What do you do in the summers when you're a PhD student.

[bob loblaw]

Just wondering what the typical summer looks like for a PhD Student:

• In year 1 (still completing coursework)
• In year 2 (almost done with coursework/quals?)
• In years 3 onward? 

I know some schools have different cultures around industry internships but wanted to get a sense of this.  

Thanks!

[Stat Assistant Professor]

It depends when the qualifying exams are. Some schools have them in August, in which case, you would probably spend the summer preparing. Others have them in May, so in that case, you could be done with them after May. I would say:

• Summer after year 1: study for quals if the exams are in August, TA or teach summer class
• Summer after year 2: study for quals if there is a second written exam. If not, then TA or teach, start research
• Summers 3 and beyond: TA or teach, continue PhD research
• Summer before intended graduation: summer internship

I have found that many PhD students like to do a summer internship the summer before their intended graduation (some do more than one internship, but one seems to be sufficient to get your foot in the door).

Edited January 15, 2021 by Stat Assistant Professor

[bob loblaw]

On 1/15/2021 at 2:09 PM, Stat Assistant Professor said:

It depends when the qualifying exams are. Some schools have them in August, in which case, you would probably spend the summer preparing. Others have them in May, so in that case, you could be done with them after May. I would say:

• Summer after year 1: study for quals if the exams are in August, TA or teach summer class
• Summer after year 2: study for quals if there is a second written exam. If not, then TA or teach, start research
• Summers 3 and beyond: TA or teach, continue PhD research
• Summer before intended graduation: summer internship

I have found that many PhD students like to do a summer internship the summer before their intended graduation (some do more than one internship, but one seems to be sufficient to get your foot in the door).

Thank you professor!  Do some students in your program take a bunch of time off during the summers or is that uncommon?

[statsguy]

It will vary by department, when you take the quals etc. In my case it was:

After year 1: research project with a small stipend. Basically to get you used to doing research, reading journal articles etc. I read several articles of interest, reproduced the results while at the same time teaching myself to write code. Some students already entered the PhD program with an advisor in mind so they basically jumped right into research.  TA-ships were available for a limited number of students but we all got a small stipend ($2500/summer) to help keep us afloat. Being a summer TA would've doubled summer funding to $5000.

After year 2: prepare for quals which are taken in August. Do research or a consulting project. Again, small stipend ($2500) with TA-ships available (another $2,500) if desired for a limited number of students (this was highly discouraged for those studying for quals).

After year 3: start getting serious about research and preparing for the prelim oral exam. Do research. TA-ships ($2,500/summer) and grad instructor positions ($5,000/summer) available again. Some students did an industry internship this summer as well.

After year 4: By the end of year 4 you should've finish your prelim oral exam. Work on dissertation/research and be a summer TA or grad instructor. Some industry-bound students also did an internship this year.

Edited January 20, 2021 by statsguy

[Stat Assistant Professor]

3 hours ago, bob loblaw said:

Thank you professor!  Do some students in your program take a bunch of time off during the summers or is that uncommon?

Yes, you should feel free to take some time off during the summers. It's not good for your mental health (nor productive, tbh) to work all the time without a break! At my PhD program, the summer was divided into two sessions (so summer classes were offered in two 6 week sessions from May to mid-June and from late June-early August). 

Most of the PhD students went back home (international students often went back to their home country) and/or traveled within the U.S. during one summer session. And the other session, they TA'd, RA'd, or in some cases, taught their own class.

Edited January 20, 2021 by Stat Assistant Professor

[bayessays]

4 hours ago, bob loblaw said:

Thank you professor!  Do some students in your program take a bunch of time off during the summers or is that uncommon?

If by "bunch of time off" you are interested in taking literally the whole summer off, this will vary heavily by program.  Some programs I've talked to have no expectations of their students outside of the school year and you're free to take internships, travel, do whatever you want.  On the other hand, I'm on a year-round fellowship so I'm expected to do research during the summers or would have to forfeit my stipend.

[statsguy]

19 hours ago, bayessays said:

If by "bunch of time off" you are interested in taking literally the whole summer off, this will vary heavily by program.  Some programs I've talked to have no expectations of their students outside of the school year and you're free to take internships, travel, do whatever you want.  On the other hand, I'm on a year-round fellowship so I'm expected to do research during the summers or would have to forfeit my stipend.

Taking 4-6 weeks off in the summer, 1-2 weeks off in the winter, 1 week in the spring, would have been totally acceptable in our department. However, if you're looking at getting a good academic position (need to publish lots of papers), or even just looking to finish comfortably within 5 years and go into industry, it becomes incredibly difficult to put in the shear number of hours if you take 3-4 months off in the summer. Plus there's the issue of atrophy as well when you totally tune out for so long.

Prior to when I entered, there were stories of students who backpacked all summer or worked full-time at hipster coffee shops while bartending or playing gigs at night with their band, and it would take them 7-8 years to graduate only to get a mediocre industry position. The department put an end to this by only guaranteeing 5 years of funding, pushing the qualifying exam out to after year 2, instating mandatory summer research after first year, and most importantly, providing summer funding.

If summers off is what you are looking for, I don't think you'll find it in a Stat PhD program.

[bob loblaw]

Thank you @Stat Assistant Professor, @bayessays, @statsguy. 

This is all very helpful perspectives.  I'm definitely not looking for entire summers off.  From my perspective having 4-6 weeks off in the summer is incredibly long!   That kind of time off doesn't happen when working in industry.  I just wanted to get a sense of how summers work when you're a PhD student. 

@bayessays: if you're on a year-round fellowship, are you allowed any time off? 

[bayessays]

I get time off during breaks, and can take a few weeks completely off in the summer.  Also, my only obligation during summers will be to do research, so I could probably do that remotely as well.  I totally understand wanting even a few weeks off - when I was in industry, I certainly did not appreciate the monotony and I think you'll definitely be able to get what you're looking for where you have a few weeks every few months to sort of unwind.