how much research is expected?

[tomyum]

Hello,

I am a first year grad student in chemistry. We had rotations during the first semester, so we were not expected to do research seriously. Now that I have joined a lab, I am having a hard time figuring out how much research should I do. I am taking a class and teaching as well, which takes most of my time and I have only little time left during the week for research. I feel like I am not being productive enough in terms of research. The only way I can fit in some serious research work is if I work crazy number of hours each week. How much progress in research do people in chemistry PhD make during their first year?

[Eigen]

So, for us we were expected to get the majority of our coursework out of the way the first year so we could focus on research.

While teaching, maybe 40 hours or so In the lab? Most of my cohort did a normal workday in the lab, and then studied, etc. in the evenings.

Some of it depends where you are (R1, etc.) my friends at R1s did like 60 hours a week on top of classes and teaching.

[tomyum]

Thanks Eigen. I work about 35 hours in lab each week, and study and prepare for the class I am teaching during the evening. I am at a R1 school and most of my peers spend a ridiculous amount of time in lab. I work about 14 hours during workdays because of labwork, homework and teaching but take Saturdays and half of Sunday off. I think I will go insane if I start working on weekends as well. I don't know how other people in my cohort can work like 80-100 hours per week . I think I will slowly get used to it.

[twb]

May I ask what school you are at?

[Eigen]

That sounds pretty decent for where you are. The only thing I'd suggest is seeing if you could cut down on homework some. A's are less important, it might be that others are spending less time on coursework leaving more lab time.

If you want to talk about more specific stuff, you can PM me.

Edited February 27, 2012 by Eigen

[Pnictides]

May I ask what school you are at?

Eigen goes to ....

<post edited by mod>

[Eigen]

You know, there's a reason I don't have that listed in my profile information. You really don't seem to get the idea that most of us like some degree of anonymity here.

[tomyum]

The class I am taking is tough, so I have to study hard enough to get a passing grade i.e. B. I wish I could spend less time on my homework, which is such a time sucker, but I am afraid that if I don't do well in the homework, I might perform really badly in my exams. I had a really tough time with my course last semester and I studied like crazy to pass them. My background in chemistry is not that strong, which is making my classes really tough for me. I feel really underprepared for graduate school. My research requires a lot of programming and my programming skills are not that good either. So learning programming is taking a lot of time too. Juggling all these things, on top of teaching, leaves very few time for actual research.

[twb]

I was asking tomyum where he/she goes to school, not Eigen.

[synorg]

no posts on gradcafe are deleted. if you want to know that type of information, you can find it yourself.

[tomyum]

I go to Harvard. However, I don't want to give a wrong impression of the graduate program here. It is really nice, the people in my lab are also really nice. I do think it is a wonderful place to be for graduate school. The problem is mainly because of my poor academic background. When I see the amount of work that the undergrads do here or talk with my friends about their undergrad, I do feel that my undergrad was very easy and because of that my academic background is not so good. Also I am not used to working a lot of hours while most people seems to be comfortable doing so because their undergrad was equally stressful. I think all the problem that I am having is because of me and not because of how the program is structured here. It really sucks to be a stupid person among all the smart people. I think I am not good enough to be here and just got in by luck.

[Pnictides]

You know, there's a reason I don't have that listed in my profile information. You really don't seem to get the idea that most of us like some degree of anonymity here.

If this is the case, then why did you release this information in some of your posts in the past? Why not delete them now?

[Eigen]

There's a difference between releasing bits and pieces of it over 1400 posts and having someone directly post it all without asking me first. I think I could probably figure out who a lot of the "high" posters are exactly if I spent the time on it, but that doesn't mean I'm going to just post it- that's just rude it's up to them to decide what information they want to release when, and in what context.

Message boards like this don't leave people existing anonymously, but rather pseudonymously. Semitones can figure out who you arid they piece together enough of your posts, but most people respect that veil between you, the person, and you, the poster.

[synorg]

If this is the case, then why did you release this information in some of your posts in the past? Why not delete them now?

gradcafe makes it very clear that posts are not deleted.

[prolixity]

Hello,

I am a first year grad student in chemistry. We had rotations during the first semester, so we were not expected to do research seriously. Now that I have joined a lab, I am having a hard time figuring out how much research should I do. I am taking a class and teaching as well, which takes most of my time and I have only little time left during the week for research. I feel like I am not being productive enough in terms of research. The only way I can fit in some serious research work is if I work crazy number of hours each week. How much progress in research do people in chemistry PhD make during their first year?

I attend the same school as you. My first year, I hardly put in any research work; rather, I spent my time covering my teaching/coursework requirements. I spent my evenings reading papers at the bar relevant to my research group. Things escalated over the Summer, and then petered off again over the Winter semester due to coursework and teaching issues. I find myself putting about ten to twelve hours a day during the week, and about six to eight per day on the weekends. I work seven days a week. If you don't have a project yet, don't sweat it too much. Do your best on the subproject you're assigned, and if you really feel like you have nothing to do, pester your PI for a project of your own.

Feel free to PM me. I probably know you.