<p>When you're doing a PHD can you still have fun, have a good social life, chase girls, have a good nightlife, etc. Or do you have to just sit in a laboratory all day?</p>
<p>Well, you have to be in a laboratory all day, but not usually all night.</p>
<p>I’m a fourth-year biology PhD student (so I’m well into my thesis work), and I’m in lab on average about 55-60 hours a week. That leaves plenty of time to have fun, if you’re so inclined.</p>
<p>of course you *can *have fun, but chasing girls as PhD student…? seems odd</p>
<p>YES. It’s a good way to keep yourself from becoming your professor’s slave. And to keep your social skills sharp (most PhD students start losing them after their first or second year…)</p>
<p>It’s what you make of it as you keep your personal and academic life totally separate. Grad students do have parties but not as often as undergrads. Like, there’ll be more weekends staying in to study than going out.</p>
<p>One comment: graduate school is easier than doing a post-doctoral fellowship. Both of these positions are usually being supported in salary and materials by a major professor or PI. Being a young pre-tenure PI is harder than being a grad student or post-doc.</p>
<p>That said, its a wonderful life because it is infinitely flexible, completely creative and never boring (if you’re in the field that fits your talent and passions).</p>
<p>So you should definitely keep “a life” going, because this is your life!</p>
<p>I don’t get the hype about how grad school requires an obscene amount of hard work and time. I don’t buy it.</p>
<p>To be honest 55-60hrs/week doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. Bankers, med students, med interns, and a whole host of other professionals have it much worse. Lets not even get started on MD/PhD students.</p>
<p>To be honest, most grad students I know spend a lot of time reading papers and whatnot but they aren’t as sleep deprived or exhausted as some people may claim. Grad school doesn’t even seem remotely intimidating. Sure not getting results and troubleshooting your research requires more time but working 70+hours aint going to solve that problem.</p>
<p>I’ve talked to many well-adjusted grad students and Postdocs and they all agree that you shouldn’t become obsessed with your research. Sure going full force may lead to better results but that is also the fast track to burning yourself out. One grad student said that one should treat grad school like any job. Go in and put in however many hours you feel is sufficient but don’t go overboard. Do your best and that is all. No point thinking about it when you’re not in the lab. I would definitely agree with that sentiment.</p>
<p>Frankly, I acknowledge some people value their career more than others but I sort of pity those who just about eliminate their social lives to focus on their careers.</p>
<p>You can and should have fun. Chase those girls. Be the virile young man you need to be. Go to those parties. Get smashed. Live life.</p>
<p>
Well, dear lord, it’s not like 55-60 hours per week (every week) is easy, although it’s certainly less intense than other professions. (Though I disagree about med students. At least at my institution, PhD students work much harder than MD students.) It’s also less lucrative than other professions.</p>
<p>I would almost never describe myself as “sleep-deprived”, but I am sometimes mentally exhausted.</p>
<p>
I would submit that, if you’re really doing what you love, this is much harder in practice than it sounds in principle. If I counted the number of hours I spend thinking about my research while not in lab as “work”, I think I would basically be working every waking moment. </p>
<p>I would agree that it’s imperative to have outside interests and to have a life outside the lab, but to succeed in science, you have to be at least a little obsessed.</p>
<p>MasterMoe, I think you’re right - I’m busy but it’s not a crushing amount of busy. (Well, I was my first year.) It’s just busy. And I really love what I do, so it doesn’t feel terrible. People always describe an obscene amount of time but honestly I don’t think I spend more time working on grad school than the average high-achieving entry-level worker at a prestigious firm spends on their job, like you pointed out. I’m only really sleep-deprived around finals time or right before a big presentation (or if I’m working on a paper or a grant that needs to be submitted soon). It’s not easy, of course, but it’s not designed to take up all of your free time.</p>
<p>There’s definitely plenty of room to have fun, to enjoy your city (my uni is in NYC!), and honestly, a lot of people say maintaining relationships in grad school is <em>so hard</em> but it’s really not, if you can find a balance. You just need a partner that’s understanding that your work isn’t done just because you came home. (Or, alternatively - like me - if you need to get work done, leave and go to the lab.) I’ve been smashed, I’ve been hungover. Grad students have waaaaaaaaaaaaaay better parties than undergrads, in my experience :D</p>
<p>But, molliebatmit is right. This is a field where to succeed, you do have to be a little obsessed, so yes, you probably will be drafting your paper as you’re slipping off to sleep or waking up at 3 am in a cold sweat because you forgot to do something in the lab. It happens. It’s great :D</p>
<p>Work hard, play hard. You can sleep when you die.</p>
<p>A comedian once indicated what he thought working hard and playing hard was-- A worker on an off-shore oil-rig who works 15hrs a week to come back to the city a few months later with 15grand in his pocket only to blow it in a day on alcohol, drugs, and hookers.</p>
<p>In the labs I’ve been at, they’ve been middle-sized and publish in high impact journals, the students are there often 7 days a week, often 50-60 hours a week, but not always. But they go out ALL the time they are not in the lab. They have much more fun than undergrads at my university. They are stressed too, in a different way than I am, but they go out a lot. Work hard and play hard. That’s a mentality I believe in. Even if you are in the lab 8:30-7pm… you can go out from 7-2am you know? Whatever… festivals, movies, pubs, clubbing, what-have you. I live in a big city… and I don’t know, I often wonder what is going to happen if I move to a small place for my PhD… sigh. I NEED culture for this reason. I love science, but I love art, festivals, clubs, plays, the orchestra, etc… all just as much.</p>
<p>And also, I go out with my first lab more often than with my undergrad friends. I think julliet is right, grad students and often postdocs are way more fun than undergrads. Undergrads I know are all med-obsessed and don’t drink or do other things…, or the converse, they don’t care at all, and just party party party. I like a balance.</p>
<p>To be successful in science related fields, you do need to be compelled to pursue your research. It really needs to be a passion because the field is filled with people who are passionate about their research, who think about it before slipping off to sleep, while in the shower etc. This is the population you are competing with and collaborating with. </p>
<p>But…
none of that prevents anyone from pursuing multiple outlets. Some of the most intense researchers (and even nobel laureates) have substantial involvements in multiple activities-music groups, automotive/cycle groups, religious groups (note head of NIH), and of course family! </p>
<p>So again, this is your life and compared to the median US income, pays very well. Much easier than working 70 hours a week at $10/hour to support a family!! So do enjoy and be who you are!</p>
<p>Hmm… I don’t buy into the idea that graduate school requires a large amount of sacrifice in one’s free time. Study habits (in a Getting Things Done efficient kind of sense) are a lot more predictive for productivity than sheer hours spent.</p>
<p>I’ve posted from this guy’s blog many times on different forums - I really do think he has the best ideas on what it takes to survive academia and graduate school with minimal stress. He just received his PhD in C.S. from MIT this summer. Here’s a post on his fixed schedule, and another about his graduate school experience:</p>
<p>[Study</a> Hacks Blog Archive Fixed-Schedule Productivity: How I Accomplish a Large Amount of Work in a Small Number of Work Hours](<a href=“Fixed-Schedule Productivity: How I Accomplish a Large Amount of Work in a Small Number of Work Hours - Cal Newport”>Fixed-Schedule Productivity: How I Accomplish a Large Amount of Work in a Small Number of Work Hours - Cal Newport)
[Study</a> Hacks Blog Archive Some Thoughts On Grad School](<a href=“http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/03/12/some-thoughts-on-grad-school/]Study”>Some Thoughts On Grad School - Cal Newport)</p>
<p>I’m still an undergrad, but thanks to him, I’ve been able to contain my studying before dinnertime, with great grades, and having fun after.</p>
<p>When I first read those links, I thought “wow this guy’s a jerk.” He seemed so arrogant to think that he was important enough for such thinking. Then I realized something. It’s Sunday afternoon, and I’m in lab wasting my time on a message board waiting for a gel to run. He might be on to something! :P</p>
<p>I actually liked the second link. Though I think CS lends itself more to a 9-5 schedule. My experiences so far (although still in undergrad) lead me to believe biological research works on it’s own clock, and sometimes it’s hard to stick to fixed hours. Some experiments need to be set up the night before etc. Also, working on one project for one particular day isn;t quite reasonable for my field either. Overall, pretty good advice. Thanks for sharing.</p>
<p>I think it is about time-management, planning ahead and also availability of equipment in your lab. Some people spend a lot of time in the lab but in actuality they are not that productive. The most productive person I’ve come across in the lab has actually put in the least amount of lab hours. It just takes planning in advance, booking equipment in advance and not wasting time on coffee-breaks, facebook, etc.</p>
<p>“When doing a PHD, can you still have fun?”</p>
<p>What? If anything, I feel I have more free time when I’m doing research as opposed to undergrad. You devote the day time to your work, then at night you pretty much have the entire time off (if you’re past your coursework/TAships that is). I remember in undergrad I would go to class in the daytime then slave away throughout the entire night doing homework and studying for exams and worrying about grad school apps whereas now I can solely concentrate on one task at hand and not have to worry about it once I leave the lab.</p>