A Week in the Life of a PhD Student

Post by brittanydyan

March 7, 2010 at 12:07 pm

Last weekend Will and I had the opportunity to Skype with David.  One part of our conversation transpired like this:

David: So Brittany, are you taking any classes this semester, or are you done with classes?

Brittany: I’m done with classes, but I’m a teaching assistant.

David: How many classes are you a TA for?

Brittany: Only one.  Are you wondering what I do with my time?

David: uh yeah.

I have conversations like this all the time.  It is strange to tell people that it has taken me over six months to write the 40 page proposal for my dissertation.  Or, that it will take me two more years to actually write the dissertation.  These conversations can be frustrating because I feel like I work hard and typically “work” 40 hours a week.  I reason that if Will is working 40 hours a week and supporting me as I attend school, I owe it to him to do the same.

Don’t misunderstand me–I’m not offended by David’s question.  Before I entered my doctoral program, I didn’t know about the daily routine of an academic.  I have realized that most people don’t (even my husband will probably be enlightened by this post), so I am taking the opportunity to describe my typical week (last week).

On Monday, around 8:30am, I began my day (as I do everyday) by writing a daily schedule.  I have to create my own structure, so I break up the day into one to two hour blocks.  After finishing my bag of cereal and diet mountain dew, I start “work” around 9:00am.  The first item on the agenda for Monday was to carefully read and offer comments on a paper for which I am a co-author.  Next, I spent time reviewing a prospectus draft for a graduate student friend (graduate students do a lot of this for each other).  After all this reading, it was time for lunch!  After a pita and brownie from the co-op, I worked on revising a paper that I just took to a conference, and later in the afternoon, I continued with the review of my friend’s prospectus.  Toward the end of the day (4:45pm), I headed to the gym for a group fitness class.  Working out has been crucial to breaking up my days and managing stress during my graduate education.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the class for which I am a TA meets.  This means that I began my day by finishing up the grading for the students’ first assignment of the semester.  I also read the material that is assigned for the students, so I can assist them when they have questions and do a better job with grading.  The class meets at 11am, so I usually attend the class and take notes for the same reason.  After class, I hold office hours, where the students usually come with questions or complaints.  Every other Tuesday, I meet with my dissertation writing group for lunch.  This week was not one of those weeks, so I worked on my prospectus paper and then met with a member of my dissertation committee to discuss the latest draft of my prospectus.  Again, I end my day with going to the rec center for some Pilates.

Wednesdays are a little different because I tend to stay at home.  Because I am the spouse with the flexible schedule, this means Wednesdays typically involve errand running.  I began this day writing up the prospectus comments for my friend, ran my series of errands, and cleaned the bathroom.  The afternoon included time set aside for working on my prospectus and returning to the conference paper revisions.

Thursdays look a lot like Tuesday in repeat.

On Friday, I started the day by reading over some revisions on another paper for which I am a co-author.  I worked on the prospectus for a couple of hours, then met with a student, and finally met with the co-author for the paper just mentioned and submitted it to a journal to undergo the review process (this does not happen in a typical week!).  I left campus around 2:00pm on Friday to come home and run and relax.  I typically do little on a Friday afternoon.  I’m pretty useless.  I justify it in that I will usually do a few hours of work over the weekend.

That was incredibly detailed (maybe more that you wanted to know).  I keep busy, but I don’t mean to suggest that being a graduate student isn’t awesome in many ways.  It is.  The flexible schedule rocks.  But, it’s still a job.