Question for those who are already attending

[Chiqui74]

Thanks for all the responses!  Very interesting schedules.  My goal is to keep a work schedule that resembles that of a traditional job. I want to do this for a couple of reasons, 1) I need structure or I fall off the bandwagon very quickly, and 2) since I have a husband and a kid, I NEED my evenings to be free of school work as much as possible, which means I must do everything else during the day.  My original idea was to have classes in the morning so that I could be home with the kid once school for him ends for the day but that is not going to work out.  My classes will be in the afternoon, which means we still have to have him in after school programs.  This works out in that I'll have the mornings to do reading, writing, etc.  I am also hellbent on making time for the things that make me happy and are not work, like hobbies.

 

I hope this isn't all a pipe dream!

[Threeboysmom]

Thanks for all the responses!  Very interesting schedules.  My goal is to keep a work schedule that resembles that of a traditional job. I want to do this for a couple of reasons, 1) I need structure or I fall off the bandwagon very quickly, and 2) since I have a husband and a kid, I NEED my evenings to be free of school work as much as possible, which means I must do everything else during the day.  My original idea was to have classes in the morning so that I could be home with the kid once school for him ends for the day but that is not going to work out.  My classes will be in the afternoon, which means we still have to have him in after school programs.  This works out in that I'll have the mornings to do reading, writing, etc.  I am also hellbent on making time for the things that make me happy and are not work, like hobbies.

 

I hope this isn't all a pipe dream!

It can and it will work.  Will it be challenging? Yes  Will there be days that you will regret your decision? Yes However keep pushing.  The best advice that I can give as a person who needs a routine is try and stay ahead in your classes.  Meaning do a little bit everyday.  There will be days when you can't keep to your schedule life happens and we must adjust but keep some sort of schedule for your assignments so you can be sure you are on track.  I make a working calendar for the entire semester.  As soon as I have my syallbi I plug in all the dates etc.  In addition I use an app called todoist.  That has been extremely helpful giving me a focus for the day with what has to be done for school.  Wishing you the best.  Keep us posted throughout your journey.

[Crafter]

I naturally am a night owl but having a preschooler who has woken me up every morning at sunrise changed that slowly. Now I wake up easily in the am and spend my weekends bemoaning the fact I'm up at 5 instead of 10. And I can't stay awake past 8:30pm to save my life anymore. I feel old.

 

HAHA!! In the same boat here!!

I used to need 8-9 sleep hours, wake up rather late when possible. Even when I was up and  in school by 7:30 am, I was really awake until 10 am, before that I was a useless zombie. I got an MD and had to be up and at either, hospital  or classes by 7 am, had to work 20+ hours per shift every 3 days and that did not change a bit my physiological need for sleep and wake up after 10 am.

 

Then I got my lovely yet too active early morning daughter and my life and physiology changed. Even on weekends or holidays I wake up on my own by 7 am. Can´t stay in bed late because I worry that she is awake and waiting for me to get her out of her crib. That sends my sleepiness to mars. I get most of the household chores done after she goes to bed and end up sleeping no more than 7 hours on a good day. But I don't feel like a zombie anymore.

 

To the OP: I will start a PhD program this Fall, and I also wonder how my life as a scientist-mom will be (in the life sciences, just like you). I guess that multitasking and time management will be the way to go. Still wonder how that will be, since I am the resident cook of the house and keeping up with the menu will be a new challenge while in grad school. 

[Marst]

I'm in this category now, and yes I maintain a schedule (see my post above). I think it's especially important, for me, to keep a schedule when I don't have rigid structures like classes/TAing because it's easy to accidentally work too much or work too little! But I am a person that really likes schedule and structure so this works for me but might not work for you.

 

If you do want to keep a schedule and want tips, I would recommend getting into a routine. Setting a waking time and a bedtime and sticking to it is probably the first step. Then, I would use apps like Google Calendar or whatever your favourite apps is to block out time for certain tasks. For some people, they find it helpful if they can schedule all their meetings in one or two half-day blocks. You can evaluate your schedule by setting small goals for each week (or each day) and see if you can meet them--adjust your scheduling later if you find you need more/less time to achieve certain tasks.

 

I'm not saying everyone needs to have a schedule! But if you do, hope these tips help Personally, the biggest motivator for me to keep a schedule is so that I can get the work I need to get done during the day, which means I can relax and have free time in the evenings and weekends. 

Many thanks for your reply. I have been contemplating it for a couple of days. There are two things that I found particularly interesting and that I will reiterate for posteriority.

 

- There is such a thing as working too much.

- Let your sleeping dictate your work schedule, not the other way round.

 

I think the main difference between our ways of working is indeed the fixed waking/sleeping times. I used to let my work dictate my sleeping schedule, so I would get up some time between 8 and 11 and go to sleep some time between 12 and 5. It almost embarrasses me to admit it, but I used to nap a lot as well. I have a lot of trouble being productive or focused, so for years I have been using this strategy of seizing every moment of focus even if that means working late into the night. I don't work too much per se, but I am so scattered and unfocused that I spend the whole day in a hazy attempt at working. That's why I don't have evenings off, in general.

 

I have managed an 12-8 sleeping schedule for three days now. I am hoping to keep this up. Maybe it will help me be more productive. Today I have actually done something for a change. I am not always this pathetic, btw, but I am always hazy.

Edited April 23, 2015 by Marst

[Cheshire_Cat]

My friend in the Ph.D program takes naps every day.  So does my dad, who is a Ph.D.  It really depends on your circadian rhythm and how you work best, I think.  If I don't have class in the middle of the day, I will probably take a nap, because I know that I am least productive around that time. I'm a morning person, and a night person, but from around 1-3 I am useless.  I need around 9 hours of sleep to feel rested, but I think 7 hours at night and 2 during the day will be what I do.

 

The cool thing about the Ph.D program is that to some extent, you get to work according to your how your body functions instead of when the boss says be in.  My boss would not be happy with me napping from 1-3 every day, haha.

[maelia8]

I nap too, unless I get nine hours at night. For example, I have a morning commitment which necessitates that I get up at 7am two days per week, and on those days I usually take a 45-minute nap in the afternoon between 2 and 3pm. Usually I go to bed at 11 and wake up at 8 so that I get a full 9 hours, but on the days when that's not possible, I take a little power nap in the afternoon just to get me through. Sleep is the best healer - I just can't seem to focus on work unless I get enough, and if I'm feeling tired or discouraged about my projects, a nap will leave me feeling refreshed and reedit get back to the grind.

[Sigaba]

My goal is to keep a work schedule that resembles that of a traditional job.... I hope this isn't all a pipe dream!

C-

Unless you already have a very refined skill set as a historian, you might be in for some incredibly tough sledding if you approach what awaits you as a "traditional job" that is not as enjoyable to you as your hobbies.

I very strongly recommend that you reassess your commitment to Klio. Consider the possibility that your proposed approach to history may place you at a disadvantage when it comes to competing with your fellow students, meeting the expectations of your professors, and, most of all, maximizing your potential.

[Gnome Chomsky 2.0]

C-

Unless you already have a very refined skill set as a historian, you might be in for some incredibly tough sledding if you approach what awaits you as a "traditional job" that is not as enjoyable to you as your hobbies.

I very strongly recommend that you reassess your commitment to Klio. Consider the possibility that your proposed approach to history may place you at a disadvantage when it comes to competing with your fellow students, meeting the expectations of your professors, and, most of all, maximizing your potential.

 

Are you still annoying?

[Bleep_Bloop]

C-

Unless you already have a very refined skill set as a historian, you might be in for some incredibly tough sledding if you approach what awaits you as a "traditional job" that is not as enjoyable to you as your hobbies.

I very strongly recommend that you reassess your commitment to Klio. Consider the possibility that your proposed approach to history may place you at a disadvantage when it comes to competing with your fellow students, meeting the expectations of your professors, and, most of all, maximizing your potential.

 

I have to agree with this. I know a lot of people on this forum who are successful in grad school and maintain a 9-5 lifestyle, and that's great. However, if you plan on working in academia after the PhD then you have to realize that it's anything but a 9-5 job. Yes, you need to watch out for your physical and mental health and I'm all for taking time off now and then, but professors will require much more from you than the 40 working hours you'll have at your disposal if you try to force such a schedule onto a PhD program (not to mention your future students). I wouldn't go so far as to question anyone's dedication to the discipline, but you should at least be aware that those landing tenure-track jobs (and even many of those who try but don't land them) are not the ones taking weekends and evenings off. You'll get by just fine in your program, but I do agree with Sigaba that you'll be at a disadvantage professionally when compared to other students who are putting in more time.

Edited April 24, 2015 by Bleep_Bloop

[music]

I have to agree with this. I know a lot of people on this forum who are successful in grad school and maintain a 9-5 lifestyle, and that's great. However, if you plan on working in academia after the PhD then you have to realize that it's anything but a 9-5 job. Yes, you need to watch out for your physical and mental health and I'm all for taking time off now and then, but professors will require much more from you than the 40 working hours you'll have at your disposal if you try to force such a schedule onto a PhD program (not to mention your future students). I wouldn't go so far as to question anyone's dedication to the discipline, but you should at least be aware that those landing tenure-track jobs (and even many of those who try but don't land them) are not the ones taking weekends and evenings off. You'll get by just fine in your program, but I do agree with Sigaba that you'll be at a disadvantage professionally when compared to other students who are putting in more time.

 

With respect, this completely depends on *why* you're self-limiting your work hours. If you just don't want to work more hours, that may be an issue. For me, and many others, it's more that we would work too much otherwise, and burn out. Some may have mental health conditions which make this absolutely necessary to avoid exacerbating issues like anxiety, depression, SAD etc. You might also consider that people have different ideas of what constitutes "work" - for me, I often wake up thinking about my studies and they penetrate my thoughts well beyond my determined "work" hours. In this case, I'd maybe write a note to myself for the next day. It means higher productivity and a strong desire to work - I spend my day off getting restless at the idea of what I will study tomorrow.

 

I'd compare it to going to the gym - sure, you could go for hours every single day, but you'd get injured quickly and end up taking months to recover, plus you'd start to lose perspective on life. Even pro athletes take days off and limit how much they train on any given day, to maximise long term progress. "Rest" by way of delineated work/home hours is not a form of weakness, in fact it can be quite the opposite.

[TakeruK]

You'll get by just fine in your program, but I do agree with Sigaba that you'll be at a disadvantage professionally when compared to other students who are putting in more time.

 

I also agree with you and Sigaba that those who work more hours are going to be more competitive. But there's another way to interpret the same fact: I know I am disadvantaged when competing with someone who works 60 hours per week consistently and that is fine with me. I rather work 40 hours, be happy, and find a less competitive job than work 60 hours in order to compete. To maintain my own sanity, I try not to compare myself with others--even if I work 60 hours per week, there is always another metric I can use to say "People in Group X are still more competitive than me".

 

In addition, I should be more explicit and say that the 9-5 / 40 hours per week schedule is the maximum that a graduate student should feel "required" to do. I feel like I am doing "good enough" when I work this much. On occasion, I will feel particularly inspired or motivated to try something and I'll work extra to get it done. But this is because I want to and because I made this choice for myself, not out of obligation. 

[random17]

Married and living with my spouse, but no kids yet. This is also a research-only semester for me, so my schedule would be slightly different if I had to work in teaching and marking. 

 

Lab days:

7:00-8:15 Get up, walk dog, eat breakfast, pack lunch

8:15-9:15 Commute to campus (subway/bus or carpool)

9:15-12:00 Mostly lab work, but also data entry, analysis, writing, reading papers, etc. depending on how much hands-on time my lab works requires and what deadlines I have coming up

12:00-12:30 Lunch with friends (the exact timing of this varies a lot depending on when we all have breaks in our work and will sometimes get skipped if I only have a 5 minute break)

12:30-5:00 Lab work, etc.

5:00-6:00 Commute home

Evening: Make/eat dinner, clean kitchen, and hang out with my spouse, usually sitting in the living room reading books, browsing the internet, or watching a tv show. Once or twice a week we have friends over for dinner or go over to their place, but that's the same routine, just with 4 of us instead of 2. I almost never do work in the evenings (probably a handful of times in the past 2.5 years).

10:30/11:00 Bedtime

 

Work-from-home days usually consist of computer work (analysis, reading, writing) from 8ish-6ish, with a half-hour break for lunch and an hour afternoon walk with my spouse and our dog.

 

When I'm TAing, I try to do a lot of my marking on my commute or during office hours, so it doesn't cut into my research time too much.

 

Weekends involve planning meals for the week, grocery shopping, errands, fun/social events. I probably end up working 3-4 hours one weekend morning a month, usually making up for time I took off during the week for one reason or another.

 

[random17]

I have to agree with this. I know a lot of people on this forum who are successful in grad school and maintain a 9-5 lifestyle, and that's great. However, if you plan on working in academia after the PhD then you have to realize that it's anything but a 9-5 job. Yes, you need to watch out for your physical and mental health and I'm all for taking time off now and then, but professors will require much more from you than the 40 working hours you'll have at your disposal if you try to force such a schedule onto a PhD program (not to mention your future students). I wouldn't go so far as to question anyone's dedication to the discipline, but you should at least be aware that those landing tenure-track jobs (and even many of those who try but don't land them) are not the ones taking weekends and evenings off. You'll get by just fine in your program, but I do agree with Sigaba that you'll be at a disadvantage professionally when compared to other students who are putting in more time.

 

I have a lot of issues with the assumption that unless you work nights and weekends, in addition to 9-5, you'll never been able to land an academic job.

 

I'm slightly oversimplifying here, but the major things for succeeding in academia are (1) publishing interesting papers in good journals, (2) networking through having a presence in your department and attending/presenting at key conferences in your field, and (3) a willingness to move anywhere for a job. (3) is obviously not related to your work style and I'll argue that it is completely possible to accomplish (1) and (2) while working a 40 hour week if you're also willing to have occasional nights/weekends for events, deadlines, etc. The caveat here is that you do need to be organized and efficient with your time, which means things like actually writing when you're supposed to be writing and not reading Facebook, figuring out all your technical procedures before you start so you have all the reagents and equipment ready to go, maximizing your meetings with your supervisor/committee by going in with a list of what you need from them, but it is completely possible. 

[Bleep_Bloop]

I have a lot of issues with the assumption that unless you work nights and weekends, in addition to 9-5, you'll never been able to land an academic job.

 

I'm slightly oversimplifying here, but the major things for succeeding in academia are (1) publishing interesting papers in good journals, (2) networking through having a presence in your department and attending/presenting at key conferences in your field, and (3) a willingness to move anywhere for a job. (3) is obviously not related to your work style and I'll argue that it is completely possible to accomplish (1) and (2) while working a 40 hour week if you're also willing to have occasional nights/weekends for events, deadlines, etc. The caveat here is that you do need to be organized and efficient with your time, which means things like actually writing when you're supposed to be writing and not reading Facebook, figuring out all your technical procedures before you start so you have all the reagents and equipment ready to go, maximizing your meetings with your supervisor/committee by going in with a list of what you need from them, but it is completely possible. 

 

 Of course it's not impossible to land an academic job working 40 hours a week, but it's a question of likelihood and the competition you'll be facing. My point here isn't to call people out for not working enough/tell them they're doomed. But when we're discussing working hours and the PhD then you have to at least consider how this might impact you professionally. In any profession you're going to have to put in more than 40 hours a week if you want to be competetive, especially early in your career. And just like in any profession there are gunners that you're going to be competing with. This isn't unique to academia.

 

 Sure, if all you're working on is research (writing and presenting, or points 1 and 2 in your post), then you can probably fit that in 40 hours and do a good job of it. But you left out the more time-intensive activities that grad students are also responsible for (again, I'm speaking mostly for the humanities here because of my own background and because OP is in history), namely coursework, studying for comps, learning languages when necessary, and (the biggest one) teaching, along with various kinds of service to your department, university, and/or discipline (organizing conferences or symposia, sitting on committees, reviewing submissions, etc.). Now I'm not saying these are the most important aspects of the training, some of them are actually pretty trivial. But these are just things that you're expected to do in the profession, and they take time. I would love to be able to only dedicate my time to research! But that's just not the case (neither for grad students nor for professors), and people should know what they're getting into. But if you're a micro-managing genius and can do all of that in 40 hours, then more power to you. In my experience it's very unlikely, something has to give and you prioritize. But I'll leave it there because concepts like "success" and "priorities" are very personal.

Edited April 25, 2015 by Bleep_Bloop

[GeoDUDE!]

 Of course it's not impossible to land an academic job working 40 hours a week, but it's a question of likelihood and the competition you'll be facing. My point here isn't to call people out for not working enough/tell them they're doomed. But when we're discussing working hours and the PhD then you have to at least consider how this might impact you professionally. In any profession you're going to have to put in more than 40 hours a week if you want to be competetive, especially early in your career. And just like in any profession there are gunners that you're going to be competing with. This isn't unique to academia.

 

 Sure, if all you're working on is research (writing and presenting, or points 1 and 2 in your post), then you can probably fit that in 40 hours and do a good job of it. But you left out the more time-intensive activities that grad students are also responsible for (again, I'm speaking mostly for the humanities here because of my own background and because OP is in history), namely coursework, studying for comps, learning languages when necessary, and (the biggest one) teaching, along with various kinds of service to your department, university, and/or discipline (organizing conferences or symposia, sitting on committees, reviewing submissions, etc.). Now I'm not saying these are the most important aspects of the training, some of them are actually pretty trivial. But these are just things that you're expected to do in the profession, and they take time. I would love to be able to only dedicate my time to research! But that's just not the case (neither for grad students nor for professors), and people should know what they're getting into. But if you're a micro-managing genius and can do all of that in 40 hours, then more power to you. In my experience it's very unlikely, something has to give and you prioritize. But I'll leave it there because concepts like "success" and "priorities" are very personal.

 

 

Its very interesting. If I wanted to get all As in my classes, I would probably would hve to work a lot harder. But I spend a fixed amount of time on coursework: i'll spend 3 hours outside of class per class. So this quarter my classes only take up 6 hours of time (since I only have 1 class). that gives me 34 hours a week (if i only did 40 hours, which I do closer to 60, but thats for other reasons). I have turned in incomplete problem sets, and not my best work because of this, but also I really dont care as long as I get a B. In fact, I'm in my advisors class right now, and I don't work to hard in it. 

[bsharpe269]

Its very interesting. If I wanted to get all As in my classes, I would probably would hve to work a lot harder. But I spend a fixed amount of time on coursework: i'll spend 3 hours outside of class per class. So this quarter my classes only take up 6 hours of time (since I only have 1 class). that gives me 34 hours a week (if i only did 40 hours, which I do closer to 60, but thats for other reasons). I have turned in incomplete problem sets, and not my best work because of this, but also I really dont care as long as I get a B. In fact, I'm in my advisors class right now, and I don't work to hard in it. 

 

Do you feel that doing minimal school work comes with negative consequences? My MS classes fall in 1 of 3 categories 1) The knowledge is useful for me to learn and relevant to my research 2) I have a lot of respect for the prof and want to impress him 3) I don't care about the class at all. For types 1 and 2, I work really hard to do well.. I mean best in the class, 100% sort of well. For type 3, I get my B and don't care beyond that. I usually take 3 classes a semester, usually 2 that I work hard in and 1 that I don't.

 

I feel that impressing profs through classes has had major positive effects for me. For example, I needed additional funding this semester and a prof that I had impressed through class went out of his way to set up a TA for me. I have been nominated for many scholarships/fellowships. Numerous profs have offered to help me with editing PhD applications, writing LORs, simply because I went above and beyond in class. I don't feel that classwork has affected my research. I am still publishing way more than the PhD students who don't take classes. Admittedly, I'm exhausted and will have to cut back the time I spend on school while working on my PhD to not burn out, though I will be taking less classes than I am now so the cutback might come naturally.

 

Do you feel that you lose out at all by not working hard in class? I have formed such great relationships with professors through classes and feel that the department as a whole has been impressed with me, rather than just my advisor. I think that having the support of so many profs will be helpful in academia. Do you feel that you are able to achieve this goal in other ways? Or do you find that it is really only important that you impress those in your subfield? As an incoming PhD student, I am interested in finding a balance between kicking butt at school and not burning out and interested in current PhD students' perspectives.

[GeoDUDE!]

Do you feel that doing minimal school work comes with negative consequences?

 

I don't think the amount of your publications is really indicative that you are making the correct choices. Some of the most successful modelers I know take years before they get their first publication, but it happens to be high impact and well written papers. I'm not saying yours aren't, I'm just saying that a lot of people work on problems that don't lend itself to quick manuscripts, and a well designed MS project should lend itself to quick publications since its much shorter amount of time. It is also important to note that when you are looking/comparing yourself to other PhDs in your program, know that most of them won't make it into an academic job, but a small fraction. So the comparison is really not a good thing at all.

 

I also do research with people outside of my subfield. To give you a picture, I work with 3 labs outside of my program, and I'm the only one in my subfield. What is the point of modeling if you are only using it in modeling papers?  Seismologists, tectonists and petrologists (all outside of my field) are much better at getting and interpreting observations than I am, so I'll work on projects with them and the relationship is symbiotic since I am much better at designing simulations. 

 

How much can you really impress someone in class anyway? The problems you solved in class are very canned. IE, there tends to be an obvious answer to the instructor. 

 

I think the first year of classes when I was doing my masters was a bit helpful for me as I had switched to a field where I had not taken any classes. After that, I always felt that classes moved to slow because I could learn the important things faster than the course would allow. 

 

 

You won't be getting recommendations from people you ONLY take classes from. If you have to get recommendations from people you only take courses from in graduate school you probably aren't competitive enough research wise for an academic job. If you are going for a nonacademic job, the quality of your recommendations does not matter as much ( you might even be able to use reccomenders from your MS program, but if you are going for an academic job, unless you continue a lot of research with your former advisor, you will probably never use those recommendations again.) 

 

There are programs that expect you to get all As in your classes, and I'm sure those are different than the Earth Sciences which seems to almost universally think that classes are antiquated by the time you are a strong enough scholar to get a PhD. 

 

Thats not to say i'm so arrogant  to think that I can learn everything without help.  But what is more impressive than doing better in class is asking someone outside of your field a question about your research that overlaps, even if it has a simple answer. 

 

Also, publishing is only half the equation. I also advise undergraduate students and write grants for my own money.  Plus there is outreach. 

 

Personally, I think of masters students (even when I was myself) as undergraduate+. You are basically doing undergrad with a heavy research component. But a PhD student has much more they need to do to be successful. By the end of their degree, they must prove they can build a lab. That means mentoring students, winning money, writing manuscripts and doing outreach/committee stuff.  You really aren't judged in the same light. 

Edited April 25, 2015 by GeoDUDE!

[random17]

 Sure, if all you're working on is research (writing and presenting, or points 1 and 2 in your post), then you can probably fit that in 40 hours and do a good job of it. But you left out the more time-intensive activities that grad students are also responsible for (again, I'm speaking mostly for the humanities here because of my own background and because OP is in history), namely coursework, studying for comps, learning languages when necessary, and (the biggest one) teaching, along with various kinds of service to your department, university, and/or discipline (organizing conferences or symposia, sitting on committees, reviewing submissions, etc.). Now I'm not saying these are the most important aspects of the training, some of them are actually pretty trivial. But these are just things that you're expected to do in the profession, and they take time. I would love to be able to only dedicate my time to research! But that's just not the case (neither for grad students nor for professors), and people should know what they're getting into. 

 

Good point, I was realizing after I wrote my post that I'm coming at this from a very science-focused perspective, whereas things are quite different between the sciences and humanities in basically all aspects of academia. Teaching, in particular, is generally much more time-intensive in the humanities than in the sciences, and I was forgetting how much more of a time sink it is when you're instructor-of-record instead of a TA who's contractually limited to working 150 hours per year.

[TakeruK]

@Bleep_bloop: I agree with your points and like random17, I was approaching it from a science perspective. My entire teaching load per year is something like 50 hours. So, while 50 hours in one quarter does mean it's about 10% of my workload in the quarters I am a TA, in the grand scheme of things, it's nothing. Also, I should clarify that I don't count homework as part of my "40 hours of work". It's just a personal accounting thing. I count the mandatory part (e.g. time spent in lectures) as part of "work" because I have to be there to get funding to go to school. But homework is something I can choose how much effort to spend, so that's not "work". So, for the 1.3 years I had classes, I was probably spending more like 50-60 hours per week on grad school. Now that I am out of classes, I spend 40-50 hours per week. In the sciences (or at least my field), my performance in class has almost zero effect on my future career prospects.

 

@bsharpe: I would categorize my classes into similar categories too. For (1), I would do 100% effort, aim for the best grade I can achieve. For (2), I would probably aim for a A- (as much effort as I can afford to spend), unless the prof in question is my advisor, in which case the class is probably category (1) anyways. For (3), I would aim for a B (minimal effort I can get away with).

 

In my program, the professors tell us not to get straight As. A 4.0 GPA is a sign that we are working too hard on classes. But a 3.0 GPA would be too little effort. I think they wanted us to average around A- (3.7). 

 

In my undergrad program, impressing profs through coursework really helped me. It landed me my first full time summer research project, which lead to my first publication and started a series of other things that helped me get where I am today.

 

However, in my current grad program, impressing profs won't help in this manner nor will it help in the manner you said. Everyone is guaranteed full funding for the entire degree, so there are no internal fellowships/scholarships or internal competition for TAships. We are not paid more or less depending on our TA assignments. I am international and I'm also not eligible for external fellowships, except for one.

 

Also, for fellowships for senior students, and for jobs beyond my PhD, few applications put much (or any) weight on class performance. Sure, this is a place where a 4.0GPA will make a difference over a 3.5 GPA, but having an extra publication is way better than 0.5 GPA points. 

Overall, what I mean is that it might be a good idea to de-prioritize coursework in favour of other things that help you more, like research. But sometimes if research is slow that week (e.g. I might have to wait for data to arrive from the telescope), then there's no harm in repurposing that time on coursework.

[Horb]

I'm a first year PhD student on fellowship. My schedule is usually as follows:

 

6am: Wake up, start work (reading, writing, etc.)

10am: Breakfast, get ready

11am: More work

1pm: Class

4.30pm: Return home, start dinner, work while it cooks

5:30pm: Eat dinner, maybe watch an episode of Friends or Will and Grace

6:30pm: Work

10:30pm: Sleep

 

On weekends, I normally substitute class time for more working time or errand-running. I started keeping a schedule of hours worked, excluding class, and I averaged 9 hours a day, seven days a week. But my program is work intensive and in order to get any good job upon graduation, you need to remain intense. On days when I feel burnt out, I usually switch what subject I'm working on or go to the gym. 

[Chiqui74]

All valid points.  That said, I can't ignore my kid, I can't disengage myself from my family and spend all my time doing school work, or any other kind of work.  That does not mean I am not dedicated to my discipline or that I need to question my motivation.  As for life after the PhD, I understand how it works.  I understand there is no set schedule, no 9 to 5, but I will come to that when I come that.  I also have a lot to say about the American work culture, but that's an issue for another day. 

[esotericish]

All valid points.  That said, I can't ignore my kid, I can't disengage myself from my family and spend all my time doing school work, or any other kind of work.  That does not mean I am not dedicated to my discipline or that I need to question my motivation.  As for life after the PhD, I understand how it works.  I understand there is no set schedule, no 9 to 5, but I will come to that when I come that.  I also have a lot to say about the American work culture, but that's an issue for another day. 

 

Ha! Right there with you on that.

[seeingeyeduck]

I'm a bit of a night owl, so my productive hours are from 11p-3a. Thankfully most of my classes are afternoon classes, but this semester I had one in the morning, and boy was that rough. Still, I'm glad I got to work with that professor. This thread is a good reminder to get a workday schedule for summer going now that I don't have as much structure. I'm relieved that I get to revert to my night owl schedule.

 

Do you guys actually track your time with apps or software, or are your schedules so ingrained that you don't need them?

[GeoDUDE!]

I use iCal

[TakeruK]

I schedule non-flexible time on Google Calendar and usually do not structure my work time very strictly unless I am in a time crunch and must get certain things done by certain times. Basically, all blank spaces between 8am and 5pm on my calendar (except for noon-1pm) is flexible work time. When I must get something done, I fill in these blank spaces with scheduled time to work on X.

 

I've also started doing something a month ago that I've found really helpful to my sanity. I used to consider my lunch hour as flexible work time as well, but I'm now considering it scheduled down time. In the past, I always say yes to work related commitments anytime between 8am and 5pm and schedule all other stuff around it. Then in April, I look at my schedule and found that in most weeks, 4 out of 5 lunch hours have stuff scheduled in them!

 

So, now I will always say "no" to any requests between noon and 1pm unless it is something I care about enough to give up my lunch hour for. Or, I am redefining my work day to be 8am to 12pm and 1pm to 5pm. This means I no longer need to feel bad or make excuses about why I can't do something for someone at noon, I just say no, I am busy at lunch. I also treat my noon-1pm block as "scheduled time" so this means if a 11am-noon meeting is running late, I leave at noon, the same way I would leave a meeting that was supposed to end at 2pm because I have a class or another meeting starting at 2pm.

 

Writing this out, it sounds almost silly because it's such as a small thing. But getting used to saying no and treating the 12pm-1pm block as off-limits was tough to do in the last 5 weeks. I think learning to say no is very important and much harder than it sounds (it took me about 1-2 years into grad school because I was able to set definite boundaries on my work day instead of always scheduling around other people and stressing out over that).