Do grad students get the same breaks/holidays?

[Danger_Zone]

Do grad students get the same breaks as undergrads, such as a couple weeks in December for Christmas? I'm planning on booking a week long vacation sometime in December or January, but wanted to be certain that I'd have that time off and am not expected to keep doing work during the holidays (not that I wouldn't if I felt it was needed though, of course.) But then again some people act like you never get a break..

Edited June 11, 2016 by Danger_Zone

[TakeruK]

This depends on the policies of your state/province, your school, your department and your supervisor.

At my school, the official policy is that graduate students get all University holidays (11 or 12 days per year) plus 2 weeks of vacation time off. We are expected to work the rest of the time. For Christmas in particular, the University holidays are all the weekdays between Dec 25 and Jan 1. In essence, we should be working whenever the administrative staff is working. 

In addition, our 2 weeks of vacation must be scheduled and approved by our supervisor ahead of time. This is the same as any real job though. So, I can't just take 2 weeks off whenever---I always talk about vacation time with my supervisor ahead of time and figure out a good time to do it (i.e. during an experiment would be a terrible time to do it).

So, the short answer is likely no, we do not have the same breaks as undergrads. Just because classes are not in session does not mean that we have the time off. We should have some number of vacation time but that depends on your school and your department.

I think you are starting grad school this fall right? If so, I would not make any plans for December/January yet. You will likely be able to get a week off, but you don't know when that will be. Wait until school starts and see what your responsibilities are and whether or not you need to get vacation time approved. Once you do this, then you can make vacation plans. For example, at many schools, exams might go until Dec 23 and if you are a TA, then you may have to keep working and grade exams etc. 

So that's the policy side of things. In reality, at my program, people don't really keep track of our vacation time. I think I can pretty much get whatever reasonable request I want off, but in general, I try to keep it within the official vacation time limits. I usually work on random holidays though (e.g. Columbus Day, Memorial Day, etc.) that aren't meaningful to me and take a different day off instead. I just give my advisor(s) a heads up before I plan a personal trip (or if I'm staying an extra few days/week at a cool conference place). 

For visits home, my family and my spouse's family does not do Christmas so we always try to avoid traveling during the Christmas season. I find that it's best to go home during American Thanksgiving week. They get Thursday and Friday off and so it only costs 3 vacation days to go home for a week (my spouse has a "real job" where vacation days are carefully tallied). And, travel outside of the US is generally pretty cheap during American Thanksgiving because most people are flying to various places in the US to visit their family.

[fuzzylogician]

Some of it depends on the field and advisor, some on the department culture you'll be entering. In my department, some people (international students, people in LDRs) were basically gone every break they got, so about a month and a half between the semesters in the winter and over three months for summer break. The expectation was that you would continue to work and you might update your advisor once in a while (email, skype meetings), but if you can get work done elsewhere, go for it. Obviously not every place is like that. It seems to me that in general, lab sciences naturally require more presence on campus, and fields where you could basically do your work anywhere and where you're generally pretty independent from your advisor have a lot more flexibility. In addition, there are also official university holidays that you can find in your university's calendar, which always includes a break roughly between just before Christmas and through the New Year, where the university will be officially closed. You might still come across an advisor who would expect you to work during that time, but then you have much bigger problems (I would switch advisors, that kind of work style is not for me). If you already know who your advisor is going to be, you could email and ask (I would often try to coordinate my summer travel with when my advisor(s) would be out of town). If not, the grad secretary or DGS are safe options. Generally, I would assume that late December/early January should be a fine time to be away, assuming that you don't have class then, and exams/grades are done.  

[Apogeee]

22 minutes ago, Danger_Zone said:

Do grad students get the same breaks as undergrads, such as a couple weeks in December for Christmas? I'm planning on booking a week long vacation sometime in December or January, but wanted to be certain that I'd have that time off and am not expected to keep doing work during the holidays (not that I wouldn't if I felt it was needed though, of course.) But then again some people act like you never get a break..

In general, the academic calendar's list of breaks applies to everyone, and you should be able to find that now on the Internet for your school. However your department could possibly have other ideas. Be sure to observe the exam schedule, too. Are you going to be a TA? You will probably have to turn in your grades first. Everyone takes break at the same time in all of the places I know of.

[Danger_Zone]

5 minutes ago, Apogeee said:

In general, the academic calendar's list of breaks applies to everyone, and you should be able to find that now on the Internet for your school. However your department could possibly have other ideas. Be sure to observe the exam schedule, too. Are you going to be a TA? You will probably have to turn in your grades first. Everyone takes break at the same time in all of the places I know of.

Yes I will be a TA, so I assumed I would be in school until exams are finished and grades are turned in. I have the calendar and schedule provided by my school online, but I wanted to be sure that this schedule applied to all students. I was thinking of checking with my department to be 100% sure.

[Apogeee]

Just now, Danger_Zone said:

Yes I will be a TA, so I assumed I would be in school until exams are finished and grades are turned in. I have the calendar and schedule provided by my school online, but I wanted to be sure that this schedule applied to all students. I was thinking of checking with my department to be 100% sure.

I bet it does, but if you're going to be buying tickets, it wouldn't hurt to ask to make sure that the dates apply to you!

And congratulations on your placement.

[Danger_Zone]

10 minutes ago, TakeruK said:

This depends on the policies of your state/province, your school, your department and your supervisor.

At my school, the official policy is that graduate students get all University holidays (11 or 12 days per year) plus 2 weeks of vacation time off. We are expected to work the rest of the time. For Christmas in particular, the University holidays are all the weekdays between Dec 25 and Jan 1. In essence, we should be working whenever the administrative staff is working. 

In addition, our 2 weeks of vacation must be scheduled and approved by our supervisor ahead of time. This is the same as any real job though. So, I can't just take 2 weeks off whenever---I always talk about vacation time with my supervisor ahead of time and figure out a good time to do it (i.e. during an experiment would be a terrible time to do it).

So, the short answer is likely no, we do not have the same breaks as undergrads. Just because classes are not in session does not mean that we have the time off. We should have some number of vacation time but that depends on your school and your department.

I think you are starting grad school this fall right? If so, I would not make any plans for December/January yet. You will likely be able to get a week off, but you don't know when that will be. Wait until school starts and see what your responsibilities are and whether or not you need to get vacation time approved. Once you do this, then you can make vacation plans. For example, at many schools, exams might go until Dec 23 and if you are a TA, then you may have to keep working and grade exams etc. 

So that's the policy side of things. In reality, at my program, people don't really keep track of our vacation time. I think I can pretty much get whatever reasonable request I want off, but in general, I try to keep it within the official vacation time limits. I usually work on random holidays though (e.g. Columbus Day, Memorial Day, etc.) that aren't meaningful to me and take a different day off instead. I just give my advisor(s) a heads up before I plan a personal trip (or if I'm staying an extra few days/week at a cool conference place). 

For visits home, my family and my spouse's family does not do Christmas so we always try to avoid traveling during the Christmas season. I find that it's best to go home during American Thanksgiving week. They get Thursday and Friday off and so it only costs 3 vacation days to go home for a week (my spouse has a "real job" where vacation days are carefully tallied). And, travel outside of the US is generally pretty cheap during American Thanksgiving because most people are flying to various places in the US to visit their family.

I think I will talk to the department about their policies before planning anything then. I just like to plan things far in advance especially since I have to book reservations and plane tickets and such.

[Danger_Zone]

14 minutes ago, Apogeee said:

I bet it does, but if you're going to be buying tickets, it wouldn't hurt to ask to make sure that the dates apply to you!

And congratulations on your placement.

I've sent an email just to be sure. I definitely wouldn't want to book anything without knowing when I will be needed. I just hope I get some time off or I don't know when I'll ever get to see my family!

And thanks!  

 

[TakeruK]

10 hours ago, Danger_Zone said:

I think I will talk to the department about their policies before planning anything then. I just like to plan things far in advance especially since I have to book reservations and plane tickets and such.

Yeah, I know how you feel. Although after a few years of grad school, now I think booking something more than 4 weeks in advance is "far in advance". Don't worry you will definitely be able to see your family, it's just a better idea to wait until you know your commitments! So you'll still be able to make plans a few months in advance!

Also, most of what I'm saying applies more to those who are working as RAs as well. If your funding is just from TAship, then you might not be required to be on campus other than your TA duties so there may not be as many restrictions on your vacation time. And like fuzzy said, some supervisors are okay with you being out of town and working instead. When I was writing about breaks above, I was thinking true vacation time where you don't do any work. But to clarify, there are plenty of students that even spend several months away from campus and work remotely (especially those in long distance relationships).

[Danger_Zone]

9 hours ago, TakeruK said:

Yeah, I know how you feel. Although after a few years of grad school, now I think booking something more than 4 weeks in advance is "far in advance". Don't worry you will definitely be able to see your family, it's just a better idea to wait until you know your commitments! So you'll still be able to make plans a few months in advance!

Also, most of what I'm saying applies more to those who are working as RAs as well. If your funding is just from TAship, then you might not be required to be on campus other than your TA duties so there may not be as many restrictions on your vacation time. And like fuzzy said, some supervisors are okay with you being out of town and working instead. When I was writing about breaks above, I was thinking true vacation time where you don't do any work. But to clarify, there are plenty of students that even spend several months away from campus and work remotely (especially those in long distance relationships).

Well I e-mailed to clarify and was told I have the same holidays as others, only at the end of the semesters my break doesn't begin until grades are submitted (I kind of assumed this would be the case.) So my holiday starts a few days later. I think I'm going to be on an RAship in a few years so I will re-clarify what the policies are then. I'm glad I've made sure of things, now I can go on and plan my vacation soon!

[5kids]

5 minutes ago, Danger_Zone said:

Well I e-mailed to clarify and was told I have the same holidays as others, only at the end of the semesters my break doesn't begin until grades are submitted (I kind of assumed this would be the case.) So my holiday starts a few days later. I think I'm going to be on an RAship in a few years so I will re-clarify what the policies are then. I'm glad I've made sure of things, now I can go on and plan my vacation soon!

I like that you are planning vacation now. This way you have something to look forward to in the middle of the semester, when everything starts hitting you all at once.

[Danger_Zone]

15 minutes ago, 5kids said:

I like that you are planning vacation now. This way you have something to look forward to in the middle of the semester, when everything starts hitting you all at once.

That's the idea! I Even if things get stressful (or once they inevitably get stressful) I can just remember that I have a relaxing vacation waiting for me.  I only had my first real vacation recently, but it really did wonders for me in terms of relieving stress and being able to relax. So I may be planning a lot of them during grad school.. for my health of course.