r/AskAcademia•
Trombung

Perspective on where to go from post-bacc research, concerned about 60+ hr/week work

Social Science

Hi, graduated with a BS in psychology 2 years ago, and for the past 2 years I've been working as a post-bacc researcher in a psychology lab. The job itself is fine, but the 1.5 -2 hours of work I have been doing on a paper every day has made me realize that the 60+ hour a week grind of academia might not be for me in the long term. I often wonder if that ammount of time would be acceptable if I was doing research on things I genuinely cared about.

The times I get to talk about my research interests with other researchers are better than just about anything, but I don't know if the juice is worth the squeeze. Right now I am doing research on something that I do not really care about, so it is hard to say. Some perspectives from people who pushed through something like this or left academia for other things would be appreciated.

Posted May 5, 2026, 5:29 PM UTC

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