What do you enjoy about grad school?

[alphabetasoup]

There's a stigma against grad school, that you "need" to complain about it. Or that no matter what you do, it's going to be overly demanding, and mostly miserable. Yet I've never heard people talk about why they actually go in for it, and I don't think most people readily throw their lives in a hellhole for 5+ years. So what do you guys like about it? Can you share some of your most enjoyable experiences? Or if you are one of the mythical few that absolutely loves it, can you share why?

[ANDS!]

Say what?  This forum is full of stories about why people do what they want to do and why they enjoy doing it.  I haven't seen a single thread where someone says "God I hate graduate school, but I have a gun to my head so there's really no choice for me. . ./sadface."

[anthropologygeek]

The people who hate it drop out. Grad school is tough and not for everyone who applies and gets in. I currently work 12-16 hours a day with breaks in there most of the time. If I don't have class, which I don't anymore, there's research, reading journals, applying for grants, searching for grants to apply to, emailing students back, group meetings, office hours which I do everything else in since no one actually comes 99% of the time, applying to conferences, gettin prepared for conferences when abstracts ae accepted, writing manuscripts to journal to try to get publish, writing corrections ounces reviewed, or any of the misc things I'm forgetting. It's grueling and this tough if you want a decent shot at any decent jobs.

[alphabetasoup]

By decent jobs do you mean academia? Or some sort of long term fellowship?

[nackteziege]

I love grad school.  I'm finishing up my Master's and considering a PhD and I feel guilty for being indulgent.  I've been working seemingly non-stop to prepare for a conference on Friday (not even a big conference) for at least a week.  I've been staying up until 3 AM and getting 4 hours of sleep.  But honestly?  Every time the work dies down I start to feel empty.  Sure, some of the work is less enjoyable.  Sure, some courses aren't the most fun.  But at the end of the day, I basically set my own schedule, I immerse myself in topics I am interested in, and I interact with informed, driven, interesting people  (which of course is not everyone in grad school, but there's plenty of them around).

[TakeruK]

I enjoy almost everything I do in grad school. Except maybe not some of the pointless aspects of some classes, but really overall, I'm happy to be learning it.

 

I think people complain about it because firstly, humans like to complain. But seriously, it's not that we don't like what we do, it's because we are working very hard with not much guaranteed rewards. Grad students work 50-60 hours per week (some even more) for under $30k/year, usually. This goes on for 5-6, or even more, years, and there is a lot of stress in the job as well. Not to say that other jobs aren't as stressful, but for example, there are other jobs that easily pay double the salary of a grad student, for only 35-40 hours per week, and when you go home, you don't have any work left! So I don't think it's that we don't like our work, but generally, the quality of life as a grad student isn't as good as someone with a "real job". When I see what my non-grad school friends are doing, I have to admit sometimes I am a little jealous. But I view grad school as a training phase to get through, rather than the dream (i.e. most people I know don't think "Yes!! I am finally in grad school!" but instead, they are thinking "Yes! I made it to the next stage of my career/life goal! Let's get through this!").

 

However, all that negatives aside, there are huge amounts of positives that outweigh it (or I wouldn't be here in grad school)! My number one reason for going to grad school is to increase my ability to get a job that I will enjoy. Sure, that job might have longer hours and won't pay that well compared to how much effort one needs to put in to get the job, but I don't want to spend the rest of my life hating the 40 hours of week I work and only looking forward to evenings and weekends.

 

The second reason is for the ability to travel. I love travelling, seeing new places, meeting new people, and academia gives me tons of opportunity to do that. When I was growing up, two of the places I wanted to see most in the world were Rome and Paris. Our family thought about a family vacation over there once but when we saw the cost of flights, we knew that it wasn't going to ever happen. But, in 2011, I went to a conference in France and was able to include sightseeing in Paris as a part of it! Grad school gives me the opportunity to have experiences that are not possible any other way. This is also the reason why I am pursuing a PhD instead of just a MSc (in Canada, MSc is what's required to teach at colleges) because lecturers don't get to travel but researchers do! It's also a reason why I went into astronomy-related fields -- observers travel to exotic places and the theorists, being jealous of observers, often plan their conferences in tropical/exotic places too!

 

The third reason is personal freedom and flexibility. I like being able to set my own schedule and to some extent, make decisions in my work. I would not be as happy with a strict 10 days holiday that have to be booked in some strict protocol and a supervisor that tells me exactly what to do all the time. I know this is not true for all jobs, and that academics are still constrained by funding, grants etc, but having worked in "blue collar" jobs before, I know I definitely prefer the freedom of an academic.

 

Finally, the last reason is that I enjoy science and the process of research! Although this appears last on my list, it doesn't mean I don't like academia at all. But if I had to prioritize what I was looking for when choosing an ideal job, I wouldn't mind a job that doesn't involve science or research if it fit the other 3 desires! Anyways, I like grad school because I am surrounded by people with similar scientific interests and motivations. I enjoy the sense of family with my cohort, that we are all doing this together and I know I can count on their support. I also like the sense of community in my field -- conferences are like mini-reunions with people you haven't seen in awhile. You also quickly build up an entire network of people whose couch you can crash on all over the world!

Edited March 7, 2013 by TakeruK

[selecttext]

waking up at 11

[VBD]

What I really liked about my Masters was talking to people who actually care/understand the issues or research that you think is so "OMG. THIS IS AMAZING!" whereas a regular college educated person would be all "OK? I don't care?" Grad school brings up a sense of friendships that is like a mix between colleague and buddies. We always joke that we will be future collaborators on a paper some time in the future xD

[juilletmercredi]

I do think that most graduate students like graduate school at least a little.  It's just the culture to complain to other people about your job.  We complain in our department all the time, but most of us will readily admit that we love psychology, we like our department, our advisors are generally nice and caring people who care about our development, etc.  It's far from a hellhole.

 

I love doing research; I love investigating things that are near and dear to my heart, and being able to ask and answer the questions I wonder about.  I love writing and reading and thinking all day long most days.  I love that I'm encouraged to exchange and share information with other students.  I like teaching and exchanging information with undergrads, most of whom are pretty eager to learn what you have to teach them. (Yes, even in statistics.  I had more than one of them approach me and tell me how they really wanted to go to grad school so they needed to learn this.)  I love the flexibility - the fact that it's 11:50 am on a Friday morning and I'm at home procrastinating.  I like that I can, within reason, select what I want to do each semester and schedule my own time to maximize my productivity.  I like the other students in my cohort, and I like our collegiality.

 

I also like what the above poster referenced.  I see this even outside my field.  I'll talk to PhD students in English literature or art history (which are far afield from what I do) and I'm like wow, that is so fascinating!  How do you study that?  Where are your archives?  And when I tell them my research they're the same way.  Of course it's easier within the social sciences, and easier still when talking to other psychology or health sciences students, but I feel like PhD students have this shared bond of being fascinated with scholarship and discovering things.

 

Yes, I'm very busy, yes, I sometimes work 12 hours a day cleaning data or writing something up or god forbid grading, but for the most part I enjoy what I'd do.  I'd much rather spend 12 hours straight writing about something I am really passionate about, or 12 hours analyzing data and watching patterns emerge, than spend 8 hours at a job I hated.

 

I didn't like coursework, though.  I mean, I liked the classes, and my professors were amazing and talented and knowledgeable, but I felt so overwhelmed.  Now that I don't have coursework, I feel relieved and I can manage and set my time much more easily.

Edited March 8, 2013 by juilletmercredi

[queenleblanc]

When I did my MAT in 2006, the part I loved the most was feeling like a colleague of my professors.  I still called my prof's by Dr. or Professor lastname, but many addressed them by first names and it was encouraged.  (I'm an old fashioned southern girl, hard to break me of the titles!)   In undergrad, I kind of felt like a "munchkin" going into the emerald city.  There were too many cool things to do, see, join, etc.  I probably got way to involved in too many activities, but I wouldn't trade them for a higher GPA at all.  I felt more like an underling compared to my prof's as an undergrad, so the change to feeling almost like a peer was very cool in grad school.  

 

If someone hates grad school, it is probably because they are focused on the wrong things and not getting the most out of the experience that they could possibly get.  If you aren't happy, talk with a professor or advisor about what things upset you.  Often times, they can give you a different perspective to consider that will change your whole world around as a graduate student. That's just my $0.02. 

[RxPhD]

Being able to study something I'm passionate about and being able to focus on the areas I enjoy the most.

[katerific]

1. CONFERENCES AND NETWORKING. I. Love. Conferences. This is probably my favorite thing (not to say that I don't love the others, especially #2--I do, and a lot!)

2. Doing something that is intellectually stimulating. Challenging, yes, but it's great when it's a topic that you love. I get overly excited about some topics... it's terrible/terribly AWESOME.

3. Flexibility in terms of hours. I am fine working 80+ hours a week as long as you don't make me wake up by 9.... seriously.

4. I am totally okay with (and may secretly love) being in the lab for hours upon hours as long as I have some music/NPR/This American Life/Radiolab/Game Grumps commentary/etc. Bonus points if it's me+the most awesome people in the department (and in that case, I don't even need the above listed!).

 

5.1 My cohort is very cool and tight. Small department, but lots of students with similar life goals/interests/etc. Took a while to get to that point where I am pretty friendly with most of them, but it's great.
5.2 In general, I work with people who have similar interests and/or beliefs, even if they aren't close or aren't my friends.

6. Student + faculty benefits. Awesome health insurance, lots of freedom in terms of parking (here, at least), student discounts.

+ some other things I may be omitting, be these are the basics for me.