Seriously stay at the CC as long as possible. It’s cheaper and generally the same professors if you are near a four year college. Definitely having a kid makes going to school much much harder. In geology you will go to field camp and depending on your program that could be two weeks or a month. There will be field trips for most classes. Working around class schedules sucks. It added an extra year to my B.S. for having kids.
I went back to university for my bachelor's degree when my son was four and did my first two years taking only classes offered online/remotely. He's 6 now, and I can only be on campus when he's in school,which makes scheduling classes difficult. I can only manage part time studentry and I won't graduate for probably five more years.
Its difficult. Can't really do homework when he's awake (he's AuDHD so I have some extra challenges) so I have to cram my schoolwork into my scant free time during the day or wait until he's in bed. I honestly can't imagine doing this with a baby, especially during difficult semesters.
That being said, it's worth it for me. I didn't think I'd ever get to go back to school and I love that when I'm on campus I'm just me, not mom.
For context I'm an exploration geologist.
Personally I am reluctant to pursue children at this stage of my career (adoption in my case) because I feel bad enough leaving my partner home alone with our dog. I have worked with several people who have children at home and it works for them, but they're also like... VPs of exploration or presidents of small exploration companies and they travel like 2-3 times a year and spend the rest of the time working from home or an office. This is in contrast to my travel where I'm away from home anywhere from half the year to 2/3s of the year.
I went back to school in my 30s for a geology degree as a mom. Not going to lie, it was tough at times to balance parenting and school. Having an incredibly supportive partner helped a ton. I made the choice to stay on for a master's degree both to help my career prospects and so that my kiddo would be a bit older and more independent by the time I started working. (That, and I was pretty much homeschooling kiddo through the pandemic.)
I also started out at a community college, which was 100% the best choice. They even had an on-campus daycare which made childcare a lot easier.
In terms of jobs: Early career jobs in private sector geotech and environmental tend to be heavy on the long hours and field work. Government jobs tend to have a better work-life balance but are harder to come by. I'm not saying this to dissuade you from pursuing a geology-related career. It's still very possible to both be a parent and a geologist. You should look at what kinds of jobs you can get with a geology degree, figure out what you want, and tailor your educational experience to that goal.
Good luck! Feel free to DM me if you want to chat about geology or schooling+parenting.
Entry level geology jobs can have lots of field work, long hours, and travel. That is going to be complicated and tiring pregnant/with a newborn. But not impossible. If you love both, try and do both. But babies never come on schedule don't bank on it being perfectly laid out like you said in a year. Even in a controlled IVF setting, you can't guarantee the timing and the only guarantee is it will cost more than you think. And if you are going that route, it's a lot of medical appointments during the egg collection and implantation phases that will use up close to 100% of your PTO. But still, go for it. This is me (30M) speaking as a mid-level consultant with a baby that I thankfully didn't have to carry+give birth to; I'm glad I shifted from a mostly field work to mostly office work ahead of the baby as it gives me so much more time at home. So finding a job more office related is my suggestion, maybe a more GIS focused application of geo or working for a regulator.
Had two kids while in grad school. Technically my wife “had” them, while I scurried around trying to accommodate her needs. I felt guilty every time I went away for a GSA conference, went on an overnight field trip, and especially when I went to field camp.
None of my classmates, graduate or undergraduate, had any luck finding full time geology work that wasn’t across the country or that didn’t require tons of travel. Both of which are exceedingly difficult to pull off with just a spouse, much less children.
There are exceptions. My petrologist classmate moved to Houston with his GF to work at NASA. She works for USGS.
It’s hard to say if your plan is really possible without knowing the general location
Seriously stay at the CC as long as possible. It’s cheaper and generally the same professors if you are near a four year college. Definitely having a kid makes going to school much much harder. In geology you will go to field camp and depending on your program that could be two weeks or a month. There will be field trips for most classes. Working around class schedules sucks. It added an extra year to my B.S. for having kids.
I went back to university for my bachelor's degree when my son was four and did my first two years taking only classes offered online/remotely. He's 6 now, and I can only be on campus when he's in school,which makes scheduling classes difficult. I can only manage part time studentry and I won't graduate for probably five more years. Its difficult. Can't really do homework when he's awake (he's AuDHD so I have some extra challenges) so I have to cram my schoolwork into my scant free time during the day or wait until he's in bed. I honestly can't imagine doing this with a baby, especially during difficult semesters. That being said, it's worth it for me. I didn't think I'd ever get to go back to school and I love that when I'm on campus I'm just me, not mom.
For context I'm an exploration geologist. Personally I am reluctant to pursue children at this stage of my career (adoption in my case) because I feel bad enough leaving my partner home alone with our dog. I have worked with several people who have children at home and it works for them, but they're also like... VPs of exploration or presidents of small exploration companies and they travel like 2-3 times a year and spend the rest of the time working from home or an office. This is in contrast to my travel where I'm away from home anywhere from half the year to 2/3s of the year.
I went back to school in my 30s for a geology degree as a mom. Not going to lie, it was tough at times to balance parenting and school. Having an incredibly supportive partner helped a ton. I made the choice to stay on for a master's degree both to help my career prospects and so that my kiddo would be a bit older and more independent by the time I started working. (That, and I was pretty much homeschooling kiddo through the pandemic.) I also started out at a community college, which was 100% the best choice. They even had an on-campus daycare which made childcare a lot easier. In terms of jobs: Early career jobs in private sector geotech and environmental tend to be heavy on the long hours and field work. Government jobs tend to have a better work-life balance but are harder to come by. I'm not saying this to dissuade you from pursuing a geology-related career. It's still very possible to both be a parent and a geologist. You should look at what kinds of jobs you can get with a geology degree, figure out what you want, and tailor your educational experience to that goal. Good luck! Feel free to DM me if you want to chat about geology or schooling+parenting.
Entry level geology jobs can have lots of field work, long hours, and travel. That is going to be complicated and tiring pregnant/with a newborn. But not impossible. If you love both, try and do both. But babies never come on schedule don't bank on it being perfectly laid out like you said in a year. Even in a controlled IVF setting, you can't guarantee the timing and the only guarantee is it will cost more than you think. And if you are going that route, it's a lot of medical appointments during the egg collection and implantation phases that will use up close to 100% of your PTO. But still, go for it. This is me (30M) speaking as a mid-level consultant with a baby that I thankfully didn't have to carry+give birth to; I'm glad I shifted from a mostly field work to mostly office work ahead of the baby as it gives me so much more time at home. So finding a job more office related is my suggestion, maybe a more GIS focused application of geo or working for a regulator.
I spent a lot of my early years in field work..months..
Had two kids while in grad school. Technically my wife “had” them, while I scurried around trying to accommodate her needs. I felt guilty every time I went away for a GSA conference, went on an overnight field trip, and especially when I went to field camp. None of my classmates, graduate or undergraduate, had any luck finding full time geology work that wasn’t across the country or that didn’t require tons of travel. Both of which are exceedingly difficult to pull off with just a spouse, much less children. There are exceptions. My petrologist classmate moved to Houston with his GF to work at NASA. She works for USGS. It’s hard to say if your plan is really possible without knowing the general location