate.

cerberus08

Agreed. Denzera may play it off like it's not a big deal, but I think having a basic curiosity had something to do with it as well: the "kinda-sorta-not-really" teaching himself PHP and reading the housing manual.

From the sound of it, I wouldn't be surprised if he knew how to speak Elvish (do you?)

confidentialcoll

"Agreed. Denzera may play it off like it's not a big deal, but I think having a basic curiosity had something to do with it as well: the "kinda-sorta-not-really" teaching himself PHP and reading the housing manual."

But Denz does make a very valid point: all it takes to land a well above average job is learning basics in a few programming language, scrutinizing the housing manual, or equivalent. These are things that a high schooler smart enough to get into columbia can certaintly do with extra initiative and diligence. you don't need to have a degree in stats or computer science etc. or a high paying previous job to land yourself a $20/ hr job in new york / columbia.

I went from office work to some pretty sick research/analysis in a field that I knew little to nothing about by simply showing them that they (prof and his team) would benefit from analysis I could do.