<p>Hi. I'm 1st year grad student at UCSD. Grad school's life has come as a shock to me socially and I really look forward to this summer to take a break from all the pressure. I wonder how often do grad students take a summer off? Is that frowned upon by your advisors and deemed lazy?</p>
<p>Also if I'm on a fellowship then how does taking the summer vacation affect the funding? I know I should ask the grad coordinator of my department but it's weekend now.</p>
<p>Thanks for the answers!</p>
<p>At most schools, at least in my field, grad school is likened to a job. And, like a job, we’d only get 2 weeks off. The actual policy, however, will depend on your advisor.</p>
<p>If you’re a TA, you might not get funding for the summer and might need to do something else. If you’re an RA, those typically are year-round and you’re expected to work through the summer. If they let you leave and you do leave, then you most likely won’t get paid for those months.</p>
<p>If you’re on a fellowship, you’re generally free to do whatever you want in the summer - it’s basically free money, so to speak. Of course, you may want to use some of that time wisely… you may get time off, but they’ll still expect you to keep making progress. If you blow off the entire summer, you may well fall behind some of your peers who spent at least some time pursuing their research.</p>
<p>My daughter has to TA and her ‘funding’ is considered 9 months so she can do what she wants in the summer (but she’d need to earn money to live on.) She spent her first summer doing paid research with her advisor. She likely had a couple weeks off at the begining and end of summer, I can’t recall if she visited here, don’t think so.</p>
<p>Thanks guys. I guess I’ll have to confirm the policy and everything with the department’s coordinator.</p>
<p>Meanwhile please answer my first question. Is taking a summer off really ****ing advisors off?</p>
<p>Nobody would begrudge you a couple weeks off, but if you take the entire summer off with no plans to advance your research at all, your advisor may very well wonder about your commitment and/or your ability. Master’s students in my field generally spend their summer doing the ground research for their thesis to be written the next academic year. If they don’t, they’re not going to have anything ready to publish.</p>
<p>What are you going to do, sit on the beach all day? Most of your peers will be in the field, working internships or in labs, building their vitas and developing job networks. You will be losing ground to them. I don’t know any graduate student who just takes the whole summer off.</p>
<p>Ultimately, there is no one answer to your question - it depends on your program, your advisor and your research plan.</p>
<p>Of course I’ll definitely be doing research while on break and doing correspondence with my advisor. But I just want to be close to my friends and family back home and enjoy the free time with them. I know I should talk to him but he’s on his sabbatical leave and will not be coming back until June. I don’t know how commonly grad students take a summer off though hence I had to ask you guys.</p>
<p>Definitely check with your program. Is this for PhD or master’s? PhD students are generally expected to work year round, with summers spent focusing on the research. Many PhD programs expressly forbid taking jobs outside the university.</p>
<p>To echo Ouroboros: my daughter is a first-year graduate student in a PhD program, and she received a letter stating that she was allowed two weeks of vacation a year. The reality of it differs from lab to lab, however. One advisor might adhere to that strictly, while another may not care, provided that the student makes satisfactory progress toward the degree. But a whole summer – or even more than two weeks – is taboo.</p>
<p>If you are a student in a PhD program, I suggest that instead of taking the whole summer off, you give yourself a real vacation. Go to the beach with some friends. Take a hiking vacation. Or hang out at home sleeping in, watching movies, whatever else you like to do but don’t have the time right now. Also, since summers tend to be low-key at universities, you might arrange to go away a few weekends or have friends/family come to visit you. You would be surprised at what a little down-time can do to your psyche.</p>
<p>I’ll also add that once you graduate from college, the idea of “summers off” is gone forever. Employed adults don’t have that luxury.</p>
<p>I guess I can only speak for science programs… but to be entirely honest, I don’t think taking a whole summer off is acceptable AT ALL. This isn’t college… If you are so stressed out by your program after the first year and willing to sacrifice your progress in exchange for an escape, I think that is a sign you should reconsider getting your PhD. There is no shame in re-evaluating your goals/priorities in life and changing your plans accordingly, but if you take months off at a time you are just going to languish in your program forever…</p>
<p>"I’ll also add that once you graduate from college, the idea of “summers off” is gone forever. Employed adults don’t have that luxury. "</p>
<p>Well, I guess there are some exceptions, for example if you are a teacher or lecturer. But yes, by and large the fun is over :/</p>
<p>Yes, Tso, there are exceptions. But even K-12 teachers and adjunct lecturers often try to find summer employment.</p>
<p>Well by saying taking a summer off I don’t mean I’ll waste the whole summer. It’s just that to me grad school sucks socially and I just want to be with my family for a while. My reseach doesn’t involve any lab work so I can possibly work at home and do correspondence with my advisor instead of being at school and doing the same thing. I guess I’ll have to talk this out to my advisor.</p>
<p>Mainly, you need to stay productive and keep your work moving forward. You’ll please your adviser a lot more if you can show him/her what you’ve done during the summer, hopefully surpassing his/her expectations.</p>
<p>Since Michigan offered me 4 months of summer, I was able to break up my summer into 3 large chunks. I included some “getaway” days and weekends and just did absolutely no work and spent that time seeing new places and spending quality time with my family and friends. When I did work, I stayed focused on the task as time was limited.</p>
<p>Since you work isn’t tied to a lab, you shouldn’t feel any pressure to stay on campus. Go home for a few weeks and spend time with your family and friends. But remember “home” can be quite distracting. Be prepared to return to campus or be self-disciplined with your schedule at home in case you can’t make enough progress. I always made sure that I was doing at least 3-4 hours of work most days and that time was spent away from my family/friends.</p>
<p>If you’re really, really not sure, have a conversation with your adviser and ask about his/her expectations of what s/he would like to see produced by September.</p>
<p>Thank you so much ticklemepink, that’s the advice I’m looking for. Actually my advisor’s currently on his sabbatical leave and I’m regularly sending progress reports by emails so I guess by the same way I can totally stay productive at home as my work isn’t lab based. Though I’m a little concerned that he’d like me to be on campus so that I could meet him in person once or twice a week. I’ll talk to him about the plan and hopefully we can work things out. Thank you all!</p>