Vacation/sick time in grad school?

[persimmony]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I'm wondering how vacation/sick time works in grad school...if it even exists.

 

I'm specifically talking about PhD programs (biosciences). Should I be able to go home and visit my family once a year or is that stretching it? Do I actually accrue any vacation/sick time or is it all kind of depending on the situation?

 

Thanks in advance.

[raneck]

This is entirely situation dependent.  In my program, it is pretty much up to your advisor what he/she considers appropriate, and the school regulations allow for a one week summer vacation. 

[juilletmercredi]

This depends a lot on your department, university, and most of all your advisor.

 

My advisor is pretty chill and encourages breaks and vacations.  I can also do all of my work from any Internet-connected computer with the appropriate statistical analysis program.  This describes my laptop, so I can pretty much take break when I want to, although of course it's limited.  There was no vacation or sick time; it was just..."Hey Advisor, I am planning to go to see my family for a week between X dates."

 

In my first two years in grad school I went home about twice a year - a week in the summer and usually 2-3 weeks over Christmas break.  My advisor was also out of town during the winter break so it didn't matter. I also spent every other weekend with my long-distance boyfriend about 80 miles away.

 

These days, I typically go home once a year - during winter break - and for a lot less time - maybe 1.5 to 2 weeks.  I only go home other times if there's a special thing, like my sister in law graduating from high school (so I'm going home for a week next week).  My boyfriend is also now my live-in husband, so no more of that.  Occasionally I'll visit my extended family about ~100 miles away in the next state over for a long weekend, but I bring work with me.

 

...so long story short, yes, you should be able to go home and visit your family once a year! You're a PhD student, not an android

[biotechie]

I second what juillet said. We also don't have vacation/sick time. Going home for a short break a couple of times a year should be fine. My PI literally told me I had to go home for a short vacation after finishing classes. Some PIs will verbalize that to you, and others let you come to them to tell them when you need to go for a break. As long as you're not taking long weekends all the time, you should be fine.

 

As far as sick time goes, if something really bad is going on for you and you need time off to recover, talk to your PI about it. They may let you take a few weeks. If you're still in classes, you probably will have to take a leave of absence, but note that often times, you lose your stipend for that period.

[maelia8]

At my (very small) undergrad institution, unexcused absences counted against your grade; for example, if you had more than 2 unexcused absences, your final grade at the end of the term would be knocked down by half a grade (for example, B+ to B ).

 

Is it similar when you're still attending classes for the Master's requirements of your Ph.D. program? Can your grade in a course be affected by too many absences? Do you just have to email your professor if you're feeling sick one day, or do you have to bring a doctor's note proving your need to stay at home (something that was required at my German university)? I'm not talking about a prolonged illness requiring a leave of absence, but simply a cold or flu that knocks you out for three days or less. 

 

In terms of time off: Is it considered kosher to drive up and visit your family on a long holiday weekend if they're within driving distance? My folks will be 6 hours' drive north of me, which is definitely doable for Thanksgiving and Easter. Do people often do this, or is it frowned upon? 

Edited May 14, 2014 by maelia8

[Lisa44201]

At my (very small) undergrad institution, unexcused absences counted against your grade; for example, if you had more than 2 unexcused absences, your final grade at the end of the term would be knocked down by half a grade (for example, B+ to B ).

 

Is it similar when you're still attending classes for the Master's requirements of your Ph.D. program? Can your grade in a course be affected by too many absences? Do you just have to email your professor if you're feeling sick one day, or do you have to bring a doctor's note proving your need to stay at home (something that was required at my German university)? I'm not talking about a prolonged illness requiring a leave of absence, but simply a cold or flu that knocks you out for three days or less. 

 

In terms of time off: Is it considered kosher to drive up and visit your family on a long holiday weekend if they're within driving distance? My folks will be 6 hours' drive north of me, which is definitely doable for Thanksgiving and Easter. Do people often do this, or is it frowned upon? 

Absence policies are dependent on the professor. I have yet to take a grad-level class where absences would count against my grade; however, there is an understanding built into the culture that one is expected to be in class. I usually e-mail my professor if I have to miss a class due to illness; in the case of conferences, I let my professor know as soon as I know I'm going to the conference, and remind him/her again about a week ahead of the conference date.

 

Yes, people leave town for holidays. If you're TAing, check with your University's policy regarding when grades are due, and when you are allowed to leave; I believe the TAs here need to stay in town through the week after finals week. GAs here get the week between Christmas and New Year's off, as well as the major holidays, but that's it - they work through the end of May (to put in in perspective, graduation is May 10th, but they work through May 31), they do not get Spring Break off, and they work through December until the University closes on Christmas Eve. What GAs do on their time off is their business - if they want to go visit family, that's fine; if they want to stare at a wall, that's fine, too.

[bsharpe269]

This all depends on your PI and department but of course you can take breaks! You should be taking breaks! I can work from anywhere so when I dont have classes, I only go to campus a couple days a week for research meetings. Other than that, I work from home. If I want to visit family then I take my work with me. I guess I very rarely "take a weekend off" in the sense that I dont work at all... like in the past year I think I have done that once since I was skiing all weekend. Usually, I just take work with me wherever I want to go.

 

For classes, I have never heard of professors changing your grade because of illness. I have only ever missed a couple classes because I respect my professors and want to be in class. Plenty of people miss class regularly. You want your professors to consider you among their top students though and coming to class is important in earning that reputation. If I am sick though or completely bogged down with work then sure, I will miss the occassional class.

[TakeruK]

My school grants all graduate students 10 working days of vacation time plus all of the institute holidays (11 days per year) for a total of 21 working days of vacation. It comes with a stipulation that your advisor has to approve--i.e. students are expected to work with their advisor so that they take days off during a time that would minimize the impact (for example, don't do it the week of a major deadline!) In this logic, weekends don't count and in theory you can earn more days off by working weekends.

 

In practice, few advisors in my department would care if you took time off. The main policy is to let them know so that they know you will be gone. Ultimately, we have the most interest in keeping our own productivity up so they trust us to be responsible. But I do know of other profs who will track their students' hours and days absent!