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[glass_music_cup]

For those of you who have applied to graduate school after being out of school and without relevant work experience, how did you address "gap" time in your personal statement? If the reason for this gap was for personal reasons, but you do NOT want to portray it as such, how did you go around tackling that issue?

Also, if want to get back into the

Comments

[cheez_ball]

Depends on the field. I volunteered at the local aquarium for a few years to brush up on oceanography lab skills before going to grad school.

You could also get a job as a lab tech or research assistant. Be open an honest that you're looking to gain experience for grad school. That'll turn off some employers but will prevent other problems that might arise. Some labs are looking for assistants for a specific project and need someone *now*.

As far as the gap goes, only tell what you're comfortable telling. You could say you were doing non-research related stuff before deciding you really wanted to return to the field you're going to grad school for.

[shil]

I took a year off between grad school A and grad school B. Everyone asked about it at interviews (even though I didn't mention what I'd been up to in my application) - I just said I was taking some time off from school. When they asked for more details, I was super honest - I said I was tutoring part-time to pay the bills, but otherwise I was mostly goofing off (and possibly playing a lot of videogames). All the profs I told this to seemed to think it was pretty awesome, and I had no problems getting into good PhD programs.

[glass_music_cup]

I really like your reply. I'm glad it went well for you!!

Did you start at school A on a doctoral track?