I have a dilemma

[yoyo17]

Wasn't sure where to post as I just stumbled on these forums but let me explain my situation, I'll try to be brief and I welcome all face-punches.

 

I'm nearing the end of 1st semester and feel like I've done nothing. Mainly because of these 2 jobs I'm juggling with grad school. One is a TA covering tuition and has stipend, the other is a healthcare related job that per hour equals the TA. Problem is I cannot do both and I really wasted a whole semester I feel like. My question is should I drop one of them? (probably, but I really don't want to as the money in both is really good...someone fix my mindset!) The healthcare related job is actually related to my phd program in a way pretty heavily and I plan on working that same field after graduating at least per diem or part time (and could help career prospects), whereas the TA isn't going to get me anywhere but covers my tuition (which I like). If I kept the healthcare job it would actually equal my tuition and stipend.

 

So 2 choices, 1 is my job which is very much related to my field and could help in future phd degree, but is less stable, company can close down, not always fixed hours, but pretty flexible in I can ask for what I want/handle. Other is TA which cover tuition which I really like and don't want to give up but more demanding than I thought, decent stipend, health benefits (not all too concerned here). I was also thinking of finding another job but halve the hours in case the first goes out of business. (I feel it's important to work this other job for licensure reasons and knowledge ties into my field in many ways). I'm leaning towards cutting my hours at the job and picking up more in summer for now, would you agree? It shouldn't all be about money.

 

On a related note, how many phd students work on the side? whether teaching or another job to support yourself, how many hours do you think you could handle? obviously some phd degrees are more demanding than others and im in the sciences so i would imagine it's more demanding? not trying to be obnoxious...

 

Also in the lab is there such a thing as asking too many questions? Thanks for reading this far.

 

[TMP]

Is the TAship part of your funding package upon acceptance/  Or did you accept the offer without funding and found this TAship over the summer?

 

That is the most important question you can answer...

[lewin]

Grad school is a full time job. You're not supposed to have outside work so I'm not surprised you're struggling. Of course, I sympathize with needing to eat but think of research as requiring 40+ hours per week, plus your TA, plus your other job. There are only so many hours in a day.

Edited December 10, 2014 by lewin

[ProfLorax]

Grad school is a full time job. You're not supposed to have outside work so I'm not surprised you're struggling. Of course, I sympathize with needing to eat but think of research as requiring 40+ hours per week, plus your TA, plus your other job. There are only so many hours in a day.

I don't think this is necessarily a helpful response, as everyone's experiences, priorities, and needs during graduate school are different. Not to mention, different programs and disciplines have different cultures. For people who want to go into the private industry, part-time work outside of their program can be a huge benefit. One of my best friends was offered a sweet, six-figure position at Zillow upon receiving her PhD largely because of the part-time work she had been doing there throughout her time as a grad student. She jumped at that job so damn quickly and left academia without looking back once. For folks who want to enter the private sector, part-time work can be a huge boost to their job prospects.

 

Back to the OP: From your explanation, the TAship seems pretty important (fee waiver, health care, stipend, etc), and I definitely wouldn't give that up. It sounds like your other job is flexible, so could you talk to your supervisors about changing around your hours? Also, I'm curious what you mean when you say that you "feel like [you've] done nothing" in your first semester. Are your grades in danger? If so, then yes, I would drop the other job for the time being. You don't want to risk your placement in the program. Or is it just that you feel like you should be publishing or presenting more than you should? In that case, could you change your hours and add 5-10 extra hours a week to dedicate to coursework and research?

 

I would also talk to my cohort. I've noticed that, as I said to lewin, different disciplines have different expectations and cultures. See what your colleagues are doing. Are they also working in the field alongside their research and TA responsibilities? What do your advisors think? They will probably be the most knowledgable about whether this private industry job is worth your time and effort. 

[yoyo17]

Thanks for the responses everyone and warm/professional welcome!

 

I accepted the offer without funding and found the TA on my own. So I could technically drop it and just work but my schedule would be more flexible and unpredictable and it'd pay for tuition and stipend. It's just I'm so used to getting "free" tuition I don't really want to have to pay for it so I'll probably keep the TA.

 

The job I have is related but not exactly the same industry. The job is practice in the field, my phd will go towards the study/research/development in that field. The job is also very difficult to find and saturated in my area so if I were to drop I would likely have a tough time finding another. My thinking was that having a job keeps the knowledge more fresh (after having studied for it for many years) and work experience shows potential employers that someone took a chance on me and that I could be trusted, as well as desire to continue working that job to keep my license.

 

By "doing nothing" I meant not publishing/presenting/heck even researching/experimenting as much as I should. I'm thinking dropping my hours down first in half and add 8-12 hrs more for school and then see if I should do every other week. I could always pick up more hours during summer or holidays when there are no classes or TA. Wondering if this is a good idea for now?

 

Other professors/students I know worked much less hours, maybe every other week or only during holidays. I am "a little addicted" to making money but I have to set my priorities straight and deal w/it. In my lab no one works outside of their work but my professor understands it, I'm just afraid of missing expectations because of the job hindering my research/degree progress.

 

Further comments would be much appreciated, thank you!

[Vene]

At minimum you need to reduce your working hours. I fully understand not wanting to completely leave, but you sound overburdened and need to reexamine your priorities and goals and decide where to cut back and by how much. I'm assuming you are pursuing a PhD for career advancement reasons and I can't imagine you wanting to be in a situation where hanging onto the old job prevents you from graduating. I'm sure you know this, but if you can't publish and complete (or make significant progress on) a research project you're not likely to get a doctorate.

[TakeruK]

As lewin pointed out, grad school *could* take about as much time as a "full time" job, and there are only so many hours in a day so you have to choose what's important to you! And as proflorax mentioned, you should make these choices based on what you want out of your time in a PhD program / your future career plans.

 

I agree that you definitely want to keep the TA position if it provides other really good benefits like health care etc. But this is not true at all schools (at my current school, we all get health care and other benefits because we are students, not because we TA; and in fact, many of us do not TA at all).

 

I think another very important priority is to make sure you are not violating any school policies about working on the side. It sounds like your professor knows this so you are covered probably! 

 

Then, after that, it's up to you what your priorities are. Your only real obligation to grad school is to do as much work as you need to so that you don't flunk out. At some places, this can be as little as 20-25 hours per week and you can spend the rest of your working hours on other parts of your career development. If you do this, you obviously will not look good to the school but if your future career plans are not going to be academic and do not require publications etc. then you don't have to worry about this.

 

Maybe each field is different, but in my field, publishing is an important part of graduating and getting a good job only if you want to stay in academic research. Plenty of students I know who are not interested in this do not publish at all during grad school.

 

However, I would not neglect grad school so much that you are actually in danger of flunking out. If you do flunk out, then you would have wasted all this time and so if your other priorities are more important to you than grad school and/or take too much time away from grad school that you may flunk out, then I would recommend taking a leave of absence from grad school or quitting grad school to focus on other priorities more important!

 

I guess my main message is that you should do what you are motivated to do and what you are passionate about. There's nothing wrong with you or your plan if this means prioritizing other work over grad school/research or even leaving grad school altogether. It's better to leave as soon as you are certain you don't want to continue further instead of wasting away several more years and delaying the inevitable. That said, it sounds like you are interested in spending more time on your grad school work, which is fine too, but don't feel like you have to do it / stick it out in grad school. Life is short--do what you think will make you happiest in both the short and long term!

[lewin]

I don't think this is necessarily a helpful response, as everyone's experiences, priorities, and needs during graduate school are different. Not to mention, different programs and disciplines have different cultures. For people who want to go into the private industry, part-time work outside of their program can be a huge benefit. One of my best friends was offered a sweet, six-figure position at Zillow upon receiving her PhD largely because of the part-time work she had been doing there throughout her time as a grad student. She jumped at that job so damn quickly and left academia without looking back once. For folks who want to enter the private sector, part-time work can be a huge boost to their job prospects.

 

You're right I should have phrased that better. I'm not saying the OP should treat grad school as a full time job or quit one of the others, but by their own admission they feel like they've "done nothing" this term. The reason for that seems pretty straightforward: Being productive in grad school requires full time+ time and I daresay that's impossible while holding down two jobs.  Those jobs could have their own benefits (like your friend's job) but there shouldn't be any illusions that one can do three things without something suffering.

[ProfLorax]

You're right I should have phrased that better. I'm not saying the OP should treat grad school as a full time job or quit one of the others, but by their own admission they feel like they've "done nothing" this term. The reason for that seems pretty straightforward: Being productive in grad school requires full time+ time and I daresay that's impossible while holding down two jobs.  Those jobs could have their own benefits (like your friend's job) but there shouldn't be any illusions that one can do three things without something suffering.

This I agree with. If the OP feels like they are over-stretched, they are definitely over-stretched.

 

OP: I think your plan to cut your work hours during the school year is a wise one. You can always adjust once you've had a chance to assess how you're balancing everything with this new schedule! 

[yoyo17]

Thanks for the responses everyone! I feel reassured knowing I'm not crazy in my thinking. I'm not in danger in flunking out but just want more productivity and speed things up.  Will cut hours to once a week, better structure my TA and since I'm better at it now I'll have more time. That'll leave a lot more time for lab and hopefully for normal life. During the summer when I stop teaching, I'll just pick up more hours like teaching or keep it low and try to be more productive.