I am looking to go to grad school for Biochemistry and all of the places I've been looking at say that they pay you anywhere from $20,000-26,000 to go there. The first two years would probably be a teaching assistantship, but after that I'd hope I could get research stipends.
How much time do you need to devote to the teaching assistantship and to your coursework in grad school?
I've heard 40 hours coursework and 20 hours of the assistantship.
gradschizzlefoshizzle wrote:
I am looking to go to grad school for Biochemistry and all of the places I've been looking at say that they pay you anywhere from $20,000-26,000 to go there. The first two years would probably be a teaching assistantship, but after that I'd hope I could get research stipends.
How much time do you need to devote to the teaching assistantship and to your coursework in grad school?
I've heard 40 hours coursework and 20 hours of the assistantship.
The stipend range is about right, though I think it's more like 22,000-26,000. I don't know very many people taking 20k.
My department has a 1 semester TA requirement. Generally I had 2 classes a day for the first two years, about 3-4 hours worth. Then the rest of the day I spent in Lab doing research to get published as frequently as possible. Typically if you can get a paper out of a rotation you're doing well.
As for how much time I spent TA'ing? I was required to attend all classes and proctor all exams. I taught 1 session a week. Then you have a few students that come in for help. Probably about 10-15 hours a week? rough estimate? Obviously you do less lab work during this time.
I'd say I spent about 30 hours a week on coursework, and about 20 (your free time) in lab. There aren't hours obviously but you'll be there from 8am till about 6 every night. Somedays more, somedays you get frustrated and go home early. You can maximize your time by doing lab work during office hours. Sometimes people don't show up. My desk is in the lab so I'm doing stuff that I know I can stop doing and answer questions then pick back up when I'm free again.
alright, thanks a lot for the response.
So do you get all your tuition waived? And after you are done doing teaching assistantships, are you guaranteed to continue getting your stipend for research?
Yea the way it works around here is if you're a full-time student with a stipend then you get a tuition waiver automatically from the school. So as long as you have a stipend and 3.0 you're gold.
Typically you get paid by the department or some sort of grant that you've received. I got paid by the department. In the first year and a half you'll do about 3-4 lab rotations. You're guaranteed your stipend until the qualifying exam. At which point you start getting picked up by the grant money of your PI (aka the lab you work for). Seeing as you're doing thesis work for them it works out fine. There are some people who are willing to help others out and pay for their stipend. My department's really friendly. Luckily I found a really cool guy in my 1st rotation and he picked me up on his grant after my first semester. That helped alleviate the money for the department to switch it around and pay for something else.
My program sounds a bit different. I think I had less coursework - I was done with classes after 3 semesters, with only one class during my third semester. I also never spent anything close to 30 hours a week - more like 10, with the obvious exception of preparing for exams and presentations. I didn't really have homework for any of my classes.
I had a 2 semester TA requirement - I taught a lab class, which required only 5 hours a week for most of the semester. Each TA was in charge of one experiment over the course of the semester, during which time the commitment rose to about 25-30 hours per week (for 2-3 weeks), and then about 30-35 hours of grading when they turned in their reports.
In terms of funding - in my lab, half of the grad students are funded by outside training grants, the other half are paid through grants that the PI has. You should check into what types of grants your school offers, as well as applying for stuff like NSF. In my experience, this also opens up labs to you that might not otherwise want to take a student.
Obviously different programs have different requirements. One thing that my undergrad adviser told me was to look for the the place that required you to jump through the fewest hoops. I thought that was good advice - not to say that you won't get anything out of your classes, and I actually discovered that I really enjoy teaching, but keep in mind that you're there to do research.
Hey Grad Student - A paper during your rotation? Really? I've only ever even heard of one person doing that, and he got incredibly lucky. How long are your rotations?
oh one more question, do most people in grad school work through the summer, or do they take summer off like undergrads do?
Definitely work through the summer. The amount of time you get off depends on your professor. I've heard anywhere from 2-4 weeks per year. Some PIs are more strict about keeping track than others. I know some people who take significantly more time than that (usually international students for whom it doesn't make sense to go home unless they can spend a good amount of time there), but it's rare.
I've also known people to get internships for a period of time - it's not exactly time off, but at least it's a change of scene.
Yea you work all summer, my PI's cool about taking a friday off to go on weekend trips though. I generally take about 2-3 weeks off over the year. Spread out. I may take a week during the summer and 2-3 during the winter over the holidays.
Hey hannah,
yea I got a paper out of my second rotation. Our rotations are a bit longer than my friends at other schools. Generally a semester per rotation. Then your second semester your second year you do your qualifying exam. It took about 6 or 7 months to get the data for the paper. But I'm working on getting a second paper right now with my QE next week. Hopefully I can knock out a few more papers and be done with the thesis in a timely manner.
Ah, OK. Our rotations are only 4 weeks, so it would really take a miracle to get a paper out. My qualifying exam is next week as well. Good luck to you!
I've been at 2 grad schools for engineering. Do not go to grad school for biochemistry, science or engineering unless you are absolutely sure it is the only way to get the job you want. If you're going just to go to grad school, go to medical school. You're guaranteed a ton more money at the end of that road, probably double the starting salary (with much more debt of course), and it is a clearly defined path to graduation.
Some things to consider:
I am at one of the very elite engineering schools in the world. There was one required class designed to weed out those not willing to work. No class I've ever taken remotely compared. I studied at least 400 hours in one semester for that b*tch. At another elite school I visited, the current students had the same experiences with a few of their classes.
The stipend the school quotes you is incorrect. You have to register for classes even when you're only researching and pay all the hidden building and insurance fees (stuff like state of the art rec centers and additions to the football stadiums that now alumni approved) each semester that your tuition waver will not cover. That's been over $1000/yr paid directly back to the employer at both schools I've been at.
Do not go to school unless you've established who you will research with. Some of the professors are absolute nightmares to work for. You might TA for a year only to find the good research groups don't have funding for a new student. Then you're stuck.
Carefully consider the economics of the situation. You can probably start at ~$20,000 less with a BS in biochem compared to a PhD. However, you will work as much as any engineer as a grad student for ~$20,000/year for at least five years. Compared to someone who starts working immediately, you could be over $50,000 dollars poorer in potential investments when you hit the job market. And there's no guarantee that a good biochemist with 5 years experience isn't making the same as a fresh PhD graduate. My advice is to strongly consider the master's degree. I think that is the best balance between increased earnings upon graduation and lost wages due to grad school salaries.
Hannah wrote:
Ah, OK. Our rotations are only 4 weeks, so it would really take a miracle to get a paper out. My qualifying exam is next week as well. Good luck to you!
Oh yea it's near impossible in 4 weeks to get any significant work done unless you're hammering away. Good luck, it's nice to know that someone aside from me will be freaking out for the next week or so.