Does a Ph.D. student have a time to date?

Question

I am a first year doctoral student coming from an M.A. program. I am in a new city with lots of cool places and interesting people. Part of me wants to explore the city and the hot men. But I wonder if I really even have time to invest in meeting men and dating.

Should I wait until next semester or next year? I am opened to any suggestions about how I should manage my time in terms of academia and dating?

Answer 1

Having gone from grad school into the working world, I have this to say: the dating pool gets awfully shallow once you leave school!!!

Date NOW and enjoy it. Grad school is a handful, but by-golly, your schedulle will be more flexible as an academic than as a work-a-day yuppie.

Make friends, meet people. Heck, even stalk some particular departments (does your university have a business school? a med school?) and do some spousal window-shopping. Go to the grad student mixers and don't miss out on a rich social life (in addition to your intellectual pursuits).

If it matters to you at all, all the PhD students I've known have made time for dating and relationships. The ones who didn't were generally lonely, and would make excuses for not going out, but then would whine about how lonely they were. But at least one of those guys just found a new girlfriend, and he's quite pleased.

Really, I should've nabbed me a cute med student when I had the chance ;p

Answer 2

You need to have a balance in your life. Being a Ph.D. student doesn't mean that you need to be hermit. If you don't have friends or a social life to help relieve the stress of your program, then it will be much harder to get through. Also you might has well have fun now before you start writing your dissertation because once you start your dissertation you'll be lucky to see the light of day. Seek balance, make friends, have fun and enjoy what you are studying.