Note: This document is primarily intended for graduate students conducting research (Ph.D. students or master's students who are writing a thesis).
Assumption: The underlying assumption of having "work-life balance" in a research lab is that, regardless of how much you get paid, a graduate student is a full-time job.
- How to cope with rejection (https://www.loom.com/share/89bfb10668d94595b265a156126474a5, Credit: Aditya Parameswaran)
- A Ph.D. student is a tough job because you have to do lots of different tasks.
- One of the challenges is that you are (typically) getting paid for less than the actual hours that you work
- If you are on an assistantship (GTA/GRA), this means that you are getting paid for the work that you do towards a research project or teaching. Typically, it is up to 20 hrs a week. Also, note that taking coursework does not count towards your research.
- Does that mean that your responsibility is done if you work 20 hrs? Totally, except for the fact that you will not be able to graduate and get a Ph.D. If you work only 20 hrs a week, because you will spend all of your time doing something that is not going to contribute to your dissertation. GRA's work can match your dissertation sometimes, but it is a very lucky case.
- For example, there are so many disciplines that have no GRA at all. (i.e., social science, education, etc.). Suppose a Ph.D. student is funded solely through a GTA position and does not work outside of their teaching responsibilities. That means they are not writing their dissertation, and therefore cannot obtain a Ph.D.
- Other than 20 hrs a week's responsibility, the rest of the time is up to you. If you work zero hours on your research, that's fine, but you won't be able to get a Ph.D. then. Therefore, advisors have to expect you to work more hours than you are getting paid for, not because they want to get free labor, but because it is their responsibility and goal to advise their students to successfully complete a Ph.D. More importantly, it is because that is what you signed up for. Yes, you signed up for it. I hope nobody asked (or is forcing) you to do a Ph.D. I discourage people from getting a Ph.D. because it is a financially ridiculous thing to do.
- Let's say that you are taking two courses and one seminar (7 credits = 7 hours per week) and are working as a GTA (20 hours per week), based on the assumption that you will spend 14 hours per week for courses that you take (7 hrs for attending the class, extra 7 hrs for doing homework, preparing exams). If you work 34 hours a week for your coursework and GTA and still work zero hours for your research, you won't be able to graduate. Even before that, you won't be able to pass the qualifier exam because, typically, the qualifier exam is to check if the student is ready for Ph.D. research, which is proven by publications. So yes, you won't get to the point where you are done with the coursework requirement and finally have time to work on your research. Therefore, you would have to work an additional X number of hours (on top of 34 hours) to make some progress in your research with your advisor. If X is 6, it is 40 hrs a week (a typical full-time worker), but your progress is going to be slow. If X is 16, you work 50 hrs a week, and you will make more progress. If X is 0, you work 34 hours a week, but you are almost guaranteed to get no Ph.D. out of this.
- Let's face it; why would you want to work 34 hours a week and be guaranteed not to get a Ph.D.? Is this something that you want to do? Doing a Ph.D. is not for everyone. It is for something for those who would have other types of rewarding functions along the way.
- Some may ask me how many hours I have to work as a Ph.D. student. That is the wrong question. Also, some people ask me how many years it takes to get a Ph.D.? The right question are
- Do you want to get a Ph.D.?
- How quickly do you want to get it?
- What kinds of career goals do you have? How many publications do you need to accomplish the goal typically?
- How many papers did those who have already accomplished what you want to accomplish when they graduated? (Hint: search people who are in the same research areas.)
- If you have answers to those questions, please determine how many hours you estimate it will take to accomplish your goal. (Warning: What you estimate can be wrong, so check out other people's cases) If you are unsure, set X to a non-zero value and see if you are satisfied with the progress. I will be happy to discuss this in person.
- This is purely for research hours
- Not the hours you spend on other activities (etc., GRA, GTA, coursework, services). X hours in the previous section
- Know how much you want to work (Desire).
- Keep track of your time (Reality).
- Know how much you (actually) work.
- Hint: it is not the number of hours that you use your laptop, nor the number of hours that you are in school.
- Actively keep track of your time.
- I recommend that you log your time in a paper notebook. (read this: https://www.calnewport.com/blog/2013/12/21/deep-habits-the-importance-of-planning-every-minute-of-your-work-day/)
- Reduce the discrepancy.: Match the reality with your desire, or adjust your desire to match your reality. Be honest with yourself.
- I don't care.: I don't care about your desire(1) until 2 and 3 are satisfied. If I have to care about your desire(1) because you are not making any meaningful progress, even if 2 and 3 are satisfied, it is probably one of these cases:
- Your time tracking is incorrect.
- You are lying (to yourself or to me).
- You are not serious about this job (e.g., you desire to work 5 hours a week).
- Maybe research is not for you (e.g., if you work 40 hrs a week, but you are not getting anywhere, that means something).
- (Which one are you?)
- Being a graduate student is tough, and (hopefully) you DESERVE time off without feeling guilty and work stress. This is important to recharge yourself and gain energy for the upcoming semesters. (I call this recharge guilty feelings by doing nothing.) The only thing that I ask you is to let me know in advance so that I can cancel the meeting, and do not feel offended when you completely ignore me.
- A graduate student that I advise gets 15 working days off per year. One needs to tell me 2 X N working days before the off-days, where N is the number of days that you are going to use for vacation. e.g., If you are going to take a day off on Monday, you have to tell me at the latest Thursday (2 working days before Monday).
- At the beginning of every academic year (September), you will get new 15 working days (sorry, no rollover).
- However, if not noted, I would assume that you will be working and responsive (online), regardless of where you are. For example, without prior notice, I will be expecting you to work during the Winter break or Spring break (and I don't recommend that. You need a break)
- Holidays defined by HR at VT are off by default. (You don't use vacation days on these days.) https://www.hr.vt.edu/benefits/leave/holiday-closing-schedule.html
- Being in a different physical location does not mean that you are forced to use your vacation day; you can be online and work remotely.
- You do not have to work on weekends or holidays (defined by HR at Virginia Tech), although you can if you would like to distribute your work flexibly. One of the benefits of being an academic is that you can choose the times that you work, which means that you can distribute working hours in any way you want. However, I don't expect you to be responsive on weekends or holidays.
- Request your vacation without a guilty feeling via this form. No questions asked if you follow the policy. https://forms.gle/kwFWymeUjbrp9gVZA