Students of foreign literature: Tell me about your work load

[tereus]

Here's a chance to complain, to scare this MA applicant away.  What does (or did) your week, your semester look like?  How much reading, writing, teaching?  How much time for eating, sleeping, relationships, etc.?

[ThousandsHardships]

I just finished my MA in French, but I did it concurrently with an MS in a completely unrelated field, and I wasn't teaching within the French department, so I highly doubt my experience was representative. That said, most graduate-level French literature classes at my (quarter system) school involved reading one major work plus 2-3 critical articles/chapters per week, and the assignments for the class would be a presentation of sorts plus a 15-25-page research paper. Most grad students in the department were taking 2-3 graduate courses plus teaching a lower division language class five days a week. I know in other schools, like NYU, they expect students to take 4 classes their first year without a teaching commitment. It really depends on the school that you go to. In my opinion, the hardest thing to get used to about grad school is the fact that graduate seminars tend to be several hours in length and meet only once a week, such that all the readings have to completed by the same day of the week and not spread out. Another difference between grad classes and undergrad classes is that you will not really touch on close readings at all. Theoretical and scholarly engagement becomes the focus instead.

[Bleep_Bloop]

I can't speak to the workload of a masters program, but can share my experience in seminars at an ma/phd program. We're required to take 15 seminars over five semesters in the first half of the program. That comes down to 3 a semester, but realistically it's not distributed evenly. There were semesters I took four so that in others I could only take two (when preparing my prospectus and teaching simultaneously, for example). The weekly workload for seminars came out to be about 1 long book (or two shorter ones) along with a selection of articles or individual book chapters, and then supplementary material like films, images, etc. I had a fellowship and didn't have to teach in my first year, which helped. But in the second and third year coursework on top of teaching and research commitments was challenging. I'd say I averaged 50-60 hours of study/teaching a week on the low end (this includes time spent in seminar and teaching) and 60-70 on the high end. I tend to work 6 days a week, Monday - Saturday, averaging 10 hours a day split between different responsibilities. The hardest part of coursework was the balancing act and feeling like I didn't have time for it all, between coursework, teaching, research, service (organizing conferences and lectures), attending supplementary lectures and events in the department, studying for comps, preparing the prospectus, etc. Your experience as a masters student might not be the same. I would imagine that the obligation to do research would be significantly lower (depending on whether your program requires a thesis), as would the expectation to contribute to the department's intellectual culture by organizing and attending lectures and colloquia, etc. That said, I'd still do it over again if given the chance. It's such a stimulating environment and I grew so much both personally and academically. I didn't always think that in the moment, however.

 

In regards to eating, sleeping, relationships, etc. I was single for the first year and a half of my program and found it very difficult to date and meet new people because I was always in the library. With more experience I was a more efficient worker and found time to date and go out with friends every other weekend. I was able to exercise regularly except during the two-week paper-writing period at the end of every semester. I was able to travel plenty over summers for my research, on grants. I averaged 40 hours a week over summers on research, preparing for comps, etc. Towards the end of my coursework I even was able to carve out time every week for personal creative projects. Throughout my whole time during coursework I was able to average 8 hours of sleep a night, but I made it a priority because I knew it would have been counter-productive to get any less than that. When things got really busy at the end of the semester, however, I'd get as little as 6 on weeknights but caught up over the weekend.

 

Like I said, this is from the perspective of a ma/phd program. But if your long-term goals include the PhD and an academic career, this has been my experience. Hope this helps!