Summer before grad school

[katerific]

For those who jump straight from undergrad to a graduate program, what do you do during the summer during that gap?

I generally hear about people either 1) starting research at the program early or 2) travelling the world. What do other people like to do?

Points will be awarded for creativity, cheapness (or money-making-ness), and enjoyability.

Edited October 14, 2010 by katerific

[sacklunch]

I came early and took two grad summer courses .

[eucalyptus]

I taught SAT prep for a small private company part-time, and spent a month working at a residential summer enrichment program for nerdy highschoolers (which I'd attended back when I was a nerdy highschooler). Both paid pretty well and the summer camp thing was awesomely fun (the SAT prep a little less so, but still a solid way to pay the bills). I did backpack across Europe the summer between undergrad and my Masters, but I don't have that kind of money anymore!

[breakfast]

Do not do anything related to school unless specifically told to by your advisor. Do something fun. It will be the last time you have that much free time to do anything you want for a long long time. I was told that by some of the older grad students in my department, and even though I'm only a few months into my first year I am incredibly grateful that I didn't spend all of that time reading.You might think starting a few months early will give you a leg up when you actually start classes and research, but it won't. No matter how much you think you are preparing you will still come in and be overwhelmed.

So, if it's a choice between research and traveling, go traveling and don't even think about the upcoming semester.

Edited October 15, 2010 by breakfast

[newms]

So, if it's a choice between research and traveling, go traveling and don't even think about the upcoming semester.

I think I'd be so excited about the upcoming semester I couldn't help but think about it

[timuralp]

I worked for Microsoft for the summer. It was fun and to me felt like a vacation (most of the time)

[adaptations]

I suggest getting away from academia, unless of course your PhD program has requested/suggested you engage in a summer program. My personal favorites include road tripping with my dog, chilling with relatives that live in fun places (cheap entertainment), and going backpacking.

[Eigen]

Took a month off (May), then spent a while looking for a place (June), Moved in around July and got used to the new city, and then started research in August, so I could get all the paperwork/trainings done, and get familiar with the campus/people before classes started at the end of August.

It was nice, it was also nice that I got research pay to smooth the transition into Grad school.

I highly recommend moving early if you can, getting to play around in the new area/city makes it feel a lot more like home.

[katerific]

Backpacking and roadtripping sound so awesome, but I'm rather broke and don't own a car. Maybe that will change before summer? But man, college is expensive. A part of me tells me that I'm going to have a massive yard sale in May to get rid of a lot of useless college junk (textbooks, pshaw) and fund some sort of short excursion.

I think I'd be so excited about the upcoming semester I couldn't help but think about it

and this was also my main thought. (I might also be freaking out about feeling prepared, too... ha.)

---

note: just kidding about selling off my precious textbooks. Except for you, Freud's case study of Dora.

[juilletmercredi]

Nothing. I saved up some money during the schools year, went home to live with my parents, and basically kicked around doing nothing. I wanted some time to relax before I started what I knew would be a grueling experience, and I didn't have the money yet to move to New York and start graduate classes or what not. I also didn't have the money to travel the world. I tried to find a mindless summer job to make some money, but I couldn't (beginning of the recession), so I just...lounged. It was nice for a month and then it got incredibly boring. The upside was I was really really to start graduate school.