I'm thinking of starting a PhD and appreciate is isn't a 9 till 5, how much time do you put in? Do you have weekends free? And more importantly, can you relax and disengage at the weekend?

I've just finished an MSc and haven't had many weekends and evenings to myself.

The truth is, it's entirely up to you and your personal work preferences (except in lab-based science PhDs).

Sometimes there will be periods of increased committments, other times will be more relaxed. If you like the 9-5 style and have no other job or teaching committments, you can work 9-5.

I used to work mostly between 8pm and 1pm during my PhD. Sometimes followed by teaching in the mornings, hence the low teaching quality

However, forget all this talk about "having no weekends, no holidays, etc.". That's nonsense. Of course one could choose to work like that but that would be a conscious and perhaps unwise decision, rather than a general expectation.

37 hours per week for 40 weeks per year over a period of three years should be fine.

I really like your attitude on this one o.stoll. I think too many people get caught up in this thing of 'boo hoo poor me I can't take more than one day off for my summer holidays'. That's a load of rubbish, no matter what you should always take two weeks in the summer and make sure that at least one day of your weekend is sacred i.e. no work. You'll go insane otherwise!!!

Graham as for the 9-5 that is more or less what I do, plus the odd Saturday to make up for classes I teach during the week. However, I do think now I'm in my 3rd year there maybe a few longer hours ahead of me

I totally agree with you two. However, I mentioned a similar view a while back and got told that unless I was incapacitated with work I didn't know what I was talking about or was doing it wrong! I'm curious to see how long it will take until we're all told that we're useles for having more than 8 minutes a week off...

Like Rosy said o.Stoll's advise is spot on. Pace yourself well and you will work well.

i was a ninetofiver (or rather, 11 to 7) for some time. but somehow the workload i am faced with now doesn't let me stick to that anymore. teaching takes up most of my sundays (prep) and mondays (classes and office hours), and marking takes up whole weeks of 9-5 work. so if i want to get any serious work done on my PhD, i have no choice but to move into the evenings and weekends.
that said, this is more of a result of combining work and full time study than of the workload of the PhD itself. i agree with everyone else that 5 days a week of 9-5 should be fine. i don't quite see where you want to fit those 12 weeks of holidays in however, o.stoll. unless you count going to conferences as holidays?

You're all teaching. Who and what? I'm not aware of PhD students teaching in my dept. I should be pleased to hear that there can be life outside a PhD, but my lifestyle is unpredictable, it all happens in short bursts.

I refer to the work of "The King" (Elvis, 1973) and believe the following to be an exciting excerpt:

"Little things I should have said and done
I just never took the time
You were always on my mind
You are always on my mind"

Presley, E. (1973) You are always on my mind Nashville: RCA Records
You are always on my mind"

I meant enlightening, not exciting.

I'm not sure I follow chris... Do you mean you can never relax because the PhD is 'always on your mind'?

Adem I know what you mean - I was talking to two other postgrads here about the same thing - one said she wasn't going to let the phd consume every minute of her life - the other replied 'huh - you won't last three months'. There's a nice slap in the face for ya

Perhaps because there is a perception of a high workload, some PhD students perpetuate it as a badge of honour .. daft people!

Personally, i think it depends on your work load. At the moment I am doing mainly 9-5, and that's because it's early days.

"Perhaps because there is a perception of a high workload, some PhD students perpetuate it as a badge of honour .. daft people!"

Yes, some do...but equally, some of us genuinely have to work long hours. It's not always down to personal choice. A lab-based PhD usually involves the requirement to produce a certain amount of data within a given time scale, or the funding for next year will not be paid, and to fulfil that obligation, long (more than 1 week) holidays are an impossibility. Sadly.

I try to work 9-5, though normally 10-4 and I end up working on Ssturday to make up the slack. But even outside work I do think about it and the PhD is always on my mind.

I think the self perpetuation of the perception of a heavy workload is a problem too.

10-4 hours worked after lunch break and facebook time deducted!