What to do after graduation (if you are rejected) ...

[chuck_b]

Hey everyone,

I am a EE major with a concentration in Solid States. I sort of applied to all top-notch schools without thinking about a safety at all. All the schools I applied to are pretty much "reaches" given my GRE performance.

So, I applied to several jobs as well hoping to have an alternate route as well. But, given the current state of the economy, the probable low acceptance rate of PhD candidates in general, and the job market, I am wondering ...

What do you do if you have no set plans after graduation? How can you reapply next Fall without something concrete to tell them about your year off?

... any thoughts?

[sunshine]

If expenses are a concern, I would do my best to get a job.

If not, could you find a lab/professor to do research for, be it as a volunteer? It would probably make for a much stronger application. Either way, don't stay idle.

[was1984]

I'm not a student any longer, but as a fellow device engineer I can tell you that the job market is not good at all, especially for people without much experience. Just about every job I've seen posted is senior engineer (think 5 years minimum with B.S. or higher). I still have my job for now, and I'm just hoping I keep it until grad school starts. Our last round of layoffs had some very good engineers in it, so now I'm worried.

If I do lose my job and don't get accepted anywhere, I'm in much the same position as you, only with a couple of years of work experience. I tend to think I'd move back home and try to get some more experience, even volunteering if I have to (as stated by the poster above).

[finest_engineering]

Why wouldn't you apply to some safeties?? I just don't understand that. Some places might have rolling admissions so you should probably try searching around for one of those. Does anyone here know of any schools with rolling admissions, or admissions for starting in Spring?

You should just keep looking for a job, its tough right now but you just have to keep at it. Stay in touch with professors from your current school. Tell them about your situation and try to convince one to let you continue to do research as a volunteer. I do not recommend that you just do the volunteer research and not look for a job though. Volunteering with a prof. won't keep you busy enough to generate the sort of pop you want for you applications next year if you want to re-apply. Professors are busy and have their 'real' grad students to worry about. Someone at your stage who can't just work on a research project alone for months and requires more handholding by a prof will go through stretches of inactivity as a volunteer. This is why I recommend you get the job and have the research supplement the job.

You mentioned you felt the GRE severely hurt your chances. The deal with the GRE is this: The schools (particularly the top ones) don't rely on it much. They are much more concerned with your research experience and how well you express that experience in your statement as well as how you fit into the department in terms of interests. Grades and GREs can bolster but are not the foundation of an application. You should think of the GRE as a checkbox. You don't have to kill the GRE to get in, but you don't want to raise any red flags. I have seen people get into all of the top programs with as low as a 4.0/6.0 writing score on the GRE. This should tell you that you have to really bomb the GRE for anyone to really care. Also, schools use the GRE to make sure foreign applicants have good enough english to not bomb the test. If you think you REALLY bombed the GRE, take it again. If you just didn't do amazingly, then it isn't what is hurting your chances.

[ealkjhljha]

I moved to Japan for a year and taught English. I was pretty angry that I didn't get in. I had applied to md/phd programs. It gave me the distance and time I needed to really take a deep breath, evaluate what I wanted to do and reapply again this year. I have an acceptance now, to a school I really want to go to, so I'm excited about that. Japan was lots of fun too. If you think you need to beef up your application you can do that. I wanted to get out of the school system for a bit and enjoy myself. (4 years of 20+ units per quarter university plus intense summer schools and I was due for a break)

[chuck_b]

Thanks for the replies. I totally understand what you're all saying about continuing research and keep pursuing different jobs.

But, like finest_engineering said, its tough when you have no background in a lab and have to rely on the prof (who may or may not be paying you) or grad students to help you out. It becomes a frustrating situation.

(As a side note, finest_engineering, on why I didn't apply to any safeties ... I just really liked the research in the places I applied to and their locations (NYC, Cali, Austin TX, Michigan, Chicago). But, yea, it was a dumb decision not to apply to at least one safety. Then again, are there really any real safeties for grad school?)

And, was_1984 ... I know! How can I possibly have 2-5 years minimum experience when no one is willing to hire me? lol. Searching for a job is a pain.

I am actually thinking of teaching myself a couple of programming languages. I think that knowing a few languages as well as HTML and Java Script are pretty useful pieces of knowledge to have no matter what engineering profession. I think I'll also try and build my own computer .. I would have the time to do it =)

This time off from grad school/jobs might actually be beneficial in one aspect. Taking courses at smaller colleges might also be an option I guess. I was just getting a bit worried. After so much hard work and money, graduating without anything to really look forward to is a bit depressing.