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PhD life

What is a typical day of a PhD student? I've heard some say its a solid 9-5 a day and some say look forward to day time telly. I'm not too bothered if it is 9-5 as I work ridiculous hours right now but I'm just curious

Michelle

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Reply 1

Klix88

I'm not honestly sure there's a "typical" day. How and where you work seems to depend on your research field and supervisor. Lab-based research is going to mean a lot of campus time. At my uni, we signed what amounted to a contract, where we undertook to work on our research for a minimum of 35 hours a week, and work on campus at least 3 days a week. In practice, there are some people whose supervisors expect them to be on campus 5 days a week. Mine are the other extreme - they said up front that they don't care where or how I work, as long as I keep in contact, send fortnightly progress emails and meet with them regularly (although they knew me as an undergrad and therefore know I can be trusted to get on with it).

Today I've been up since 6am and have answered a few uni-related emails in the last hour. Tomorrow I'll (hopefully) get up around 7am, do coffee and emails, maybe read a couple of papers, before heading in to uni late morning to continue some data gathering. Probably back home for around 5pm, have dinner, then do some data input and read another paper/chapter or two. Some days I don't work mornings, but start mid-afternoon and carry on until 10pm or 11pm. Just depends on what kind of work I need to do. I write drafts better when slightly tired, later in the evening. I usually work on some aspect of my research 7 days a week, although I don't set my alarm Saturday/Sunday and I try to gear back a bit at weekends, sometimes only doing a couple of hours in a day. Bank Holidays don't mean much - I can't afford to go on holiday anyway.

So I don't really have a typical day!

Reply 2

poohat

It varies a lot depending on subject, if you are (e.g.) a lab scientist then you will typically work regular hours (e.g. 9-5) since you will be using equipment and working with others. If you are in the humanities or a theorist in the sciences then it tends to be a lot more flexible, and can often just be "work whenever you like as long as you get things done".

Personally I done most of my (mathematics) PhD work at home and kept very irregular hours. I'd often work 12 hours solid overnight bursts from 6pm to 6am, then do nothing for a few days afterwards. You find your own rhythm; some people prefer to work set hours, others prefer to wait until they are in the mood and then work until they can't stay awake any longer.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 3

alleycat393

My PhD is lab based and spend a lot of time on campus. I tend to come in about 9ish, run experiments and do my reading and writing while my experiments are running. I also teach on another campus so have to commute to get there. I tend to have evenings and weekends off unless I'm running experiments or coming in to check on something. I hardly ever take work home though I do have access to my work computer via Dropbox so can work on stuff if I want/need to.

Reply 4

Klix88

Another factor to take into account (if you get the choice), is the location or environment where you work best. I can't stand my office and I have yet to find anywhere on campus that I find comfortable for extended periods of reading. I'm most productive at home on my own sofa.

Reply 5

michellehall

Wow thanks for your responses guys. I guess it's all going to depend on what happens when I get there. It's psychology with no lab work so hopefully won't be too busy!

Michelle

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Reply 6

Mark85

It totally depends on your subject and your department. Even if you have no need for lab equipment and the like, many are expected to maintain a decent physical presence around the office whereas some students don't even get a desk and spend their whole PhD in the library.

For me, I have spent intensive periods working upto 14 hours a day for a week or so (especially when I have been in the finishing stages of writing articles) alternated with relatively slacker periods where I will just do PhD work until 3 or 4 or take long breaks and so on.

I guess the average is probably around a standard 40 hour week though.

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