humanities students: how much do you work?

[Bleep_Bloop]

I'm curious to get feedback from fellow grad students in the humanities and gauge what a typical workload looks like. I'm in a foreign literature program and since the environment is competetive, I don't feel comfortable asking my cohort (and I don't think I'd get honest answers even if I did). It seems like people here take pride in their academic masochism (bragging about how little sleep they get, etc), and what's worse, question the work/dedication of others who don't do the same. It's shitty. I feel like after a month and a half, I've lost touch with reality...what is a normal amount of time to dedicate to grad school in an average week, and how much time can you set aside for yourself without feeling guilty?

 

So in my case, I'm about a month and a half into my program and have been pulling about 80-hour work weeks since I've gotten here. This seems normal for my program, but I don't think this is actually normal, is it? When I say "work," I'm referring to the time I dedicate to grad school, time that I don't have to myself. Since I don't teach this year, that includes class (three graduate seminars, plus an intensive language course), reading (1500-2000 pages a week, though I still don't read it all), writing, presentations. This is exhausting, and I'm pretty sure it's not sustainable in the long run. However, I have to work this much just to stay afloat in my program...I still scramble to get things done on time.

 

Is this fairly common? What has your experience been like?

 

ps. I realize that this is partially me venting/ranting, but I'm generally interested in hearing about other people's experiences.

[Nerd_For_Life]

That sounds about on track with what I was pulling last year, though I did burn out a couple of times and when a deadline was fast approaching sleepless nights would like greet me. This year I things are a little more balanced for me. I'm normally on campus Mon-Fri 930am-8pm and that is when I get the bulk of my work done. I'm not in course work so this is solely focusing on TAing and my comps. While I do reading when I'm at home and deadlines still bring an increase in hours logged, I'm working to maintain a pretty good separation of school/work and home, which is doing wonders for my mental health. That said, even when I'm not sitting down and doing focused work, I think about my research at all hours o.O It's always on my mind and some of my best through 'breakthroughs' happen when I'm not sitting down at my desk (shower-train lightbulb moment anyone?). So in that sense it's a bit hard to calculate.

Oh, I should also mention that at the pace I am and have been going I'm coming out at the top of my cohort and am 'on schedule' in terms of progressing through the program in 4-5 years.

Edited October 15, 2014 by Nerd_For_Life

[ProfLorax]

Honestly, I felt much the same as you my first semester. But, looking back, that's largely because I wasn't working smartly. Let's say I'd designate four hours this afternoon to sit down and read for class. I'd really spend maybe two hours reading and two hours messing around my house or the Internet. I also read almost everything assigned. I eventually stopped reading every page, but it still took me a while to figure out what I should focus on and what I should skim. 

 

My second semester was much better. I set up a schedule to work a strict 40 hour work week. And yes, I really mean work--not mess around the Internet (I'm not saying you do this. I'm saying that I did/do this in a big big way). I also had a better idea of what I wanted to write for my dissertation, which helps me get through assigned coursework faster. I focus on the articles I can see being on my comps or used in my dissertation. For articles that are not useful to me, I skim in twenty minutes and make sure I have something to say in class. I don't feel bad for this practice, as it was my own professors (both at my current program and my former program) who suggested I work like this. After all, coursework and comps won't get you a job; your dissertation will. 

 

I also realized that everyone works at a different pace. One of my colleagues is much more methodical and precise in her coursework than I am; she also tends to be more stressed out and busy with coursework than I am. I'd say we are about equally accomplished in the program: both presenting at conferences, pursuing publications, applying for fellowships, etc. We just have different work schedules, and that's okay. I think lifestyle also may account for some differences among grad students. I'm expecting our first kid in December, so working ten or twelve hour days is just not an option. I also enjoy spending evenings and weekends with my partner. I prioritize my personal life above my work life and have found that my professors are very respectful of my hierarchy of needs. 

 

But, like I said in the beginning, it took me a full semester to figure out how to work efficiently. And I am still tweaking my work schedule! Given my low energy these days (thirty one weeks pregnant), I had to start scheduling almost daily naps and some of my work is now done on weekends. I just can't physically work eight straight hours anymore. So I'm still changing everything around and trying to figure this whole PhD life out. 

 

Here are some articles/blog posts that have been helpful for me when thinking about my schedule:

 

http://getalifephd.blogspot.com/2012/03/whats-matter-with-forty-hour-work-week.html

http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/working-hours-for-graduate-students/43912

http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/expecting-balance-2/56487

[maelia8]

@LKS like you, I'm in my first semester and don't yet have to teach. I'm enrolled in two seminars and a language course. I am very careful with my time and make sure that I get at least 8 hours of sleep per night. I am usually on campus working or in class from 11am to 9pm (minus a half-hour for lunch), so that's a 45-hour work week during the week, but I also go to campus on weekends and work for about 9-10 hours per day, so it's really more like a 65-hour workweek. I think it's pretty reasonable, but then, I don't have to do any outside research yet because I'm in a humanities program where we literally just do coursework for the first two years (basically the equivalent of the masters that I skipped). I do all of the required reading, and I'm not breaking my back doing it, but as I said, I don't have any lab work or outside research to do (besides prepping a topic for a research course next semester), and I still have time to go out for drinks or hang out with friends two nights a week on average (once after seminar on Wednesday, once on Friday or Saturday night), as well as working out at the gym four days a week for about an hour a day. What's important is to find a healthy balance and be strict about the clock - if you want to be up by 8 or in bed by midnight, nobody can make it happen but you

[Realities]

With no intent of thread-jacking, I'd also be interested in hearing feedback on workload/time spent working in the social sciences.  Worthy of a new thread, or no?

[Between Fields]

I'm a first-year PhD (I already have an MA), and I would estimate that I probably spend about 30 hours working on a given week. I skim most of the articles I'm assigned at to look for main ideas and concepts, and go back to read them again after class if I think I'll be using them in my research. We're, for instance, reading an epic per week in my literature class; I'd rather skim most of it and really focus on one area than read the whole thing thoroughly and go crazy.

 

I also structure my courses that I'm teaching to limit the amount of grading I have to do during the semester. There are three points in the semester when I actually have papers from them, so that might jump it up to about a 40 hour week. This isn't counting the time I spend thinking about things for the program and various service/PD events I'm involved in. On average, I'd say I work a shorter week than other students in my program, but I don't feel any less successful (at least at this point).

[dr. t]

2nd year MA in History: 

 

I estimate I put in somewhere between 50-70 hours a week, of which I'd guess classes and classwork consumes about 20-30 and the rest is my own research & projects.

[TMP]

I don't count how much time I work.  Work, for me, also means thinking about history even if I'm not reading or writing.  Even conversations with peers and the faculty counts work.  It's one aspect that graduate students overlook and can sap you of energy to sit down and focus on reading after a long day of conversations (including talks and classes).  If I need to step away from this kind of "work"  I'll distract myself with a movie or a social event.

 

Since I don't have coursework this semester (and there really haven't been any talks for me), I've been able to read far more than ever.  All of my energy is devoted to the books, thinking about the comps and dissertation, and occasional conversations with peers/faculty about our field.  I sleep 8-9 a night like a baby.

 

As a professor and I recently half-joked, "Your mother comes home at 5 PM.  Does her brain shut down?  Yes.  Does yours when you come home?  No.  You're still thinking about the day."  It's true.

 

People talk but don't always do the walk.  It is about working smarter but also what's right for you.  I used to fret a lot that I couldn't read "smart" like some of the grad students do because I had so much content that I needed to cover (I was basically starting a new field) but was gently calmed down when I was told to actually focus on me and do what's best for me.  If I need to read the book from cover to cover, so be it.  My committee knows this and support me even though they know that I'd like to get the comps done and over with.

When I learned that 60 hours is really the maximum that a professor can actually work, I decided that it would be my limit if I needed to work that much in a week (which I haven't).  Because that's just more realistic and expected of academics.

[Bleep_Bloop]

I don't count how much time I work.  Work, for me, also means thinking about history even if I'm not reading or writing.

 

 

This is definitely true. I'm in my first semester so I don't have my own research yet, but I certainly think about what I'm reading and writing for class at all hours of the day...when I'm on a walk in the woods, when I'm at the gym, when I'm in the shower, when I'm making dinner, etc. The fact that my intellectual interests make there way into my life outside the classroom/library doesn't bother me at all...that's what attracted me to academia originally. I guess the problem that I'm encountering is when to say "I've read enough" or "I've written enough" and do something for myself that's entirely unrelated to my work.

[bsharpe269]

ok, im not humanities but I really think the answer to this question is pretty much the same across all disciplines. I keep a different attitude about this that really seems to work for me. I plan what I want to plan without worrying about number of hours worked. My plans usually involve dinner a couple nights with friends or family, maybe another lunch at some point, study sessions with people, walking the dogs, etc and then I work whenever im not doing those things. Depending on what I have going on that particular day, I work 8-12+ hours a day, 7 days a week. Sometimes Ill plan something like an all day hike on a weekend day if I feel like. A couple times a semester I will go out of town for a weekend and not work at all. All in all, I probably average somewhere around 70 hours a week at least though.

 

I dont really think into this too hard or compare myself to others. I study/work the amount that I feel like I need to to keep high As in my classes and be productive with my research. I am sure that I work more than some people and less than others. This doesnt feel like much of an issue for me because I really love what I study a ton. If I am at home then I want to work since I enjoy it a lot more than watching tv and all. I do enjoy spending time with family and friends though so I schedule that in a couple times a week with just as high of priority as homework and research.

[ProfLorax]

One challenging aspect about discussing work schedule's is that people are notoriously bad at estimating their work hours. One of the articles I posted above includes a link to this study, which found that "The typical person who reported having worked 40 hours, for example, actually worked closer to 37. The report found that 'The greater the estimate, the greater the overestimate'; people who said they worked 75 hours actually worked closer to 50 hours. (That’s an overestimate of 25 hours, or 50 percent!) At the other end of the spectrum, people who worked relatively few hours (under around 25) actually ended to underestimate their hours."

[music]

I can get through my coursework (classes+reading+small assignments) in about 25-30 hours per week. Maybe an extra 10 hours for semi-obligatory events and bonus assignments. I dropped a 4th language course bc it was taking me up to around 60 hours per week which I considered unsustainable. My current workload is great - like a regular job, and I pursue my personal research on the weekends.

[danieleWrites]

For me, there's something of a blurred line between academic work and leisure. I read theory for funsies. I try to pick courses where the assigned readings are interesting so I'm getting relaxation mileage out of work.

 

My hourly workload varies from week to week. My first semester, my workload was insane because I decided to write The Paper That Ate My Life. I ended up reading about 50 books, in addition to the three books that were the source of the paper and about a dozen or so articles. While I did work smart, the focus of my paper was a stupid, stupid choice. However, I did get a fabulous paper out of it. So, yay for me.

 

80 hours is too many for me and I cannot put that much time on my academics in addition to my teaching load, job, and family responsibilities. I take the minimum number of classes required for the semester and I prioritize the amount of effort I do for the assigned work in classes based on where it will advance me educationally and professionally. For example, I will read every assigned work, but the ones that are not relevant to my research plans? I won't annotate, and will likely skim tropes. I will focus on finding the bones of the story, situating important characters, and marking two or three passages I found particularly interesting or important. For works that I will use in papers, I will read every word, annotate, take notes, and follow patterns with outside research because I will use those to develop a paper. So, this week, my class workload is super heavy because I'm reading one of those books right now. Last week, not so much.

 

I schedule like crazy. I am running three gmail accounts (my U uses gmail as its student email account provider) for academic/professional, personal, and household (I do the family paperwork); and three different calendars to track my time. I schedule my weeks: 10:00 to 12:00, my butt on couch, reading seminar book. 12:00 to 12:20, reheat leftovers, stretch, set up at kitchen table, text son to make sure he did his homework. 12:20 to 1:20, at kitchen table, eating and reading seminar book. And so on. I do this so my android phone shows me my paln for the day, and, more importantly, it also shows up on my spouse's android so he knows when he can't talk to me. I track tasks on a paper calendar in a dayrunner that has tabbed sections where I keep track of papers, projects, and whatnot. The hour or so a week I spend with my organizer is the best investment I've made for myself. Just being organized has freed up hours to do things like hit the gym and take off the first semester 15.

 

I schedule time for leisure and sleep. There are no assigned readings in my favorite manga. Go figure.