Tips for preparing for graduate study

[AcronymAllergy]

I don't think this is restricted to R1s, and I suspect this is going to be heavily dependent upon your adviser. My prof expected that I remained around on holidays, breaks, etc. to work, although she allowed the other student in the lab to go home. There were other faculty who allowed their students to go home during a portion of the break but expected them to be around for part of it as well. And then there were some faculty who allowed their students to roam free wherever they wanted for the duration of breaks. (And, yes, I am strictly referring to the RAs.)

Agreed; it's going to be more a factor of your individual advisor than it will your program as a whole (most likely). I don't know that any of the mentors in our program allow students to go home for the entire break, but many are ok with people taking a week or two off, assuming they're caught up on everything and can schedule coverage as needed.

A big part of it will also depend on your externships/sources of funding. If you're an RA and are mostly analyzing data and writing, you may be able to grab more time as you could possibly do much of that long-distance. Conversely, if your funding is through a clinical externship, you may need to stick around most of the time.

At the least, though, I can say that you should definitely not expect to have summers off. Most grad schools view the summer nearly the same as any other academic term. You may be able to get a slightly longer break (e.g., two to three weeks instead of one to two for winter), but you can essentially expect that the days of a three-month-long summer vacation are finished. Not that this is a completely bad thing, mind you. Given that most of the undergrad population isn't around during the summer, parking is always better, lines at on-campus coffee shops and the like are shorter, the gym will be less crowded, and (if you're in an on-campus clinic) your workload may be slightly reduced and thereby allow for taking on an extra research project "on the side."

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[Idealist64]

Thanks paramour and AA, glad to hear that there is a chance I might be able to take a week or so a year to go home/actually see family and friends! My advisor seems to advocate a healthy work/life balance, so hopefully this is in fact the case. Thanks!

 

[paramour]

Thanks paramour and AA, glad to hear that there is a chance I might be able to take a week or so a year to go home/actually see family and friends! My advisor seems to advocate a healthy work/life balance, so hopefully this is in fact the case. Thanks!

If your advisor does not, then advocate for yourself as soon as possible. I made the mistake of not doing so soon enough, and it cost me dearly. You will need a balanced life. If you need the time (and you see that your advisor is not being particularly forthcoming with it), politely but firmly inform your advisor that you intend to take off 'x' time (within reason obviously) and make whatever arrangements to remain in contact with him/her by phone, email, etc. You do not want to end up in the situation of "asking," and being repeatedly told, "Yeah, you need some time off, but not this week . . . or next week . . . or this month . . . or next month . . . or this year."

To be optimistic, however, I do not believe that most advisors are quite so . . . um, disagreeable.