Time Out of School, Between Degrees

[antecedent]

Like many people here, I had to take time off between my undergrad and my Masters. I'm not particularly concerned about explaining that away, but I am worried about the additional year that I will have to take off between my Masters and my PhD. Many people have said that working as an adjunct is a good idea, but I won't have post-secondary teaching experience as my degree is a one year program in the UK. I am planning on looking for internships, but I don't know if there are any other good options for using that "down" time well. Is taking classes that aren't towards your degree (language classes, for example) considered a productive use of that time? If you had a year or years off between degrees, how did you productively make use of that time? Were you able to combine school and work still or was it more like my year this year, ie working full time and fitting anything school-related in time off? Finally, am I worrying about nothing or do programs really care about unaccounted-for time?

[bfat]

I think one year off is really no big deal. Taking language classes (especially since most programs have a language requirement) is a really great idea--I wish I had time to do that. Also, maybe some community involvement, or tutoring would be a good way to show that you're still being productive during your "off time."

[antecedent]

I think one year off is really no big deal. Taking language classes (especially since most programs have a language requirement) is a really great idea--I wish I had time to do that. Also, maybe some community involvement, or tutoring would be a good way to show that you're still being productive during your "off time."

Yeah, I'd love to take language classes. Maybe if I move back in with a parent for a year, or if I receive some of the scholarships I applied for, I will be able to afford to do it while working part time or something. Who knows!

I wish I could just tell them "I wasn't doing anything exciting because I was applying to 10 grad programs!" but I doubt adcoms would be sympathetic to that

I guess I should emphasize that it would be one year minimum between my Masters and my PhD, since this community is ample proof that you can be an excellent candidate and still not get in.

[hiphopanonymous]

This is purely anecdotal, but my sense is that admissions committees don't notice those things at all. People who had read my writing sample closely enough to quote from it weren't sure when I'd graduated from college. I'd been away for four years (granted, this is between BA and a PhD program, not between an MA and a PhD) and I really don't think anyone cared what I'd done with that time (which was nothing academic at all). I think if you stay current on the scholarship (and really, what's going to change a whole lot in a year?) you'll be fine. Or anyway there are probably bigger things to worry about, if you're looking for something to worry about.

[Fiona Thunderpaws]

Yeah, I'd love to take language classes. Maybe if I move back in with a parent for a year, or if I receive some of the scholarships I applied for, I will be able to afford to do it while working part time or something. Who knows!

This is the story of my year off. I definitely felt kind of shamed of moving back home at first, but not having to dig up rent money let me work part time while I audited a grad course and worked on applications. Goddamn undergraduate loans.

[surefire]

Like many people here, I had to take time off between my undergrad and my Masters. I'm not particularly concerned about explaining that away, but I am worried about the additional year that I will have to take off between my Masters and my PhD. Many people have said that working as an adjunct is a good idea, but I won't have post-secondary teaching experience as my degree is a one year program in the UK. I am planning on looking for internships, but I don't know if there are any other good options for using that "down" time well. Is taking classes that aren't towards your degree (language classes, for example) considered a productive use of that time? If you had a year or years off between degrees, how did you productively make use of that time? Were you able to combine school and work still or was it more like my year this year, ie working full time and fitting anything school-related in time off? Finally, am I worrying about nothing or do programs really care about unaccounted-for time?

I'm in a different discipline, but thought that I'd chime in anyway!

I spent a year in between my undergrad and MA cooking in an industrial kitchen, attending every social event that I was invited to, and doing some sustained social justice work. I worked full-time during my undergrad, so it was nice to have the "year off" to 1) give my MA app the time and consideration it deserved 2) have a balanced social life and 3) see big volunteer projects through from beginning to end (I had a lot of extracurriculars from undergrad, but mostly stuff that involved limited time commitments like monthly meetings, not the exciting front-line social justice stuff that I got to do in that gap year).

I took two years between my MA (1 year program) and PhD (well, it WILL be two years by the time I start the PhD this September), for a different reason: I didn't want to do the PhD because I didn't know what else to do. I wanted to do the PhD after eliminating some other hypotheticals. I decided to commit to this by promising myself a WHOLE year where I wasn't 1) attending school or 2) applying for school. School would not be my fail safe, my back-up. I would get work that I approached with an open head and heart and see if there was something that I could picture doing forever. I was willing to let myself be passionate about something else other than academia.

Obviously, I found my way back to academia - or, it found its way back to me! Now, I feel as though I'm entering with some real world experience and a firm certainty that this is what I want (and I know, because I tried a bunch of other stuff!)

I've had six contracts in total. I feel as though a few of these were beneficial to the admission process and/or were positively recieved by the adcomms.

I spent 4 months working as a workshop leader for a 2nd-year class in my discipline at my undergrad uni. This was beneficial because 1) I got a conference gig out of it 2) I parlayed the conference thing into an RA-ship and 3) the prof in charge of the second year class was also one of my instructors from my own undergrad classes, he wrote me an awesome letter, apparently, discussing my positive trajectory and growth.

I spent 4 months doing a part-time UNPAID internship with a NGO as a research assistant. The references from this period helped me to land another position, also as a research assistant and policy developer, at a prominent, international non-profit. I'll have been in this lattermost post for a year and a half when I start the PhD in the fall. One of my POIs, who is very entrenched in social justice work, policy and the role of non-profits in law, was VERY enthusiastic about my specific non-profit/NGO experience. Other POIs were generally receptive to the fact that I'd been getting PAID, in the "real world", to do RESEARCH in the social/policy realm, which I guess inplies that I'm pretty well-acquainted/capable when it comes to the dynamics/demands of this type of work.

Other benefits of having been away: I had a go at some government/private sector gigs and disliked them PROFOUNDLY. Being aware of the type of work in which I do not thrive is the other half of the "knowing thyself" exercise, and I'm glad that I gave myself the time and space to experience these, even if they made me unhappy for a time.

Anyway, my experience and capacity to positively "spin" my time off as relevant and "well-spent" might have something to do with my discipline and the value placed on social justice work (and practical/policy-motivating research therein). I do think that the research experience carries though. I think that some short-term research projects during gap periods equates to time well-spent; you've developed some skills, but you haven't been away long enough to develop bad habits or to have forgotten the rigor that academia demands... As well, giving yourself some space to "test" some other sectors will help you to answer the "why (or, why not) academia?" question for yourself, and you can use that articulated self-awareness to craft an informed SOP, where appropriate! That being said, I had one app that demanded that my SOP be PhD-research-proposal only AND the app didn't call for a CV, so in that case, the work experience didn't really have a place to shine. I think that the experiences helped me to distinguish myself in some cases (interviews with POIs) and not so much in other contexts (short, content-restricted SOPs). I guess that you could start with looking up the places that you want to apply to for the PhD to get a sense of what they prioritize in applications. Generally, from my experience, I would say that time away doesn't need to be justified or actively explained (like if you had to take some space to address an erratic GPA), but it can help you to distiguish yourself if you utilize and then frame it in a relevant way!

I think that the question of how you spend your time should be prefaced by considerations of WHY you're taking the time off in the first place (that is, what are you hoping to acheive)? You don't mention a specific reason above. If the reason is finance-related, then your time is best spent working a job that will help replenish your funds. If the reason is burn-out related, then you might want to do something low-key or low-commitment (kind of like what I did betweeen the BA and MA, work a whatever job, ideally a fun-ish one, and make some time for fulfilling endeavours and try to achieve a healthy work-life balance). If the reason is about some variation on "finding myself/my purpose", then you could do what I did between the MA and PhD and make a serious commitment to throw a bunch of stuff against the wall to see if anything sticks!

That ended up being a longer answer than I intended, I hope that some of it helps! Good luck!

Edited April 12, 2012 by surefire

[pelevinfan]

Now that I'm 90% sure I'm starting at my PhD program in the fall, I'm actually having the opposite worry. Am I too young to be in a PhD program? I'll be a newly-minted, 22-year-old college grad. I have NO real-world experience. Extremely worried that I'll get there and be completely and totally over my head. Not looking for sympathy here - I know how lucky I am to have gotten an offer - I guess I just needed to get this off of my chest.

[antecedent]

I think that the question of how you spend your time should be prefaced by considerations of WHY you're taking the time off in the first place (that is, what are you hoping to acheive)? You don't mention a specific reson above. If the reason is finance-related, then your time is best spent working a job that will help replenish your funds. If the reason is burn-out related, then you might want to do something low-key or low-commitment (kind of like what I did betweeen the BA and MA, work a whatever job, ideally a fun-ish one, and make some time for fulfilling endeavours and try to achieve a healthy work-life balance). If the reason is about some variation on "finding myself/my purpose", then you could do what I did between the MA and PhD and make a serious commitment to throw a bunch of stuff against the wall to see if anything sticks!

That ended up being a longer answer than I intended, I hope that some of it helps! Good luck!

My reason for taking a year off is purely logistical. I went into my first round of apps kind of lacking direction and pumped out five fairly weak applications. I got some MA admits, and I'm taking one in the UK. I plan to use it to refine my interests, craft a better writing sample, make connections in the field I plan to do my PhD in (kind of different from my undergrad, kind of?) and generally get in gear for the PhD. UK programs are 12 months long though, so in order to go straight from a Masters to a PhD would have me reapplying this fall, when I'm supposed to be pouring my heart into this program. So I will complete my thesis in August 2013, and then really focus on my applications in the fall.

@hiphopanonymous - haha fair enough!

[Fiona Thunderpaws]

Now that I'm 90% sure I'm starting at my PhD program in the fall, I'm actually having the opposite worry. Am I too young to be in a PhD program? I'll be a newly-minted, 22-year-old college grad. I have NO real-world experience. Extremely worried that I'll get there and be completely and totally over my head. Not looking for sympathy here - I know how lucky I am to have gotten an offer - I guess I just needed to get this off of my chest.

I understand how this goes. When I told my parents after I graduated that I was applying to PhD programs, they were worried I was doing it to take a vacation from "real life." People didn't take my decision seriously because I had never tried to do anything other than be in school. Sometimes I wonder if my youth was a strike against me in this application cycle.

[antecedent]

I understand how this goes. When I told my parents after I graduated that I was applying to PhD programs, they were worried I was doing it to take a vacation from "real life." People didn't take my decision seriously because I had never tried to do anything other than be in school. Sometimes I wonder if my youth was a strike against me in this application cycle.

I'm in pretty much the same situation, I'm just older because I was slow and directionless during my undergrad. I found direction and motivation in my last (5th) year, but it puts me at 24 at the time I'll be starting my masters and 26 at the start of my PhD if I get in after my second round of apps. My CV won't speak to any relevant academic experience in the past year, unless I can put stuff like independent editing/tutoring on it.

I'm feeling comforted by the comments so far, to be honest, working part time and brushing up my French and German sounds kind of nice if I can afford it! I just seem to remember folks like Timshel or TripWillis (or maybe someone else?) commenting on the importance of staying active in the academic community even when not in school. I suppose that could just be to, as Bfat said, keep your scholarship fresh and relevant. This is just the kind of stuff it's hard to learn about cause it isn't written anywhere! It's all feedback from profs, POIs, adcoms, and successful applicants.

[The Aged P]

This is purely anecdotal, but my sense is that admissions committees don't notice those things at all. People who had read my writing sample closely enough to quote from it weren't sure when I'd graduated from college. I'd been away for four years (granted, this is between BA and a PhD program, not between an MA and a PhD) and I really don't think anyone cared what I'd done with that time (which was nothing academic at all). I think if you stay current on the scholarship (and really, what's going to change a whole lot in a year?) you'll be fine. Or anyway there are probably bigger things to worry about, if you're looking for something to worry about.

This exactly. I took a few years after undergrad and another two after my MA and I will be 30 by the time I start the PhD, and no one has seemed to notice or care. And you'll be sending those apps in November and December--really only a couple of months out of school.

[Fiona Thunderpaws]

So this topic came up when I was talking to my DGS yesterday. He actually said that he didn't care what kind of jobs people worked during their time between schools. The adcom was looking for people who stayed engaging in academia during their time off. I know we kind of figured this anyway, but it was nice having it confirmed from someone who makes decisions based on this stuff!