Easy summer job vs hard summer job before grad school?

[neuropsych76]

Hello all,

I'm in an interesting situation here. I've been applying for some summer jobs before grad school and I finally got a hit. I would be working at a mini golf course making minimum wage doing pretty easy work. Honestly, this would be a perfect, relaxing, a convenient job for me. So I was pretty content.

Then I just received a call from another place I applied. I'd be working as a psychology experimental software technician. I'd have to wake up at about 6am every day and drive a lot further to get to work. I'm guessing the work itself would be great preparation for grad school stuff (though much more grinding then the mini golf job). This would have been an awesome experience if it was like one or two summers ago. But now, I'm worried that I'm going to burn myself out if I take this job and go into grad school with less enthusiasm despite (maybe) being more prepared...

Would I be stupid to turn down the more relevant position? yes, I'd be working on software that I'd use in grad school, but there is no guarantee it would be directly useful for what i would be doing. I keep hearing how stressful the first year of grad school is and I'm worried taking this position might be detrimental since i'd be working a lot right up to when I start grad school.

I just read through this post and I know it makes me sound pretty lame lol. oh well. I was just wondering if anyone has any perspective on such a situation.

Thanks

[runonsentence]

Does one position pay (or gross) more than another? Honestly, that would highly factor into my own decision-making. (For instance, you mentioned a longer commute for the "harder" job...).

[newms]

A lot of people I've spoken with (fellow applicants and my PI at the school I'm going to attend) have encouraged people who are coming straight out of undergrad to relax and enjoy the summer, since it'll be the last time for a while that they'll have an extended downtime. In my case (someone who's been out of undergrad for a while), I was encouraged to use the summer to do relevant work/readings. So if you're straight out of undergrad, taking the easy job might be the better option. If not, then consider the harder, more relevant job. You might also want to consider which will pay more, since there'll likely be significant initial costs involved with moving to a new city and starting grad school.

[Bison_PhD]

First, you seem like to want the mini golf job more, but would feel as if you are shirking your responsibilities or wasting an opportunity. I say unless there is a significant pay increase with the more serious job OR you would gain some very useful experience, really useful not just practice, take the mini golf job. It seems to be what you want more (unless I'm projecting), and the rest for your brain could be helpful. That said, I'm an incoming grad student, so my advice should be taken with a salt lick.

[neuropsych76]

Thank you guys for the replies

Yes, I would like the mini golf job more. And yes I would feel like I'd be wasting an opportunity by not taking the other "harder" job. I am coming strait from undergrad to grad school so that's why I was hoping for a nice break in between.

The "harder" job would pay more. It would pay $10 compared to I think $7.25 at the mini golf job. So yeah, I would consider that significant enough to influence my decision.

I have an interview at the "harder" job next week so I'll learn more about it then, which will hopefully make the decision easier. But I'm thinking unless I'm learning skills which are directly useful for grad school, it probably wouldn't be worth it.

It's rather odd though, if this was any other summer I'd be psyched to have this opportunity. But now since I've been accepted into grad school, I wish I didn't have it...

Edited May 31, 2011 by neuropsych76