What's your schedule look like?

[rachaelski]

I am working on my PhD out of the College of Education at my university. Since many of COE students are working teachers, the majority of our classes are evening courses. As a full-time student, it is interesting because most of my day is open for reading, writing, and other good stuff. I was curious of what other's schedules are this term.

My schedule:

2 online courses (1 with an online meeting time weekly)

Tuesday @ 7:00pm

Wednesday @ 4:15pm

Thursday @ 4:15 I teach a class

Also, how many classes do you take as a full-time student; I am especially interested in hearing from doctoral students. I am taking 4 classes, and everyone acts like I am crazy. However, when I was working full-time as a teacher I took 2 classes, so it made sense for me to double my load once I was full-time....

[fuzzylogician]

I won't be meeting with my advisor to go over my class choices until next week but right now my plan is to take three (and a half) classes this semester:

Monday 2-5pm,

Tuesday 10-1pm

Wednesday 10-1pm

Thursday 2-5pm (starts in mid-October)

Apart from my classes I have three ongoing projects which I'm continuing from last year and I am in the process of starting a fourth one. All these involve several weekly meetings and a large time investment. I won't be TAing this semester (we're only required to TA for a total of two semesters of our graduate career; when students in my department TA, they are only expected to take on two classes). And I'm getting ready to take over as manager of our departmental student-run publishing business. So, I'm expecting to stay busy this year.

From what I understand 3 classes is the regular workload expected of us for a semester and I think four would already be considered a lot. But then, I think I'm more productive under time-pressure and when there's a lot to do, so I understand where you're question is coming from.

[jlee306]

Well, I'm not a Doctoral student, I'm a Specialist student (in between a doctoral level and a masters level), but I thought I would add my schedule in here.

For my program, 9 hours is full time. I am taking 11 hours and 3 classes (2 of which have practicums).

Monday:

Work 10:00a-3:00p

Break 3:00p-5:30p

Class 5:30p-9:20p

Tuesday:

Work 8:30a-1:30p

Break 1:30p-5:30p

Class 5:30p-8:20p

Wednesday:

Work 8:30a-1:30p

Break 1:30p-5:30p

Class 5:30p-9:20p

Thurday:

Practica- in school district observing School Psychologist (I have to get in 50 hours during the semester for this practica)

Friday:

Practica- adminstrating IQ tests to people (I also have to get 50 hrs in this semester for this practica)

Edited September 3, 2010 by jlee306

[diehtc0ke]

I'm just starting a doctoral program and I'll be taking four classes this semester and probably next semester as well. I'm also hoping that I'll be able to take one of those four classes at another university which will add a commute to all of this craziness (I live a five minute bike ride from my school now). Classes start next week so I don't know exactly how my reading/study habits will pan out but I'll be on campus Tuesdays from 9AM - 6PM (with a three hour break between classes), Wednesdays from 9AM - 12AM and Thursdays from 3PM - 6PM. I don't have any teaching obligations this year or anything like that.

[poco_puffs]

My school schedule for the first term of my PhD seems pretty tame compared to everyone else, but no matter how much I pick through the Graduate Handbook for my program it just suggests the two seminars a term. So, I just have the two classes: One is 10-12 on Mondays and Wednesdays, and one is 9-12 on Thursdays. That's it. I know I'll be reading a LOT, so it's not going to be all down-time in between classes, especially with work, but duuuuude... I think I might get Friday-Sunday off, which means time with boyfriend and away from school.

For work, I know that I won't be doing any more than 16 hours a week. Not sure how that will be divided up-- and I don't even think I'll find out until the first week of classes.

I'm wondering if my lighter schedule is specific to my school, specific to English, or specific to Humanities. There's gotta be a catch somewhere, right?

[Beck]

I have three seminars, each of three hours, and one of them has an associated film screening. The seminars are Monday afternoon, Tuesday morning, Tuesday afternoon; film screening is Thursday evening.

Then I have TAing responsibilities - attending lectures for an hour first thing on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and leading two discussion sections (an hour each) on Monday mornings. I also hold three office hours a week, split into two 90 minute blocks, which I've set last thing on Wednesday evening and first thing on Thursday morning. My idea was basically to try and get into as regular a daily pattern as possible, since left to my own devices, I will happily stay up til 3am and then sleep til noon. I knew that if I didn't give myself an unnegotiable commitment (one where I'm accountable to someone other than myself) on Thursday mornings, I would do nothing and then throw off my sleep patterns for Friday, and it would all spiral out of hand.

This is for an MA programme in Women's Studies and I TA in the English department. I am learning all about American literature! My undergraduate English-overview course, ten years ago, focussed on Australian and British, and the American stuff I have done has been contemporary (my background is cultural studies and critical theory, which is kind of a present-ist field in a lot of ways).

[aginath]

Ed Psych Doc student, 2nd year. First and second years in my program are required to take 3-one hour courses each of their first four semesters. These hours are for working on research with our advisor, assigned readings, and a seminar that meets every other week. For my research/reading hours, I'm the student lead on the research team with four other students. I've scheduled weekly one-hour meetings and often assign outside work to prep for the meeting.

In addition to this, I take two other 3-hour courses. I did this my first year while many of my class mates took three. They always wind up now complaining of burn out and not having enough time to do anything.

With an assistantship, we're required to carry a 12-hour load. I meet the last 3 hours by taking a 3-hour filler that is graded based upon my assistantship performance. Since my assistantship is with the Graduate School, managing the website, my work is fairly visible.

To recap, that's 12 hours, with only 7 of those being actually classes that meet plus another 1 hour meeting. My assistantship is 16 hours of work/week. I'm also the President of my department student organization and VP of my program student organization. Those last two roles take at least an additional 10-12 hours of work/week. That's about 36/hours per week. Throw in another 16 hours for reading (one class is a special topics seminar with 6 research articles to review/week and the other is qualitative research with book readings and 2-3 articles to review/week). Up to 52 hours/week.

I'm pretty adamant about getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night. I also do the C25K running program three mornings a week.

[jlee306]

I also do the C25K running program three mornings a week.

I too am a runner...the longer the distance, the better. On the 3 days I am in the city of my University, I hit the school gym after classes to run at least a minimum of 3 miles on the treadmill. Since it is pretty late when I get out of classes, I don't like to stay at the gym too long. The rest of the week I run in the mornings through my community or in the woods behind my house. Running is the one thing that keeps me sane!

[timuralp]

While I'm not taking classes anymore, the PhD students were always on the two classes/semester schedule, barring some extraordinary circumstances. Since most CS classes are 4 credits, that translates to 8 hours of class/semester and then research. Sometimes people would also take a 1 credit seminar. That's the typical load.

[explorer-c]

I'm taking 2 classes and my research is rather interdisciplinary so I have to go to a few meetings with different groups each week. In 1 week, classes take 6 hours of my time while the meetings take 8. That's an ideal load for me, so I'm happy with it.

[intextrovert]

I'm taking four classes (the first is the only term we do that), but one is an "Intro to Grad Studies" seminar for my cohort that seems to be mostly about meeting once a week to talk about the challenges of transitioning to life as a grad student and further as an academic. We'll have some readings and such, but it'll be lighter. I'm taking two seminars aside from that as well as a really neato course in the psych department about perception and reality as a cognate. I've got class on Mondays 10am-12pm and 6-9pm, Wednesdays 10am-12pm and 1-4pm, and Thursdays 1-4pm. I can't wait!

My school schedule for the first term of my PhD seems pretty tame compared to everyone else, but no matter how much I pick through the Graduate Handbook for my program it just suggests the two seminars a term. So, I just have the two classes: One is 10-12 on Mondays and Wednesdays, and one is 9-12 on Thursdays. That's it. I know I'll be reading a LOT, so it's not going to be all down-time in between classes, especially with work, but duuuuude... I think I might get Friday-Sunday off, which means time with boyfriend and away from school.

For work, I know that I won't be doing any more than 16 hours a week. Not sure how that will be divided up-- and I don't even think I'll find out until the first week of classes.

I'm wondering if my lighter schedule is specific to my school, specific to English, or specific to Humanities. There's gotta be a catch somewhere, right?

poco_puffs, are you teaching during the first term? That might explain why you have the lighter load. Two courses in the first term/during the first year is fewer than any of the English PhD programs I visited - it was always three or four. We don't start teaching until the second year, during which time the courseload lightens to accommodate our teaching schedules. Basically my program seems to "phase out" coursework, where each term you take fewer courses as you move towards a) teaching and b ) more independent research (prelims, qualifying orals, dissertating, etc.) So maybe your courseload is just lighter the whole way through whereas mine is heavy at the beginning and lighter later on, so that it evens out?

At any rate, if you are teaching, the light courseload definitely seems like the humane thing to do. And hooray for three day weekends (although I'm under no delusions that I won't be working through them)!

Edited September 4, 2010 by intextrovert

[poco_puffs]

poco_puffs, are you teaching during the first term? That might explain why you have the lighter load. Two courses in the first term/during the first year is fewer than any of the English PhD programs I visited - it was always three or four. We don't start teaching until the second year, during which time the courseload lightens to accommodate our teaching schedules. Basically my program seems to "phase out" coursework, where each term you take fewer courses as you move towards a) teaching and b ) more independent research (prelims, qualifying orals, dissertating, etc.) So maybe your courseload is just lighter the whole way through whereas mine is heavy at the beginning and lighter later on, so that it evens out?

At any rate, if you are teaching, the light courseload definitely seems like the humane thing to do. And hooray for three day weekends (although I'm under no delusions that I won't be working through them)!

Nope, no teaching until the second year. First term is two seminars, one of which is a really intensive Intro to Graduate Studies, which is heavy on theory and preparation for more professional writing. Second term is two seminars plus a course on pedagogy and the specific classes that I'll be responsible for running discussion groups. Third term is two seminars, plus a TA/apprenticeship type thing.

For the second and third years, I'll be expected to take two seminars per term plus run discussion groups for one class a term. Fourth year is teaching plus exams and the proposal process for the dissertation. Any time after that is teaching, plus working on the diss.

I think I'll be stuck running those discussion sections for composition and Intro to Lit until year four, when I can apply to either teach other courses within the department or even petition to teach a course of my own design.

From the discussions I've had with the professors and the current graduate students, this particular program is very big on guidance and not over-loading the students. Maybe it won't be the most intensive and high pressure program, but there are a lot of very happy, productive people who seem to love their work in the department.

Something that strikes me about the difference between the humanities and the sciences is the expectation of hours in labs/working and whatnot. The grad students I met at the visiting weekend made it very clear that grad students in the English Dept. are welcome to call their union rep. if any professor ever tries to pressure or coerce them into working more than the 16 contracted hours a week. I even found a "bill of rights" type document through the graduate school that details the rights and responsibilities of both students and professors, which specifically included that we aren't expected to mow lawns or babysit kids to maintain our standing in the program!

[diehtc0ke]

Nope, no teaching until the second year. First term is two seminars, one of which is a really intensive Intro to Graduate Studies, which is heavy on theory and preparation for more professional writing. Second term is two seminars plus a course on pedagogy and the specific classes that I'll be responsible for running discussion groups. Third term is two seminars, plus a TA/apprenticeship type thing.

For the second and third years, I'll be expected to take two seminars per term plus run discussion groups for one class a term. Fourth year is teaching plus exams and the proposal process for the dissertation. Any time after that is teaching, plus working on the diss.

I think I'll be stuck running those discussion sections for composition and Intro to Lit until year four, when I can apply to either teach other courses within the department or even petition to teach a course of my own design.

From the discussions I've had with the professors and the current graduate students, this particular program is very big on guidance and not over-loading the students. Maybe it won't be the most intensive and high pressure program, but there are a lot of very happy, productive people who seem to love their work in the department.

Something that strikes me about the difference between the humanities and the sciences is the expectation of hours in labs/working and whatnot. The grad students I met at the visiting weekend made it very clear that grad students in the English Dept. are welcome to call their union rep. if any professor ever tries to pressure or coerce them into working more than the 16 contracted hours a week. I even found a "bill of rights" type document through the graduate school that details the rights and responsibilities of both students and professors, which specifically included that we aren't expected to mow lawns or babysit kids to maintain our standing in the program!

Is this on a semester or a quarter system? I'm in English too and at first I was somewhat jealous but then I realized I thoroughly enjoy the subject matter of all four of my courses and hopefully that should propel me through. I'm not sure what I would do if I could only really pick one seminar for my first semester. My program is similar to that of inextrovert in that I take 7 or 8 courses for the first year, four courses during the second year along with a TA-ship and two courses during the third year along with teaching a course for the writing program with a topic of my own design. After that, I only teach if I really want to and that's only for the fifth year and beyond. Fourth year is dedicated to dissertation research/writing.

[poco_puffs]

Oh! I didn't even think about semester vs. quarter. I'll be on a quarter system, so I'm taking six seminars a year for three years = 18 seminars, which are 4 or 5 credits each (I can't remember specifically).

There wasn't a huge variety of seminars I could even choose from at my program, plus my specific interests are not as widely represented within the department, so I really just ended up taking the one I was most interested in plus the Intro, which was required. After that, I'm looking forward to making some careful choices on which seminars might be a little out of my comfort zone but still be interesting and act as a little building block towards the knowledge I'd like to build up to support my research.

As much as I enjoy picking out my classes (and I and tell the rest of you do too!) in some ways I feel like taking two seminars a term means that I'll have to be VERY discriminating about what will further my purposes vs. just being fun stuff, and it also means that I'll be able to focus intensely on those particular courses and go balls out on my research and revisions for assignments.

[captiv8ed]

My schedule

Mon: 9:45-12 Office Hours/TA

Tues: 1:30-4 Stats and Pro Sem

Wed: 9:45-12 Office Hours/TA 3-6 Strat

Thurs: 1:30-6 Stats and Methods

Fri: 9:45-12 Office Hours/TA

I am trying to spend additional time on campus so that I can feel like a student and actually get work done. My days feel very broken up and I am not finding big chunks of time to read.

[coyabean]

I am trying to spend additional time on campus so that I can feel like a student and actually get work done. My days feel very broken up and I am not finding big chunks of time to read.

Ditto. Without that sense of place I just end up twittering brilliance in 140 characters or less for hours at a time. :/

I can't seem to get two solid hours TOGETHER. And breaking up an article in 15 minute increments while I'm waiting to see the doctor, for example, isn't really processing the information for me.

So, while I "only" have a 3 hour seminar Mon, Tues, Wed and TA a 3 hour class on Thursdays I feel like I'm not doing anything but I'm tired from doing so much. I can't figure it out. Hopefully, it gets better with a little time. The problem is waking up in the morning BEFORE class doesn't work for me because being awake does not equate to cognitive function for me. I just cannot think at that time of day. But if I get out of class at 5 or 7 then going right into focused studying and reading is difficult. I need a mental break.

I need to go to class, run errands/chill, sleep and get up at, like, 2 am to read and write. Midnight to 3am is my sweet spot. But I don't know how that will work, either.

Ah well. I'll get it together. I have no choice.

[Jess77]

My schedule's not that bad...but I'm commuting to UDel from South Jersey, not that ideal.

Monday = Work 8-12. Class 1-4.

Tuesday = Work 8-4. Class 5-8.

Wednesday = Work 8-12. Stick around on campus for an hour or two afterward if I need to meet with people or something.

Thursday = Work 8-12. Seminar 1230-130. Class 5-8.

I'm trying to go the gym when it opens at 5AM at home and then have to leave between 630-645 in order to be walking in the front door of my assistantship. Fortunately, my supervisor is incredibly flexible and understands the whole "time" issue, in general. Definitely think I'm going to move closer, at least.

[rising_star]

Okay, I'm going to give a bunch of schedules because I've done things in different ways since I started grad school. I'm in the social sciences and on the semester system. *Note: I did my MA at one university and am now at a different one doing my PhD, though I'm still in the same discipline.

1st year MA: four classes per semester, 16 hrs/wk research assistantship. Three of those four courses were graduate seminars and the fourth each time was a grad/undergrad course on methods (stats first semester, qualitative methods during second semester). Luckily, my RA let me do my own work so, even though I felt like I had a ton of work to do, I wasn't completely overwhelmed except at the end of each semester when I had to write three massive papers (one per seminar).

2nd year MA: two courses in the fall semester, one course in the spring semester. I didn't actually need to do any coursework since we needed 24 hours of courses and I did that my first year. I also got a job off-campus that I worked at 8-16 hours per week. The schedule was fairly flexible, and a lot of my work was weekday evenings. It helped me structure my time so I could write my MA thesis, which I mostly wrote in 6 weeks. Oh, and I decided fostering dogs would be fun so there was dog walking and training that helped structure my time too.

1st year PhD: four courses in the fall with a 10 hr/wk assistantship where I helped put together a multi-million dollar grant with 6 co-PIs and organized a two-day workshop. Two of the courses were grad/undergrad, two were grad seminars. In the spring, I decided to stop the insanity and only take three courses.

2nd year PhD: three courses (two grad seminars) in the fall, two courses (one grad seminar) in the spring. In the fall, my TAship required attending lecture twice a week, a weekly TA meeting, and leading four discussion sections.

3rd year PhD: one course, one reading group, teaching my own course this semester. In terms of my actual days, I have the seminar on Monday from 4-6:30pm and the reading group on Tuesday from 1-3pm. I teach T/Th 3:30-4:45. (And, I train capoeira T/Th 7-9pm.) Our department's colloquium is Friday from 3:30 to 4:45 and I go to that every week that I'm in town. Next semester, I won't be taking any classes and have no idea what my TA assignment will be.

They've all been challenging. The key for me is having one day (this semester it's Wednesday) that I dedicate to working on my research, writing fellowship applications, etc. I won't meet with students. I'll only meet with faculty by necessity then. I also try to preserve Friday mornings to handle the little crap that crops up throughout the week.

[joro]

I'm taking 3 classes + 1 seminar (sitting in), but it seems manageable so far.

Monday/Wednesday: 1:25pm - 2:45pm

Tuesday: 12:00pm - 2:00pm, 2:00pm - 3:20pm, 3:40pm - 6:20pm

Thursday: 2:00pm - 3:20pm

[colleen_lee]

I am taking 3 classes (1 is online) plus voice lessons which totals to 11 credits. Still technically part-time status.

I'm a little nervous, because I also work full-time (more than full-time, really. 55-60 hours a week) and I am wondering if I can really carry this load all semester! I spent 6 hours in the library yesterday doing my readings for the week and I have barely made a dent. And one of my classes has not even started yet!

[Postbib Yeshuist]

4 courses (12 hours) of which 2 are seminars, one a directed study and one an independent study. In my program, you have to finish 48 hours, 4 comprehensive exams and 2 language exams before the beginning of the third year. Absolutely grueling (sp?). On the other hand, we effectively get 2.5 years to work on the dissertation before we hit the 5 year mark (proposal & teaching fills the Fall semester of Year 3).

Edited September 5, 2010 by Postbib Yeshuist

[poco_puffs]

4 courses (12 hours) of which 2 are seminars, one a directed study and one an independent study. In my program, you have to finish 48 hours, 4 comprehensive exams and 2 language exams before the beginning of the third year. Absolutely grueling (sp?). On the other hand, we effectively get 2.5 years to work on the dissertation before we hit the 5 year mark (proposal & teaching fills the Fall semester of Year 3).

Yeeeesh. Your comps are before Year 3? You guys don't fool around.

[Postbib Yeshuist]

Yeeeesh. Your comps are before Year 3? You guys don't fool around.

Nope, it's pretty intense. In fact, I'll take my first comp next summer, as well as my second language exam (which I'll probably fail, so thank God for retakes ).

[RNadine21]

Get ready!

Monday

8:30-10am Ecology

2-5pm Ecology Lab (luckily this is earlier sometimes depending on tides)

Tuesday

9:25-10:40am Physiology

1-4pm Physiology Lab

Wednesday

8:30-10am Ecology

4:30-7:30pm Teach lab

Thursday

9:25-10:40am Physiology

5:30-7pm Graduate Seminar

Friday

8:30am Lab Prep

10:30-1:30pm Teach lab

4:00pm Seminar which we're advised to attend

Saturday (oh yea, there's a Saturday)

1:30-4:30pm Teach lab

It hasn't been too bad so far. I use my time between classes to get readings, problems, and lab work done, and I've still had plenty of time to be social or just relax. This weekend alone I attended a fellow student's talk hosted by the Sierra Club, bar-hopped, attended an event hosted by the graduate student association, and went kayaking. I've actually been turning down invites to give myself nights to just sit! I'm sure this will change somewhat once I get further into the semester, but for now I'm really enjoying everything there is to do, both in and out of class.

[fuzzylogician]

It hasn't been too bad so far. I use my time between classes to get readings, problems, and lab work done, and I've still had plenty of time to be social or just relax. This weekend alone I attended a fellow student's talk hosted by the Sierra Club, bar-hopped, attended an event hosted by the graduate student association, and went kayaking. I've actually been turning down invites to give myself nights to just sit! I'm sure this will change somewhat once I get further into the semester, but for now I'm really enjoying everything there is to do, both in and out of class.

Holy schedule, Batman!

That's insane! I hope your professors will keep giving you tolerable amounts of work because if I had to do everything I was assigned last year on your schedule I would have either had to quit or check myself into an insane asylum after the year over. Sheesh! You hardly have long stretches of time to sit and think about an assignment, and sometimes they require some reflection. It's so much harder if you have to do it bit by bit instead of all at once. Kudos on not forgetting your social life!