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long hours

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:05 am
by twistor
I barely have time to post anymore thanks to my 80-hour work week: http://jjcharfman.tumblr.com/post/33151 ... espondance

"This somewhat longer communication was recently (~ 2 weeks ago?) sent to the entire graduate student body enrolled in the well-regarded astronomy program at Unnamed Academy: "

I wonder if anyone knows what institution this is from...

Re: long hours

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 1:29 pm
by midwestphysics
So this prof has the audacity to call out grads while he spends his time writing a nice long letter about how he's a complete douche. Glad it's not my school, I'd only meet his minimum requirement of 80 hours. Frankly he and his standards can blow me. Sorry I don't have more time to work for peanuts if anything at all.

Re: long hours

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 1:53 pm
by TakeruK
When I first read that, I thought I knew which department it was but then I realised that certain parts of the letter reminded me of certain attitudes at multiple departments. It's a bit sad that this letter could easily have been from any of the astronomy departments that I have studied at or have close friends at! I am glad that people are "standing up" against this type of thinking, but I've noticed that even in programs with these attitudes, there's a lot of the "I had to suffer through it, so you do too!" mentality. Some profs definitely think this way (they have said so directly) but I feel that even some senior graduate students feel that devoting 80% of your waking hours to science is a "rite of passage".

I am glad that since I have a family, my 60 hour work week is excusable to this prof. I believe that 60 hours a week is already excessive, considering that our stipends basically amounts to minimum wage at ~3000 hours a year. People who work harder/longer should be commended for exceeding the standard, but the grad student that dedicates all of their time towards work should be someone who chose that lifestyle, it should not be a standard for all students!

Re: long hours

Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2012 1:31 am
by TakeruK
I've now heard that this letter likely came from the Astro department at U. of Arizona. It sounds like the description of the program here: https://www.as.arizona.edu/academic_pro ... guide.html matches up a bit with the letter.