confused_ai

(Sorry to bump an old thread, I only saw the response just now!) I appreciate the thoughtful response! You're right about the job prospects in my field. To be honest, though, money isn't a practical concern for me; I could go in theory go without funding indefinitely. However it's important to me that my advisor values my skills, and shows enough interest and commitment to "invest" in me. But I'm willing to forego funding for a summer, if it'll make it more likely in the semesters to come.

I'm a second-year PhD student in Computer Science, trying to figure out my summer. I probably won't get a summer RA-ship, I think my application is too weak to get an interesting internship, and I can't guarantee a TA-ship as a fallback. Is it unheard of to self-fund for the summer (i.e. live off of savings), so I can stick around and keep working on research? It wouldn't be a financial burden for me. My main concern is that my advisor will be less likely to fund me in future semesters, if he knows that I will "work for free" during the summer.