Something so obvious

I obviously do not need to blog and multi-task. My grammar and spelling were deplorable on that last post. Another topic I thought would be important to cover is a typical day in the life of a PhD student.

Graduate school is an odd place to be. You are a psuedo-student. Part student part professor (if you are teaching courses) part researcher part assistant. That makes absolutely no sense, but unfortunately it is absolutely true. You are neither an undergrad just trying to "get through." Nor are you are masters student that either "needs a promotion", "wanted to stay in school longer", or just "wants a better job." You are a doctoral student. This typically means you are expected to know many things you may or may not know. :) Your professors count on you to grade papers. Additionally you have the arduous task of teaching the courses that no one wants to teach in your department. You also have to do research projects. You have your very own taxing course work. You might also have departmental meetings and other seminars that you are required to attend. Finally you need to be working on research and publications.

In a PhD program a B is a bad grade. It is not failing, but it is frowned upon. Your coursework is important and can not be discounted. However you will be pulled in several directions at once to fulfill your obligations. You have never been assigned this much reading in your life at this point. Additionally every single one of your professors will act as though THEIR course is the ONLY course you are taking.

I outlined this typical day for a PhD student as a Normal Day. Please remember that at the beginning, middle, and end of term course work and obligations are likely to increase.

7:00 AM Alarm, hit snooze until 7:30
7:30 AM Get ready and go to school
8:00 - 9:15 AM Class
9:15 - 11:00 AM Break (It would be tempting to goof off here,go eat breakfast, play online, but your best bet here would be to do some homework, grade some papers or tackle some small task.)
11:00 - 12:15 Class
12:15 - 1:00 PM Lunch
1:00 - 3:30 PM Office hours (Students typically do not turn up. However it is very difficult to get work done at this time as everyone is in the office. Also at the beginning, middle, or end of term students do show up in droves). If students do not show up at least get started on some of the tasks you must tackle today.
3:30-4:45 PM Class
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Read chapters and outline material for the class you teach tomorrow.
7:00 PM - 7:30 PM Eat dinner
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM Read chapters and outline material for classes you are taking
9:00 PM - 11:00 PM Work on homework for the stats class you are taking
11:00 PM - 12:00 AM Work on the research paper you are ridiculously behind on.
12:00 AM- 12:45 AM Come home and take care of anything you left at your house that must get done.
1:00 AM Lights out

Since this is a typical day. I also wanted to do a day at the end of term.

6:00 AM Get up you are tired, but you have been laying in bed worrying since 5:30. Time to get up.
6:30 - 8:00 AM Get to school. Work on the research paper you are most ridiculously behind on. Swear to yourself that next semester is going to be different.
8:00 AM - 9:15 AM Go to class. Swear under your breath at the amount of work that has just been assigned and wonder vaguely how that will get done.
9:15 - 11:00 AM Work furiously to complete your homework for your 11'o'clock class
11:00-12:15 Class wear under your breath at the amount of work that has just been assigned and wonder vaguely how that will get done.
12:15 - 12:20 PM Discover peanut butter crackers in your desk. Lunch! Nice!
12:20 PM - 3:30 PM Work on your research paper and homework for your 3:30 course. Answer student questions such as "How can I pass in your class?" and "Do I really have to take the final?" and "I am not going to graduate if I don't get an A in your class. Do you really want to make me not graduate?"
3:35 - 4:45 PM Arrive in class 5 minutes late because you could not get a student to leave your office.
4:45 - 5:00 PM Dinner
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Finish you statistics, briefly outline the chapters...you will have to do more later there just is not time now.
7:00 - 9:30 Work on your research paper for one course. Email it in to your professor as a draft so that they know you are working on it.
9:30 - 9:45 Go visit the vending machines and make a pot of coffee
9:45 - 11:00 Work on your other research paper. Cobble it together into a draft and email it to your professor.
11:00 - 12:00 AM Briefly read over the material you have to teach tomorrow.
12:00 - 2:30 AM Read the articles your professor assigned to you. Try to get started reading chapters. Make a PowerPoint presentation for your course presentation. Realize it was one of your friend's birthdays and you did not call them. Send them an email to apologize. Grade the papers to hand back to your class. Grade papers for your professor's class.
3:00 AM Go home and fall asleep on the couch.