What kind of hours should one expect for an RA-ship?

[GraduateSchoolNut]

My professor kept saying to me that I should expect to work very late on campus for research. What does this mean? How late would I be expected to work? I know what that means for office jobs - 10 p.m. to midnight sometimes, but what does this mean for RA-ships? In particular, if I plan on going to school at 10, taking two classes.... what time would be considered a very late night?

Is he just psyching me out or are very late nights normal?

[flit]

hopefully he is just trying to make sure you're not expecting a life of ease and that it won't be that bad

does the school have restrictions about the number of hours you're expected to work?

Here in Ontario, we are (supposedly) limited to 10 hours/week

[chi0]

My professor kept saying to me that I should expect to work very late on campus for research. What does this mean? How late would I be expected to work? I know what that means for office jobs - 10 p.m. to midnight sometimes, but what does this mean for RA-ships? In particular, if I plan on going to school at 10, taking two classes.... what time would be considered a very late night?

Is he just psyching me out or are very late nights normal?

Does your program state what "percent" time is estimated for your RA-ship? I was offered a 50% RA position, meaning I would be expected to work 20 hours per week (50% of a 40-hour work week). The professor stated that she would be flexible during exams, class presentations, etc. so that if her RA's had to work fewer hours one week, they could make it up the next week... of course some professors/advisors will be less flexible, and I've heard stories of some students getting phone calls at 2:00 AM to discuss research because the professors are *that* intense about their work.

I think the "percent" is just an estimate and doesn't by any means limit you to a certain number of hours, or let you off the hook when the clock hits 5:00, so I'm preparing to let my RA and TA-ships dictate my schedule. I would hope that you could talk with your advisor about your concerns about being on campus late at night (it's a legitimate safety concern) and organize your schedule so that you put in the majority of your time during the day. There will probably be late nights when you're approaching deadlines for proposals, presentations, etc. just like in undergrad, but most grad students I've talked to are able to do their RA hours during the day and early evening, and then get home or focus on their own work at night.

[belowthree]

As an undergrad, I've ended up in the following situations during my research so far. Might give you an idea on how the hours can range:

*I've had research meetings that started at 10pm when they needed to.

*One of our weekly meetings runs from 5pm to 8pm and sometimes longer.

*I've stayed on campus to work on a grant proposal next to a deadline with the prof until 2am, at which point we got done far enough where both of us were able to go home and get the remaining small things done when the department staff came back.

*Paper deadlines usually mean you're staying up all night until the deadline. You can stay up all night whereever you want, you don't have to be in the lab unless you're the type who prefers to stay up with friends during the deadlines for a major conference. In large groups after a major conference deadline everyone knows that everyone was tired and you'll actually see group e-mail messages saying things like "this meeting is going to be a lot more relaxed because of all the people writing paper's for 's deadline, we're going to have cookies just show up if you can and grab some cookies."

*During some quarters my weekly one-on-one with my advisor was on the weekend. I actually don't mind this at all, but some people think it's a bad thing.

[rufzilla]

I would look at your school's website and see what they say about RA workloads. Generally speaking, I think that all RA's and TA's are employed at 50% Full Time, so that means they can work a max of 20 hours. I'm not sure how strict your school will be and if your PI will make you work more, but I know that for my school any person that works over 20 hours in their RA/ TA position may have their position revoked. However, if you and your PI agree (or if he forces you to agree) I think that a student can work an "overload" amount of hours maxing out at 40 hours/ week. I believe this means that you will get your usual stipend PLUS whatever the hourly rate for a RA is.

I'm not sure how intense your professor is and what the guidelines are at your school, but I'm sure he would still have to abide by all of the laws concerning employment and compensation. You may have to work nights, but at least you'll get night differential and won't have to go back to work for another 12 (?) hours.

[GraduateSchoolNut]

Thanks all, much appreciated.

[slothy]

I'll add that I think there are very different cultures in different disciplines on this. In my R1 soc dept (admittedly I'm an undergrad but I think I have a good feel for how the department operates), they don't even bother unlocking the building on Sundays and as far as I know nobody has access. On the other side of campus in engineering and the bioscience labs, it seems like there's always lights on on Sunday nights and you can see people working late into the night. Most of the stories I've heard about overworked grad students seem to come from the "hard" sciences - there's plenty of pressure on RA's in the social sciences, but I get the impression that it tends to be less deadline oriented and a lot more of the off-the-clock work is done from home.

[belowthree]

I get the impression that it tends to be less deadline oriented and a lot more of the off-the-clock work is done from home.

I get the impression that on the humanities side they actually record things like hours and there's "on the clock" times. From what I've seen of the sci/eng side, there is no distinction.

[was1984]

I get the impression that on the humanities side they actually record things like hours and there's "on the clock" times. From what I've seen of the sci/eng side, there is no distinction.

Sounds like any other job in science and engineering. Weeks I worked *only* 40 hours were rare.

[Stories]

I worked exactly 40 hours a week. If I had class, I made up for lost work hours by adding hours elsewhere (either earlier in the day or stay late other days).

[advice]

Check to see if your program has a union. Union rules sometimes address this.