managing family life during phd

[tzu]

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hi🙂,
am thinking of pursuing a phd in pharmacology once my 2 kids reach elementary school going age.do you think i would have the freedom to & be able to restrict my work ,research & study hours to the 9am-4pm daily schedule of school so that I can concentrate on the family after that.Is it realistic to think it is possible?My decision regarding the phd would highly depend on this factor.
please share your experience & opinions, especially any phd mothers out there

 

[bliss]

well, it's a very sane idea to delay your career till your kids are school going age.....but I think it would be better if you had some elder or close acquaintance or a baby sitter take care of your kids instead of restricting your hours. Afterall it would be just a few more hours after 4 if you are able to manage things well..........good luck !!

 

[Scottish Chap]

hi🙂,
am thinking of pursuing a phd in pharmacology once my 2 kids reach elementary school going age.do you think i would have the freedom to & be able to restrict my work ,research & study hours to the 9am-4pm daily schedule of school so that I can concentrate on the family after that.Is it realistic to think it is possible?My decision regarding the phd would highly depend on this factor.
please share your experience & opinions, especially any phd mothers out there

Well, I'm a father in medical school. Having made the transition from a PhD (pharmacology, too) to medicine, I can tell you that the major advantage offered by graduate training is control over your time. That does not mean that you'll have less hours to work but, for the most part, as long as the work gets done, most reasonable academic mentors let you set the schedule. Classes are usually a very small part of PhD programs and as long as you do alright, nobody cares; the research is where you are judged. I've seen a few mothers and fathers fair well in graduate school and beyond, but that is usually because they have a helper (spouse, parent, relative etc) to assist when they absolutely have to push it to make deadlines in lab or for qualifying exams. A graduate career of 9am-4pm franky is rare, and long hours are demanded in the lab. However, if you have an understanding mentor (and there are plenty of them out there), it might work with the schedule you want. Just keep in mind that the average length of time to complete a bioscience PhD in the U.S. is 5.5 years. If you have such a short work day, you're probably looking at closer to 7 years or more.