Going on vacation

[keemnal]

Hi all. Just wondering how many of you international PhD students go on vacation to your home countries and how nice your advisor is about these things. Mine's very uncooperative. I've had it hard with him since I first entered my program, when he knew very well that I would be visiting family and my long-distance boyfriend, who all live outside the US. It's been so bad that I'm totally dreading informing him about a two-week trip I'm planning to make over Xmas break to go see my boyfriend. This is direct conflict with his "order" to me back in March (!) that I should not be planning any trips over the winter. I'm hoping that the fact I've had three publications since then (along with a variety of other "good things") should help my case. But that doesn't seem to change my fearing this unavoidable interaction... Thanks for your comments.

[fuzzylogician]

In my program people can go wherever they want over breaks. Most international students go home for at least several weeks over the summer (some go for the entire summer) and most people also leave for some time over winter break. I guess the culture of my program is very different from yours because it's pretty much a given and no one would ever think to complain.

[keemnal]

Thanks for your reply. Does your program/other programs at your school have a policy regarding time off? This has been another annoyance for me. In my department there are no specific policies about this and everything depends on your advisor's mood and desires on a given day.

[fuzzylogician]

As far as I know, our program doesn't have an official policy.

[ktel]

My supervisor has no restrictions on when I can take time off or how much time I can take off. I play high level rugby so I am often going away for tournaments and stuff. Every time I ask to take time off he has absolutely no problem with it. I will note that he is a very hands off advisor who I see about once a month and all my work can be done from anywhere, since it's all computational simulations. Since I've joined (Sept 2011) I've taken 27 days off for rugby tournaments, 25 days off to go home and 11 days off for miscellaneous vacations (these include weekends and days where the department would be closed anyways, I'm just going by actual raw time).

[Bumblebee]

I don't have any restrictions/limitations to go back home for the breaks. I have a TAship which means that once I submit my final grades I am free until the following semester begins. And my supervisor is actually happier with me going home rather than staying because that means I have a chance to collect data for my research. I end up going back home twice a year: for the winter break and for the summer.

[TakeruK]

Thanks for your reply. Does your program/other programs at your school have a policy regarding time off? This has been another annoyance for me. In my department there are no specific policies about this and everything depends on your advisor's mood and desires on a given day.

My current school has a policy that every graduate student gets 10 business days off, in addition to the 11 institute holidays (i.e. days the schools would be closed anyways, e.g. Thanksgiving). So, the official policy is that we can take 21 business days off in total per year. However, and the school officials even confirm this when they told us the vacation policy, the actual days taken off is subject to advisor approval and depends on the nature of your research (e.g. labwork/experiments vs. computer simulations). In addition, no one really keeps track of the days because the general idea is that both students and advisors want the project to go well, so as long as we are responsible and get work done, our time will not be "policed". The rationale behind the official policy is that in the event where the above ideal situation isn't working and there is a conflict between how much time off, there is an official policy to fall back on.

My last school (MSc) had unionized its TAs so we had additional rights in regards to TA duties while taking time off. For example, we were granted sick days so that it's the school's responsibility to find a replacement TA if we were sick. Also, we had the right to take time off from TAing in order to attend a conference. We also had personal leave from TA duties in event of a family emergency etc. Again, under normal circumstances, these things are a given and if I was going to miss a TA session, I would try to switch sections with a colleague, or talk to my prof to reschedule classes, office hours, whatever. And most profs will not say "No, you cannot go to this conference because I want you to teach this tutorial". But the reason for the policy again is to have something to fall back onto when the ideal situation breaks down.

For your situation, is there someone else in the department that you can talk to? Usually there is someone that is like the "Graduate Studies Coordinator" or "Director of Graduate Studies" whose job is to mediate potential problems between a student and a professor. They would know what the norm is for your department's students' vacation/time off and whether any policies govern this. They can also determine whether your supervisor is being unreasonable and they could help you approach the subject with your supervisor. Good luck!

[SANDIEGO]

I think you should probably let you adviser know sooner than later. Then if he's upset about it at least you've given him leeway to adjust plans, whereas picking up and leaving in an instant could be worse. Honestly two weeks off for Xmas sounds reasonable to me.