Taking fun/hobby courses while in grad school

[Lamantin]

I'm wondering what others think about taking fun or hobby courses while in grad school. I realize that most of my energies will go to my intended field of study (art history), but I've always had varied interests that, in my opinion, are most easily pursued through actual courses.  I was a studio art major and art history major in undergrad, and I'd like to continue painting and making pottery. I want to keep myself sane and, frankly, I really enjoy making art. the problem is finding the materials, community, and alloted time can be difficult if you're not an active professional.

 

Does anyone know if taking one class, even auditing a class, is frowned upon? am I going to be so bogged down that this won't be realistic? I assume that if one can make time for a hobby outside school, one could just as easily do it with a hobby inside school.

[fuzzylogician]

Like many things in grad school, it depends. If you take a course through some non-school program (that is, it won't need to be approved by your advisor and it won't appear on your schedule/transcript) then no one will have to know and there is no reason anyone should care. If it is through the school, there is a chance that if you're not doing well it will be ascribed to that extra course. I think that it would perhaps make sense to hold off for a semester or two before taking on additional *time consuming* academic courses, because adjusting to grad school is difficult enough without the added pressure. However, everyone should have a life outside of school so I wouldn't worry too much about how pursuing a hobby might be perceived by your professors--only about making sure it fits in with the rest of your life and doesn't over-burden you too much.

[nugget]

What about signing up for a class at a community centre? That way you'll have access to pottery equipment, even if your skill level will most likely be higher than that of the other students. Some cities also have pottery cafes. You pay by the hour and can have your lunch, order a cup of coffee or study while the pottery is in the kiln.

[free_radical]

From my limited experience, it really seems to depend on the school and the professor you work with.  On one of my campus visits, one guy took a fun class just about every semester - an athletic class, an art class, etc.  At another one of my visits, the professor said something along the lines of "you will take electives.  by electives, I mean maybe a physics or chemistry course (i'm in materials science).  if you're feeling super, super crazy, then MAYBE a business course that deals with technology."  

 

So it really just depends...if pursuing your outside interests are really important to you - and you haven't chosen an advisor yet - you can try and gauge the attitude of your potential advisors toward pursuing outside interests.  Obviously it's a bit difficult to just announce to a potential advisor that you want to do stuff besides just work for them...so maybe something along the lines of "Have previous students ever pursued courses outside the department"...something like that.  If they say "graduate school is a full time commitment and I discourage any coursework outside the requirements," then perhaps that advisor won't work out for you.  

[Andean Pat]

I am little more worried about actual *hobbies*. I play the piano and field hockey and those are two things I am not ready to quit on...

[rising_star]

I took a class for fun and audited another both during the same semester of my MA. I haven't done that as a PhD student, but that's mostly because there hasn't been loads of stuff that I'm interested in and that fit with my schedule. Andean Pat, I pursue several interests outside of school and it hasn't been a problem. Lots of my classmates spend their time volunteering in the community and no one frowns on them for doing so. I train capoeira somewhere between 2 and 5 times a week, and it's not a distraction from my work at all. I even kept training through my comprehensive exams (so, I was taking 2.5 hour breaks during the evenings while I was writing my exam answers). If you want to make time for something, you will. That's really all there is to it.

[SeriousSillyPutty]

Like others have said, it probably depends on the school.  Ours won't even pay for you to take classes in the summer in your field.  If you can make a case that it makes you a stronger candidate, there's space for it, but if it's really just for fun: No way they'll pay for it.  That being said, I wanted to take a little intro French before an internship this summer, so I looked up who taught it and asked nicely if I could crash (not even officially audit) a French 101 class, and the prof gave me permission to show up every day.  She even offered to grade/correct my exams.  Originally, I intended to treat it like a real class, but I ended up not having time to devote to it, and felt bad about being a "slacker".  Still, it's something to consider.  Art classes use materials, so that may change things, but if you explain your situation it may land on a sympathetic ear.

If you are in a city, there are also probably a lot of groups not affiliated with schools that support all sorts of hobbies, so that's worth some looking in to.

I fully support the idea of having something other than school to build your identity around, but I also like the idea of waiting for a formal class until you have a semester under your belt.

[APOCooter]

I am little more worried about actual *hobbies*. I play the piano and field hockey and those are two things I am not ready to quit on...

 

This.  I'm an active combat athlete who gets... antsy... when I go too long without training.  I like to play cards, too.  Basically, I refuse to give up a few hours of "me time" a week and I wonder how that's going to impact my success.

[SeriousSillyPutty]

This.  I'm an active combat athlete who gets... antsy... when I go too long without training.  I like to play cards, too.  Basically, I refuse to give up a few hours of "me time" a week and I wonder how that's going to impact my success.

 

I've said this elsewhere on the forum but I'll put it here too: Doing stuff with people who like me regardless of school stuff has kept me sane.  Granted, this was not only easier but unavoidable to some extent because I didn't move for grad school, but I think it is worth being intentional about finding something other than grad school to spend time on.  In my experience, "work expands to fill the space allotted."  So if I say, "I'm going to spend all day Saturday writing this paper", I will truly spend all day at the office, but I will also spend about 3 hours worth of 20-minute chunks checking email, reading news stories, going on facebook, getting snacks etc.  That's three hours I could have spent doing something more intentional.

Do something that you can justify to yourself, and preferably something you can justify to others.  I have no idea what combat athlete training involves (sounds physically exerting, and thus scary to me!), but if you can do it with someone then you can do social time and and a hobby together and kill two birds with one stone.   For me (maybe because I'm naturally an introvert, and have to be intentional about such things) if I do stuff with someone else then I can say, "I was investing in this relationship, and a friendship lasts longer than a semester, so it is as worthy of investment as a class is."  Other things are also worth investing in, I just find people the easiest to justify to myself.

Religious or not, I also support the idea of a "Sabbath" -- a weekly day where you do not do school stuff.  I don't think I would have had the discipline to do it were there not the spiritual component to it and faith that God would "work things out", but I did have a non-religious friend who also declared a day of no school work as part of her mental health strategy.  Once that is a "rule" then you don't have to justify individual activities done on that day.  Granted, for me I still ended up doing exciting things like laundry and grocery shopping, but it also kept me from skirting out of volunteering or avoiding time with friends.  My line of thought would be, "I don't have time for this, I'm really busy with school; I'll just have to call and tell her I can't do it this week. But, self, you promised you wouldn't do school work on Sunday anyway.  If you don't tutor, you'll just be doing laundry, which will end up being Facebook time.  Suck it up. Go be with kids who appreciate you."

[ArtHistoryandMuseum]

I am little more worried about actual *hobbies*. I play the piano and field hockey and those are two things I am not ready to quit on...

 

I played field hockey in college. Several years later, I have found a field hockey league at a local gym. It's not the same as a collegiate team (where we devoted hours to exercise and to travel to universities), but the league that I've recently found -- it is a referred game, and the same length of time.

 

So, seeking opportunities at a gym -- or by meetup -- may not be a perfect, but it may be a source for playing sports, when your university is not an option.

[TakeruK]

It might depend on the school -- here, we have the option of taking classes outside of our degree requirements on a pass/fail basis. There are also non-academic, once-a-week evening classes you could register for, such as silkscreening, guitar, or theatre courses. I plan to take some language courses after my core course requirements are completed. At our school, the tuition is the same no matter how many / which classes you take, so there is no extra financial cost to taking these classes. It seems like our supervisors don't really care if we choose to take additional fun courses or not, as long as we get our work done!

 

As for "sabbath" days, I am not religious at all but I agree that taking one day off a week keeps me sane. After my coursework is over (i.e. in a few weeks), I would probably go to taking almost the entire weekend off! I'm aiming to do a good 40-50 hours per week (8-10 hours per day, plus a few hours on the weekend if I didn't work a full weekday).

 

Personally, classes really suck out a lot of my "down time". In my MSc, after I finished classes, I was able to join the fencing club at my school, which practices 8 hours a week and also take weekends off. The main reason I feel overworked right now is courses and I plan to be able to reclaim a lot of my time after this quarter is over! 

[AwkwardPants]

I treat grad school like a job. A demanding, intense job, but still just a job. That means I go into work at the same time every day, focus and work hard for a set number of hours, and then leave at the end of the day to do whatever I want. (BTW, this is much easier to do once you're done with coursework!) I also take weekends (yes, the entire weekend!) off except in unusual circumstances, and I allow myself a reasonable number of vacation days every year. I have found that I need time off in order to be my happy, productive self. If I am only capable of focusing for so many hours a day, then there's little benefit in trying to push myself further. This may work better for me since I am in biology and have an actual lab to go to every day, but I think you could manage the same arrangment at a coffee shop/library carrel/desk in your house.

 

This kind of arrangement sets up a good work/life balance for me, so I'm free to take classes or pursue hobbies or do whatever during evenings and weekends. It gives me something to look forward to when research isn't going particularly well and helps prevent feeling burnt out. If I didn't intensely guard my free time, I'm sure something else less fun would fill it. But this arrangment also means that I need to work like a beast when I'm actually at work (e.g., efficient planning of my to-do list, minimal breaks and distractions).

 

I tend to prefer self-directed hobbies and short-term courses (e.g., through my locals parks department) because there's less obligation than a formal university course. I know some people in my department have taken "fun" courses, but it isn't typical and depends on whether your advisor allows it. If I ever take actual university courses again, it will be when I'm no longer a student and have more time/energy to devote to it since even auditing is a significant time investment.

Edited May 20, 2013 by AwkwardPants

[Swagato]

I've already decided I'll pursue extra-curricular options--fencing is a big interest, and I hear there are opportunities to explore sailing. Other than that, I'll finally be able to explore my interest in homebrewing. And I was enamored after a demonstration of the LEGO robotics system, so I'd love to get going with that.

 

As for classes, it appears I can take any classes I want in any school, but there may be a limit as to how many I can take. I doubt I'd want to take "fun" courses--I'd be doing 4 courses/semester for two years at least, and I have to take language courses because I didn't do languages earlier. But later on, if possible, I should love to explore other options, perhaps in English or in History.

[AwkwardPants]

LEGO is the best! I haven't gotten into the robotics yet, but I've discovered that there are a ton of adults out there using LEGO bricks to make all sorts of awesome things. It's an expensive hobby (especially on a grad student salary) but definitely a relaxing and absorbing one.

[nnnnnnn]

This.  I'm an active combat athlete who gets... antsy... when I go too long without training.  I like to play cards, too.  Basically, I refuse to give up a few hours of "me time" a week and I wonder how that's going to impact my success.

 

Me too!!!! Last week, I was a teensy bit sick and wanted to recover before a conference, but I was going crazy without exercise.

 

As a former gymnast, I've always been into various forms of acrobatics. Most recently, I've picked up parkour. Classes are at awkward times for me, so although I'd prefer formal training, a lot of what I do is practice on my own. I think the nice thing is that really I can do this anywhere, at any time, and without need of another person. This sort of independence and freedom allows me to fit my hobby into my pockets of free time.

[ion_exchanger]

I recently attended a graduate school transitioning seminar where the speaker not only encouraged but demanded that we have one or two main hobbies/interests in grad school and that we hold onto these interests no matter what. Graduate school is already stressful enough without having something to do to destress and take your mind off of school for a while. She explained that it's crucial to your sanity and you will end up being more relaxed than if you just abandoned all interests and focused solely on work. She also suggested that these activities would be great if they were group activities. For example, if you like to read to destress, you should consider joining a book club. I also think that faculty would agree that you should have a hobby/life outside of graduate school for the sake of sanity. If you are the one paying for it, I say go for it. I love music and playing my instrument, and have been toying around with the idea of joing a community band, but I really don't think I'll have time for that. I really like arts and crafts so I'll continue to sew and craft during school.

 

I also like the suggestions that I see here that say to treat school like a full time job and take weekends. I had planned on putting in 10 hours a day mon-fri, resting saturday, and working on sunday. Hopefully this will work for me. Good luck to you all.

Edited May 23, 2013 by ion_exchanger

[mandarin.orange]

Does anyone know if taking one class, even auditing a class, is frowned upon? am I going to be so bogged down that this won't be realistic? I assume that if one can make time for a hobby outside school, one could just as easily do it with a hobby inside school.

 

The only frown-upon I can envision in this scenario is taking a course way outside your field for a letter grade. Greater potential to get bogged down with doing course assignments that really will take time away from your primary courseload and field of study, and may look like a bizarre aberration on your transcript, like you are unfocused. Art history and studio art don't strike me as hugely unrelated at all...in my MS I do remember one incoming student who was super-excited to enroll in a series of Russian courses, and it didn't have anything to do with her research, field area or even personal travel goals, ancestry, etc. that we could discern. Largely it just seemed a lark and an immature hanging-on to a "take ALL the things" liberal arts education mentality. 

 

Take pass/fail, or audit, or see if these are offered through the student union, recreation center, or extension classes. Art and pottery are offered as recreational courses on my campus...you pay a $30-75 fee for the materials/instruction, its non-transcript, and meets 2-4 hours a week. Rec courses here are mostly fitness activities, but also range to art classes and writing (creative and academic). I've taken ballet, lap swim, and yoga.   Next year I want to do more spin class. Instructors can def. put you in touch with resources or a community of like-minded individuals.

[michigan girl]

As others have previously stated, take advantage of your local community's recreational and educational programs. This is usually sponsored by the city's recreation department. Community colleges also offer non-credit lifelong learning courses.

If you are a book lover, obtain library membership at your local library. Some libraries (depending on the state) have a statewide inter-library loan program where you can request a book from another public library at no cost. I have been able to save money because I simply borrow books (fiction and non-fiction) from the library rather than pay market price for the books from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Edited May 26, 2013 by michigan girl

[TakeruK]

If you are a book lover, obtain library membership at your local library. Some libraries (depending on the state) have a statewide inter-library loan program where you can request a book from another public library at no cost. I have been able to save money because I simply borrow books (fiction and non-fiction) from the library rather than pay market price for the books from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

 

In addition, if you have a Kindle or other e-Reader, membership at your local library also allows you to "borrow" e-Books for free instead of having to buy them. This also means you don't have to physically get to the library and carry books home (nor would you have to worry about returning things on time), which is convenient especially if the library is far away! Usually, to qualify for library services, you just need to prove residency in the city/town -- a driver's license with a local address would be nice but otherwise any photo ID plus any other document with your name and local address on it (e.g. lease, utility bill, bank statement) would work too.