Questions tagged [work-life-balance]
Questions that each member of academia may face during his academic careers, because of personal problems, and contradictions between academic life and personal life. These may include marriage, childcare, etc.
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Separating academic identity from social identity
I would like to start publishing scientific papers soon. This issue pertains to the name I will use when publishing.
Basically, I would like to keep my personal and academic life separate and my ...
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What are the goals and benefits of doing a PhD?
I'm a master computer science student in a German university and I will be graduating soon. I'm in a situation between accepting a PhD position or leaving academia to start looking for job. This is a ...
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Can one excel in graduate school with a demanding family life?
The essential gist of my question relates to what the real, unvarnished realities are of graduate, post-graduate, research, fellowship, and professorship attainment - when you aren't a single person ...
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Stay in academia or become professor without overworking, is it possible?
I am referring more to young scientists after the PhD than professors, although I am also wondering about people with a stable position.
I see many people overworking themselves, burning-out, being ...
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Overcoming depression and getting back on rails with PhD work [duplicate]
I'm a first year PhD student (computer science), and I've felt that I lost this year up to now due to some life difficulties. I'm getting no financial support and I was forced to teach to get some ...
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How to prevent physical/psychological health side effects of workaholism in academia and research?
As a research student, I spend most of my time working on my research career, even when I am at home, I am awake until 3 or 4 A.M just doing my research-chores.
As a matter of fact, long-term having ...
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Advice for having children during graduate school
My wife and I just found out that we're having our first child. While this is a wonderful thing, it also concerns us a bit. Particularly because we're on limited funds (TA & RA combined salary) ...
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Ways to manage something like a 'work-life balance'?
According to a recent international study on work-life balance within academia
"a majority of researchers and scientists had conflicts between their work schedules and personal lives at least two ...
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Can I live off post-docs?
I'm currently a theoretical/mathematical physics PhD student in Brazil. I still have little more than a year until my PhD finishes, and as far as tradition goes, it's soon time to look for a post-doc ...
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Why is my mood dictated so much by how well my research is going?
I'm a senior PhD student at an American university. I have found over the course of my degree that my mood has largely been influenced by how well my research is going. If I make a small break-through ...
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Is it true that PhD students need to work 10-12 hours a day every day to be productive?
I hear a lot of people brag or complain about how many hours they have to work for their PhD. Is this the norm? And if so is this really a wise choice to make? Do students really 'work' during this ...
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Can I slack off and get a PhD?
I am not a genius but I am a good test taker and a very practical person. I went through undergraduate school without studying much (skipping classes, doing homework, reading the books and doing some ...
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Is it normal for an advisor to expect >80 hour workweeks from PhD students, and threaten them with dismissal?
My advisor always keeps pointing out that I should have publications and I should keep working and stuff like that. Recently he's been saying that not all student will finish Ph.D. and you should be ...
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Points to consider when deciding whether to get married during a PhD
Marriage is a recurrent topic in the lives of most PhDs. The meagre pay and the burden of responsibility could make marriage in the middle of PhD look like a terrible idea. But on the positive side, ...
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How to avoid thinking about research in free time?
I work on research, trying to get grants and publish papers and the like, I really like my job, could not think about doing anything else. When the weekend comes, or just free time I have the problem ...
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Is it important to maintain a work-life balance as a PhD student?
My apologies in advance for asking such a trivial question. My concerns may not be as urgent or serious as some of the others on here, but I have been worrying about this for some time now.
My life ...
user126346
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Should academic CVs include reviewing, non-academic service, hobbies and languages?
Do you suggest adding these to an academic CV?
Review journals/conferences. Can adding such information creates negative issues or it would only have positive impression?
Non-academic service: ...
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Any advice about having children during grad school, from the perspective of (a) female grad students and (b) students without stay-at-home partners?
I've seen a lot of "kids-in-grad-school" advice that's geared towards male PhD students with stay-at-home wives. I'm a female MD PhD student married to a male MD PhD student, and neither of us is ...
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How to care less about teaching?
Fifth year math grad student as of this Fall. ABD, currently on target for six years in total.
I have very strong feelings about the way courses should be taught, graded, and organized. I have ...
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Is it normal for professors to not have families or not spend time with their families over the holidays, due to pressure of work?
My sister is a professor. I was visiting her over Thanksgiving break and my father (who is also a professor) told me not to hang out with her because she had a grant proposal due. Is this normal for ...
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How do I gain back my faith in my PhD degree?
I am 3 years into a PhD program at a top North American university in STEM. My daily routine includes working on my research and preparing for courses I am assisting. In general, I would say that ...
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Profs who have done a full year sabbatical overseas with a family: How did you make it work?
I'm curious to hear from any American professor out there who has successfully done a full-year sabbatical overseas, with his or her family along for the ride. How did you make it work for you ...
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As a PhD student, I want to limit myself to 40 hrs/week. How to maintain this boundary?
So I am considering a PhD position as it appears one opened up and I was contacted about it by a professor. I'm not desperate to get a PhD. I think it's a nice goal and I am interested in the subject ...
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Is it typical to work 60 hours per week as a PhD student?
I was wondering whether this was just a local phenomenon or it's the generally accepted status-quo around the globe.
Preface:
In my part of the world (German-speaking Europe), we have a terribly ...
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Is it permitted to not take Ph.D. students who have girlfriends/are married/don't come in weekends...? [closed]
As a professor, are you permitted to prohibit Ph.D. students from joining your research group if you know they have a boy/girlfriend, are married, don't come in on weekends, who don't stay late, etc......
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How do academics with teaching responsibilities, etc. find the time to do research?
How do academics manage to do research when they are lecturing and running courses, helping students, writing up assignments and tests, marking assignments and tests, supervising graduate students, ...
Samuel
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Is it more difficult for teetotalers to develop academic contacts?
I see a number of answers in this site where building contacts over a glass of beer is encouraged. Moreover the cream of academia belongs to the Western world, where beer culture is common. ...
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Is it common for people in academia to experience prolonged lack of sleep and how to deal with it?
Stuck in the lab again, for the third night in a row. I have never done three in a row I think I might just break a record. I cannot sleep, because the lab is super crammed and uncomfortable and I am ...
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How common is it for women to drop out of graduate school because they have children?
I am a 29 year old female. I want to go back to school. I have been told that I have a very good chance at getting into a very good graduate computer science program (machine learning, AI, robotics, ...
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Feeling bad about taking time off
So I'm a first year PhD student in the UK working on an applied mathematics project. Excluding weekends I put in about 37/40 hours a week of work which leaves me pretty tired to say the least.
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How to finish PhD and get through the academic job market as a new mother and primary caregiver?
I am a female graduate student in a competitive phd program. I recently had a baby. Although this is a planned pregnancy, and I thought I had thought through the complications having a baby would ...
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Balancing empathy and deferring to the syllabus in teaching responsibilities
Questions of similar topics have been asked here for the situation of instructing a course and here and here for the situation of 'no late work' policies. Additional questions about balancing teaching ...
user97709
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Gap year before post-doc?
I have been in a rush to accomplish academic goals since I remember myself. Started my PhD right after undergrad and did my Masters on the same time. Now I am about to submit my thesis and feel kind ...
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Getting a pet during a PhD
There are questions on here about getting married, having kids, and other major time commitments during graduate school. But one thing that I haven't seen posted -- but that I've seen come up with ...
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How does having baby affect tenure track offer or tenure track success?
I am a PhD candidate with one child (18 months) and one year left in the PhD. My husband and I want at least one more child. I am trying to learn about the relative pros and cons of having a child ...
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How to handle pressure from collaborators when life circumstances make it impossible to get work done?
I am looking for a bit of advice on how to handle the workload in a PhD while juggling several collaborative projects plus family pressures.
I am in the final year of my PhD which, overall, has been ...
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Can I keep my full-time job while I pursue a PhD in Psychology, and if so, for how long?
I have read this question posed a lot for math and science doctoral degree, but my question pertains to pursuing a social sciences doctoral degree. I'm currently working as a Management Analyst in ...
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Part-time PhD workload compared to part-time undergrad workload
Does a part-time PhD workload differ significantly from part-time undergrad studies?
I'm intending to go on to postgraduate studies next year. I'd prefer to go straight to a PhD if possible, but ...
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Helping spouse adjust when relocating for an academic position?
I am moving to a new place to take a new academic position. Now that we have committed to it, what can I do to help my spouse adjust to or enjoy the new location? We are both academics.
Edit: ...
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What are some strategies to deal with perfectionism?
In my writing, teaching and research, I always do much more than I should. I produce excellent work, but it's always late because I seem to be incapable of scaling back my (unrealistically high) ...
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How do I deal with my family which doesn't respect science and math while I am doing a double science and math major? [closed]
How do I deal with two parents who don't see the utility of science and mathematics while pursuing an education in science and math (while depending on their income to fund my tuition?). They come ...
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Is it a good practise to involve a child in a statement of purpose?
Is it a good practise to involve a child in a statement of purpose to say how my point of view has changed since the birth?
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What are discretionary spending options that improve wellbeing for a PI?
Other research-focused PIs (or aspiring PIs) how do/would you spend funding to increase your own wellbeing?
My funding stream (R1, USA) allows me some spending flexibility, and my lab is doing well. ...
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Is it possible to survive as a researcher being a dispassionate person? [closed]
I heard a lot of tips for (upcoming) researchers from top professors and researchers.
Almost all of them told that the passion of a candidate is one of the qualities that drive her research life.
All ...
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