Working Hours as PhD student and Beyond

[rainynights]

Greetings all,

 

I have been searching for information pertaining to:

• the hours necessary to successfully complete a business PhD program, and
  
• the hours most business professors, who are tenure-track, typically work to fulfill their obligations (teach, research, committee and service work).

From my web searching, it appears that graduate students typically work 40-60 hours per week and complete the program in five years. Professors seem to work similar hours with a slight decrease in summer, with a majority of their time being spent on research.

 

Can anybody confirm or deny what I have found?

 

I appreciate any and all responses! Thanks.

[ClarkusKent]

I'm interested in this too, the general impression I get about grad school is that your correct with about 40 hours. I hope it's not more but I guess it depends on the program and the student.

 

I'd like to know what current grad students find their work load is RELATIVE to their undergraduate work load. Are the students who could get A or A- doing very little work as an undergrad doing the same in graduate school? What about the other extreme - the student pulling all-nighters every week?

[bauble]

In top (20 say) programs, the workload is high. Definitely not 40 a week. There is a lot of variation week to week, so a light week might be like 40-50, but when deadlines or times come when you realize that you are under the gun, there are weeks when you are working non-stop (80 or more hours). If I had to guess an average, I'd say it is 60 or maybe more for most people.

[taxPhD]

If you are doing everything you should be doing as a PhD student, you will probably be averaging about 60 hours per week. You have classes, studying, research workshops, reading papers, developing research ideas, then of course your 20 hours of TA/RA that most people have as part of their funding.

[PS19]

Is there anyone around here who has maintained a part time job ( in addition to the 20 hours of RA/TA work) and how manageble is that?

[bauble]

The variability of effort needed in a Ph.D. makes holding a PT job pretty tough.

 

Apart from that, significant part-time work above RA/TA is sometimes frowned upon, and in some cases I think that there are formal (and low) limits imposed by the b-school or dept on how much you can work outside of the program (with RA/TA counting as "inside").

[NewBoston]

You really want to mind the details in the hand book when it comes to picking up a job while doing a PhD. For example, my program funds me and as such, if I am found to be earning wages from a source other than the university or a pre-approved job, I would be dismissed from the program. If you are given a TA/RA, the thought is that you will be able to spend 100% of your time concentrating on school, both research and teaching.

[rsaylors]

I go to a AACSB accredited institution and undergrad i put in 4 hours, max, a week + class. now i put in 40 hours, minimum, a week + class.