Should I Be Concerned

[Threeboysmom]

All of the syllabi for fall have been posted except for the classes my professor is teaching. I printed syllabi from previous semesters with the same professor to get an idea of what to expect and what order to read the chapters. It's less than a week prior to class starting and I was told the syllabi would be ready two weeks prior to class. I called my department and was told they have done all they can do but another entity on campus is the hold up. My type A personality is freaking out.

[Rolling Circles]

I would say no. If you are that concerned, I would try and contact the professor directly and not the department. 

[geographyrocks]

I didn't get most of my syllabi until the first day of class. And half of them don't say anything about specific coursework or readings. It's something I guess I have gotten used to.

[Threeboysmom]

I would say no. If you are that concerned, I would try and contact the professor directly and not the department.

I forgot to add that I have reached out to the professor twice but no response. I guess I will wait until the first day. Sigh

[biotechie]

I forgot to add that I have reached out to the professor twice but no response. I guess I will wait until the first day. Sigh

 

I think you're making a really big deal out of something small. Not being able to get this information isn't going to hurt you; most people are going to procrastinate even once your course starts. As long as you stay on top of things as they're assigned, I don't see why you would need the syllabus ahead of time, particularly when you have the ones from previous years. Just be patient and it will be okay. I don't think I've ever gotten a syllabus prior to the first day of class, and the readings I usually have to do are quite extensive. You may just be annoying the living daylights out of the professor; I would save hounding for something important. In fact, when I was teaching, we were told by the university to not provide our syllabi prior to the first day. That may be the case for you, or your professor just might not have it done (or they may be on vacation before school starts).

Just take a breath and wait until the first day.

[Threeboysmom]

Thanks biotechie, I think in my desire to prepare myself I am stressing over the smallest details.  I'm going to relax. 

[fuzzylogician]

I forgot to add that I have reached out to the professor twice but no response. I guess I will wait until the first day. Sigh

 

Whatever you do, don't email the professor again. You're making a big deal out of something small and in the process making yourself out to be a demanding and perhaps even unreasonable/annoying student. I can't remember even once receiving a syllabus this early. You receive it in the first class, and it's designed so that you do the work starting in week 1 of classes, not some time earlier in the summer. This is normal. Relax.

[RunnerGrad]

I agree with everyone who has told you to relax.  I don't have any of my course syllabi yet, and I only have one course outline (that indicated the dates/times of class - it's on an odd schedule - but doesn't list any of the readings).

 

It's pretty standard, at least in my experience, to receive the syllabus on the first day of class, or to have it posted to the CMS the day before, or the day of, the first class.

 

It's definitely not something I would be bugging a professor, or the department, about.  You don't want to get a reputation as an annoying, demanding, high-strung student.

[Threeboysmom]

Point taken fuzzylogician I don't want to make a name for myself for the wrong reasons. 

[TakeruK]

I originally read this as the OP was looking for a syllabus for the class that the OP is TAing, but after reading it a few times, I think I'm wrong and it's for a class that the OP is taking. Definitely agree with everyone that if this is a class that you are taking, then don't expect the syllabus until the first day (or even the second or third day). In some graduate programs here and other places, the course schedule is not even determined until the first day!

 

However, that said, although I agree that in general, being more relaxed is probably healthier, I do think that graduate programs and instructors should recognize that some students have much busier schedules than others and basically try to get information to the students as soon as possible. For example, the thoughts and ideas expressed in this blog post: http://tenureshewrote.wordpress.com/2014/08/08/curricula-and-reality/. Although the author wrote it for undergraduate classes, I think the same ideas should apply to graduate students too. That is, I think professors and instructors do a disservice to their students when they assume all of their students are "traditional" students that can always put their academics ahead of all other priorities all the time.

 

A personal example was a core/required class I took last year that had a weekend geological field trip requirement. I did expect a field trip for this course since this course traditionally comes with a field trip but I was annoyed that we did not get confirmation of the field trip until the first week of class (10 week quarters are very short and the field trip was something like week 6) and the field trip was not actually scheduled until ~4 weeks prior to the actual date. I was annoyed because I felt that we were expected to suddenly drop whatever plans we had for the required and important field trip with very little notice. I want to prioritize important things like required course field trips and I definitely do not want to miss out on such a great educational opportunity. However, I have lots of other priorities (e.g. family) and while I am definitely able to rearrange things to ensure I attend the field trip, it creates a lot more hardship when I only have a few weeks advance notice. In my opinion, something like this should have been scheduled over the summer, or even better, at the time of course registration! Fortunately, this was an exception as almost all other classes have field trips or other big commitments scheduled well in advance!

 

I bring this up because I want to say that while I agree that for this particular case (as presented by the OP), we should just relax and wait for the syllabus to come out, I do understand and share the frustrations of not being able to plan my work in advance and being worried of surprise commitments/conflicts. I think graduate school would be a much better place for everyone if expectations and requirements are well communicated as soon as they are known (i.e. no unnecessary withholding of course plans or neglect to communicate such plans!).

[The Wayfarer]

Just adding a quick thought in here:

 

I am a very anxious person -- I like to know things ahead of time, schedule everything out, etc. That being said the like of syllabi from my courses does not really phase me and never has.

 

Additionally, during my department orientation the other day a professor specifically states that she does not give out her syllabus early. Maybe this is the case for the OP's courses.

[victorydance]

If you have the syllabus from the same class from a previous year then I am willing to bet that it will be almost identical. Classes don't change from one year to the next very much.

[Threeboysmom]

Thanks guys for all the replies.  I have been out of undergrad for thirteen years, am now married with three children.  I'm a little nervous to say the least and wanted to get my hands on the syllabi as early as possible in order to get a jump on my reading etc.  The  nervous energy inside is telling me I need to do something for school just waiting for classes to start was making me more nervous. Being a wife and mother there are many things that will not change in my household because I have chosen to begin my Masters.  So the earlier I can plan out the semester the better.  As luck would have it today the syllabi posted.  I guess I needed to be more patient, less anxious.  Certainly once classes begin I should be able to breathe a sigh of relief and start churning out the work.  Thanks again for the replies.   

[RunnerGrad]

I'm an older, non-traditional student. I'm 42 and married. I have a part-time job outside the university. I still don't expect my department to let me know about required events, etc. ahead of time, nor do I expect them to provide me with the syllabi ahead of time, just because it would be convenient for me. If a university event comes up, that I'm expected to attend, that conflicts with work or family activities, well then I find someone to fill in for me at work, or I make apologies to my family for having to miss their event.

Maybe it's because I am a military spouse, so I'm used to missing important events, or being apart on birthdays, anniversaries and other holidays. Yes, my husband is the most important thing in my life, and I have a life outside of grad school, but I also know there are some things I do have to sacrifice or schedule around, because of grad school. Just like he has to sacrifice some things because of his job. If he is deployed overseas, he can't just come home for important events (an exception was when his father passed away while he was deployed - he was allowed home for the funeral). I look at grad school in the same way - if an exam happens to fall on our anniversary, I can't just tell the prof that I can't make it because it's my anniversary.

It would be nice to have all the dates, readings, etc. for my program ahead of time, but that's not how things work. They've even warned us not to make holiday plans yet, as we won't know for a while when we will have exams, etc. I don't have any control over the university's scheduling, so I just have to accept that's the way things are and deal with it. If I have to scramble for last minute arrangements (ie. care for our three cats) if I need to be away when my husband is away, oh well, I'll deal with it. Heck, when I was working full time between my degrees, things would often come up at work at the last minute, and I had to rearrange my schedule to meet worn requirements. That sort of thing happens in all aspects of life, not just hard school. You don't always have the materials you would like, or even that you need, when you want them, and people frequently don't give you advance notice of important dates.

[geitost]

I'm really surprised so many people here don't receive their syllabi until the first day of class or even later! We receive our syllabi a few days early and usually have readings to do or even written assignments to turn in the first day of class! Still, I agree that there's no point worrying about it too much - after all, everyone else in your class is in the same boat.

[Vene]

I have one syllabus, because it was posted online. I mostly used it to know which book I needed to buy.

[TakeruK]

I'm an older, non-traditional student. I'm 42 and married. I have a part-time job outside the university. I still don't expect my department to let me know about required events, etc. ahead of time, nor do I expect them to provide me with the syllabi ahead of time, just because it would be convenient for me. If a university event comes up, that I'm expected to attend, that conflicts with work or family activities, well then I find someone to fill in for me at work, or I make apologies to my family for having to miss their event.

Maybe it's because I am a military spouse, so I'm used to missing important events, or being apart on birthdays, anniversaries and other holidays. Yes, my husband is the most important thing in my life, and I have a life outside of grad school, but I also know there are some things I do have to sacrifice or schedule around, because of grad school. Just like he has to sacrifice some things because of his job. If he is deployed overseas, he can't just come home for important events (an exception was when his father passed away while he was deployed - he was allowed home for the funeral). I look at grad school in the same way - if an exam happens to fall on our anniversary, I can't just tell the prof that I can't make it because it's my anniversary.

It would be nice to have all the dates, readings, etc. for my program ahead of time, but that's not how things work. They've even warned us not to make holiday plans yet, as we won't know for a while when we will have exams, etc. I don't have any control over the university's scheduling, so I just have to accept that's the way things are and deal with it. If I have to scramble for last minute arrangements (ie. care for our three cats) if I need to be away when my husband is away, oh well, I'll deal with it. Heck, when I was working full time between my degrees, things would often come up at work at the last minute, and I had to rearrange my schedule to meet worn requirements. That sort of thing happens in all aspects of life, not just hard school. You don't always have the materials you would like, or even that you need, when you want them, and people frequently don't give you advance notice of important dates.

 

I agree with this for the most part. There's just a couple of caveats:

 

1. In my point of view, my graduate program is my job. I am perfectly willing to put grad school ahead of all other priorities from 9am to 5pm, Mondays to Fridays, except holidays or my 2 weeks of vacation time. On evenings, holidays, weekends, and vacation time, my time is my time. I would gladly spend this time doing something important, e.g. a geology field trip, but all course time commitments need to be scheduled when the course is scheduled. I agree though, that exams are sometimes tough to schedule ahead of time, and it makes sense for a school to say something like "Exams will be held from Dec 5 through Dec 15" and expect us not to make any plans during this time period.

 

That is, I want to and do prioritize school above other commitments, but only when I have enough notice to do so. I'm not going to keep all of my other life plans on hold while I'm in grad school (5+ years!). 

 

2. I would agree more with the "if a school thing comes up, I must sacrifice for it" when I was an undergraduate student, because well, there are no real expectations on me back then (no one was paying me for school!). It would completely be my choice if I wanted to make the sacrifice. However, in grad school, students are paid so there has to be clear expectations on what the department/professors expect for my time. 

 

3. Except for the anecdote above, my experience has almost always been good. My current school does all of its exams on the honour system--we take exams home and time ourselves and proctor ourselves. There's a written policies that proctored exams are not allowed here. So, I can always schedule my exams around my life (usually conferences happen during exam week so many students end up writing exams while traveling!). At my MSc school, I got permission to take one of my exams early so that I can fly home to do planning stuff for my wedding. That was a nice benefit--I just asked because I thought I would just see what happens but did not expect it in any way.

 

4. Finally, I agree that I would not e.g. ask to not take an exam because it's my birthday or anniversary. In fact, I actually worked an ~18 hour day on my birthday recently because I had to operate a telescope to get my data. I would never put something like "please don't grant me wonderful data collection time on my birthday!". But, my upcoming quarter is October through December. I am making plans to visit home during American Thanksgiving. I am also making plans to be out of town or do other non-refundable things (e.g. visit the zoo, see a sports game) on various weekends during these months. I think this is reasonable!

[Vene]

1. In my point of view, my graduate program is my job. I am perfectly willing to put grad school ahead of all other priorities from 9am to 5pm, Mondays to Fridays, except holidays or my 2 weeks of vacation time. On evenings, holidays, weekends, and vacation time, my time is my time. I would gladly spend this time doing something important, e.g. a geology field trip, but all course time commitments need to be scheduled when the course is scheduled. I agree though, that exams are sometimes tough to schedule ahead of time, and it makes sense for a school to say something like "Exams will be held from Dec 5 through Dec 15" and expect us not to make any plans during this time period.

That is, I want to and do prioritize school above other commitments, but only when I have enough notice to do so. I'm not going to keep all of my other life plans on hold while I'm in grad school (5+ years!).

This I'd where I come from as well. I think grad school is important and it is definitely a commitment, but I'm not willing to put my life on hold for it especially since continuing with a postdoc is so common. I expect to work hard, but there is a conference between working hard and burning out. Besides it's just research it's not like lives are at stake here and it's not like I can expect to work hard now in exchange for great prosperity later in life the same way a MD can. Does it really make a difference if I sequence the protein next week instead of on Friday night?

[biotechie]

This I'd where I come from as well. I think grad school is important and it is definitely a commitment, but I'm not willing to put my life on hold for it especially since continuing with a postdoc is so common. I expect to work hard, but there is a conference between working hard and burning out. Besides it's just research it's not like lives are at stake here and it's not like I can expect to work hard now in exchange for great prosperity later in life the same way a MD can. Does it really make a difference if I sequence the protein next week instead of on Friday night?

 

I realize this is digressing from the original intent of the post, but I feel the need to respond to Vene's comment, here:

 

As a biomedical science student myself, I am usually able to schedule things so that I can have some resemblance of a life outside of the lab. Yes, I work 10-12 hour days, but I do get most weekends to myself. However, there are going to be times where it WILL make a difference if you do something now or later. This may mean you have to work up data for a paper submission in the middle of your qualifying exam like I did last week. Biomedical research can be a cut-throat field, and depending on what you're working on, not cranking out the data could get you scooped and deny you the publication(s) you need to graduate.

 

This is also one of the convenient things about biomedical research... many of our experiments take 2-3 months, so you can time them around your life events as needed. Once you're done with classes, this is even better. It is one of the things I like about our education versus that of other fields.

Also, something to think about: It isn't "just research." You may not save a life, tomorrow, but what you learn in the laboratory could end up saving lives in the future. That's why our intense work ethic is needed. The more we know, the faster we figure out disease progression and how to stop it.

[LittleDarlings]

You are so on top of your game! Haha I wouldn't worry.  Are you worried because the books haven't been purchased? I am sure the professor realizes that it is right before classes start and he has not put up a syllabus.  Don't worry! 

[NavyMom]

My classes gave out their syllabi a month ago.  I assume a lot of classes do not.... but apparently my department does because there is so much reading involved early on before classes start.

I had 5 books, 3 thesis, and 10 publications to read/skim through... and a paper to write all before my classes start in 10 days from now.

[TakeruK]

Also, something to think about: It isn't "just research." You may not save a life, tomorrow, but what you learn in the laboratory could end up saving lives in the future. That's why our intense work ethic is needed. The more we know, the faster we figure out disease progression and how to stop it.

 

I agree with what you said above that sometimes, to meet a deadline, you just have to work more than usual. I definitely worked almost every weekend in the month or two leading up to qualifying exams or other periods that a large amount of work is needed. But these are not mandatory scheduled things that I must fulfill in order to maintain my status as a student. I definitely would choose to do more than the minimum amount of work so that I can write more papers, have a stronger dissertation and hopefully get a job. 

 

But I do think our work is "just research". Granted, in my field, our work has no practical or economical effect on humanity--it just fulfills some curiosities. In addition, I feel that the argument that "your work can save lives so you must work as much as possible" is a common way for governments and employers to force workers to work for unfair wages/conditions and refuse them the right to strike or otherwise take actions to ensure a good working environment. I know that in Canada, professions deemed "essential" such as schoolteachers and nurses and postal workers have a very tough time getting fair working conditions because 1) the workers themselves feel a responsibility to do their work and 2) the government/employers exploit this responsibility and enforce unfair working conditions.

[Vene]

In addition, I feel that the argument that "your work can save lives so you must work as much as possible" is a common way for governments and employers to force workers to work for unfair wages/conditions and refuse them the right to strike or otherwise take actions to ensure a good working environment. I know that in Canada, professions deemed "essential" such as schoolteachers and nurses and postal workers have a very tough time getting fair working conditions because 1) the workers themselves feel a responsibility to do their work and 2) the government/employers exploit this responsibility and enforce unfair working conditions.

I guess my thought to add to this is that if it is that damn important pay me more. If my work is truly so valuable it means the difference between life and death if I work 12 hour days instead of 10 hour days then I deserve the same level of pay a MD gets.