This turned into a bit of a ramble, so I made it into a separate post. But I'm still really interested in your answers to the third question
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Partly because I was burned out. Partly because I wanted to get some more work experience in my field and figure out where my research interests were. Partly because I graduated from college at 21, and subsequently wouldn't be eligible for instate tuition until I was 23, so waiting a year meant that I'd be eligible partway through grad school instead of after I was done.
What did you do in the meantime?
*Scored standardized tests for two weeks (it sucked) *Worked seasonally in my field for two summers *Freelanced sporadically *Spent too much time unemployed
How do you feel like it affected your application process and your subsequent grad school experience?
I was way less stressed when I put my application together than I would have been during my senior year of undergrad. I also had a chance to meet my potential advisor in a professional capacity, meet other people in the program, and figure out my research interests (my thesis topic has since changed, but the seed of it I found during my year off). I had time to present at two conferences. Having more work experience on my CV strengthened my app quite a bit.
I think my grad school experience has been better than it would have been had I gone straight out of undergrad. For one thing, I entered refreshed and ready for grad school rather than burned out. Also, working in the real world (both at a job I liked and at crappy temp jobs) gave me perspective--grad school is not an end of itself, it's a beginning. It does not need to eat my life--I deserve to take care of myself, to exercise and eat well, to relax on the weekends, and to spend time with my partner and friends. It is important, but not THE MOST important thing in my life.
I approached undergrad the way a lot of people approach grad school, and I would have continued in that vein if I hadn't taken time off to work first. And I would have crashed and burned badly I'm still committed to my program, excited about my research, and I frequently work late, but when I go home, for the most part I leave work at work.
I am in total agreement with your last paragraph about fit, although that was always my attitude. I applied to one college out of high school, one to transfer to, and one grad school. It worked out well for me (I'm pretty sure I'll apply to more PhD programs when I get to that point, mind).
Yum. Burnout. Sounds like time off gave you some good perspective. Thanks for sharing it. I've come to some of the same conclusions re: the importance of taking care of myself and not working 24/7. (I learned that one the hard way. :P)
I'm especially curious about the clarifying your research interests part, because that's something I've struggled with. There are so many things I find fascinating, I feel I'd be happy to study any of them - but that's made it hard to narrow down and decide where to focus my energy in terms of applying. How did you figure out "THIS is what I'm interested in"? (Even if your topic has changed by now. I know they do that. ;) )
Hmm, that's tricky to explain (especially with my usual policy of vagueness about what I study). So, in my field, people have traditional focused on a group of organisms. I am not so good at that. What I've found IN grad school is that there's a shift towards looking at questions with methods rather than focusing solely on groups. I did not know that when I entered, though I did know that graduate research doesn't lock you into a research path forever.
During my time off, I found out by volunteering (working with one group of organisms) that I wasn't any more excited about that group than any other, but what I was excited about was statistics and ecology. And during my job, I was introduced to a specific project I was interested in (although it's since mutated into a form I like even better).
Since my undergrad research was in [x]chemistry, all it established was that I didn't want to continue to focus on [x]chemistry. The volunteer and work research I did during my time off helped me understand that it wasn't research I disliked doing, it was [x]chemistry, as well as revealing the methods (statistical analysis) I was interested in.
And the other thing a lot of grad students forget is that your graduate research is the beginning of your career, not the end. You don't have to work on the same thing forever (or even ever again). There IS time for all the other things you want to work on (I keep having to remind myself of this now!).
I'm in an M.S. program, BTW, so my project has to stay smaller and more focused than I fantasize about. And I'm still doing the volunteer research on the side (somewhat crazily, since it could be a dissertation...but it's back-burner right now).
I think to some extent if your interests are broad, you need to focus your applications according to who you'd like to work with at a given institution. There's plenty of time for other areas later.
Partly because I was burned out. Partly because I wanted to get some more work experience in my field and figure out where my research interests were. Partly because I graduated from college at 21, and subsequently wouldn't be eligible for instate tuition until I was 23, so waiting a year meant that I'd be eligible partway through grad school instead of after I was done.
What did you do in the meantime?
*Scored standardized tests for two weeks (it sucked)
*Worked seasonally in my field for two summers
*Freelanced sporadically
*Spent too much time unemployed
How do you feel like it affected your application process and your subsequent grad school experience?
I was way less stressed when I put my application together than I would have been during my senior year of undergrad. I also had a chance to meet my potential advisor in a professional capacity, meet other people in the program, and figure out my research interests (my thesis topic has since changed, but the seed of it I found during my year off). I had time to present at two conferences. Having more work experience on my CV strengthened my app quite a bit.
I think my grad school experience has been better than it would have been had I gone straight out of undergrad. For one thing, I entered refreshed and ready for grad school rather than burned out. Also, working in the real world (both at a job I liked and at crappy temp jobs) gave me perspective--grad school is not an end of itself, it's a beginning. It does not need to eat my life--I deserve to take care of myself, to exercise and eat well, to relax on the weekends, and to spend time with my partner and friends. It is important, but not THE MOST important thing in my life.
I approached undergrad the way a lot of people approach grad school, and I would have continued in that vein if I hadn't taken time off to work first. And I would have crashed and burned badly I'm still committed to my program, excited about my research, and I frequently work late, but when I go home, for the most part I leave work at work.
I am in total agreement with your last paragraph about fit, although that was always my attitude. I applied to one college out of high school, one to transfer to, and one grad school. It worked out well for me (I'm pretty sure I'll apply to more PhD programs when I get to that point, mind).
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I'm especially curious about the clarifying your research interests part, because that's something I've struggled with. There are so many things I find fascinating, I feel I'd be happy to study any of them - but that's made it hard to narrow down and decide where to focus my energy in terms of applying. How did you figure out "THIS is what I'm interested in"? (Even if your topic has changed by now. I know they do that. ;) )
Reply
During my time off, I found out by volunteering (working with one group of organisms) that I wasn't any more excited about that group than any other, but what I was excited about was statistics and ecology. And during my job, I was introduced to a specific project I was interested in (although it's since mutated into a form I like even better).
Since my undergrad research was in [x]chemistry, all it established was that I didn't want to continue to focus on [x]chemistry. The volunteer and work research I did during my time off helped me understand that it wasn't research I disliked doing, it was [x]chemistry, as well as revealing the methods (statistical analysis) I was interested in.
And the other thing a lot of grad students forget is that your graduate research is the beginning of your career, not the end. You don't have to work on the same thing forever (or even ever again). There IS time for all the other things you want to work on (I keep having to remind myself of this now!).
I'm in an M.S. program, BTW, so my project has to stay smaller and more focused than I fantasize about. And I'm still doing the volunteer research on the side (somewhat crazily, since it could be a dissertation...but it's back-burner right now).
I think to some extent if your interests are broad, you need to focus your applications according to who you'd like to work with at a given institution. There's plenty of time for other areas later.
Reply
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