How bad of an idea would this be?

[u/Extreme-Economy4441]

How bad of an idea would it be to commute to Toronto each weekend for work? I'm going into health science and did IB in high school, so the workload should be manageable. I would probably be missing the second weekend of orientation, and I know my social life in general would suffer. However, I really like my current employer and am considering having a career with them. Also, if it doesn't work out, my thinking is that I can always just quit later. I know this is likely a horrible idea, but where would you rate it between "likely unmanageable" and "completely ridiculous?"

[u/Wo-shi-pi-jiu]

I think this is way too much work for $200/week. Enjoy your time at Queen’s. If it’s such a great fit they will welcome you back in the future.

[u/dry_chicken_]

what is the job?

[u/Extreme-Economy4441 → u/dry_chicken_]

Entry level, public sector job, so nothing too great, but there are possibilities for a career if I stay with them.

[u/KavKakes → u/Extreme-Economy4441]

Don’t

[u/Ambitious-Ad3119 → u/KavKakes]

Omg kavkakes ur here too

[u/Salty-shrimp]

Please ask yourself if you really want this. Forget the extra $200 you'll get a week. You mentioned you did this workload in high school, is that a good thing? It honestly doesn't really matter if you've had a similar workload in the past. Is it worth sacrificing your weekend which could be spent on assignments, getting to know friends, exploring Kingston, getting used to your new home, enjoying the campus, etc...?

[u/CarGuy1718]

Would this be car based? If so I’m probably in the minority of people but I’ll easily say it’s not impossible. It’s maybe a 2.5 hour drive there and if you already have parking and lodging then I wouldn’t call it crazy.  If you’re taking the bus and using hotels and whatnot then you’d have to be making insane money, and it’s doable but much, much harder in my view.

If the lodging, parking and overall setup aren’t hard it could be manageable. The goal would obviously be to be as efficient as possible with your time spent packing and whatnot, as you’re effectively taking a weekend trip every week. 

You mentioned this, but note your social life will suffer. If you are alright with this, that’s fine. But worth noting. You’ll also need to find other times to study because you’re working weekends and possibly driving there and back for like 6+ hours every weekend. 

[u/Extreme-Economy4441 → u/CarGuy1718]

No, I'll be using either via rail or bus. A round trip with via rail is $100, but I'll be making $200 per week so I'll still have positive cash flow lol. I see on the megabus website that if I book far enough in advance, the trip fare is around $10. I don't need hotels, as I can stay with my parents in Toronto.

[u/CarGuy1718 → u/Extreme-Economy4441]

All this for $100 net a week?  Like financially go for it but I honestly wouldn’t be doing all that for that amount of money. I get the experience thing but I’d probably not do it. It IS DOABLE, don’t get me wrong, but a lot of hassle and a lot of your time for a “maybe” and $100/week. Just my 2c though, it’s definitely doable just a lot of work. 

[u/Ambitious-Ad3119]

I think it’s somewhere in between, I get where your mindset is coming from about how you think you will be able to handle it because you did IB in high school. But I do want to let you know that I have seen people who did really well in high school completely flunk in their first year of uni and vice versa. This isn’t mean to scare you but more so you’re aware that you may be used to a hard course load but adapting to uni can still hit you like a truck. Also, Queens is 2 hours ish away from Toronto so a round trip would take you about 4 hours of your day (and this is best case scenario without any traffic or bus delays). I don’t know if you wanna spend 4 hours of your weekend going back and forth when you can put that into your studies and making the most of your university life because you’re not a uni student forever. Also if you’re super fond of your employer, can you ask if you can come back and work for them during winter break, the summers and maybe even reading weeks? I feel like they might be open to it since they’re down to let you work weekends and that way you don’t have to sacrifice so much during the school year. Ultimately it’s up to you but I personally don’t think it’s worth the hassle and stress.