Summer before grad school applications?

[confused_undergrad]

Hi all,

 

First time poster here. I'm a junior in college currently hoping to go to grad school in physics, applied physics, or electrical engineering. My dilemna right now is that I'm not really sure what's best for me to do this summer.

 

I've been accepted to Google, Microsoft and one or two others in software as well as an REU. I really would like to spend the summer at google/microsoft but it's completely independent of what I want to do in grad school since I'm not planning to go into computer science. And I'm not really sure what to expect out of the REU.

Would it be weird to grad school committees if I work in tech my summer before grad school applications? Would it be better for me to do the REU? 

[OhMySocks]

Are you applying for a Ph.D. or a masters? The following is with regards to Ph.D. admissions:

 

Would it be weird to them? No. But it also really won't help you get into grad school, while an REU probably would. If you think you have a strong enough application and enough research experience to get in to the schools you want to without the REU, then you won't be looked down on for working in industry for a summer. 

[confused_undergrad]

Are you applying for a Ph.D. or a masters? The following is with regards to Ph.D. admissions:

 

Would it be weird to them? No. But it also really won't help you get into grad school, while an REU probably would. If you think you have a strong enough application and enough research experience to get in to the schools you want to without the REU, then you won't be looked down on for working in industry for a summer. 

 

I'll be applying for a Ph.D. So working in industry has pretty much a neutral impact on my application?

[tarrman]

In physics, yes, unless you are actually working on something heavily related to physics (which is rare in industry.) It's more beneficial for electrical engineering applicants. I suggest taking some time to figure out what exactly you want to do come application season and figure out which options are most relevant to what you want to study. If you decide on physics I'd take the REU; they're competitive, they give good research experience, and they're often good sources for recommendations. The only downside is the pay is crappy, but if you're serious about getting into top schools, the REU will provide you with an invaluable boost to your application.

Edited March 13, 2013 by tarrman

[juilletmercredi]

ON a completely objective note, doing an REU will be better for applications to PhD programs than Google or Microsoft or another software internship.  You will be doing research that will be very similar to your expectations for grad school, and you will get a LoR writer out of it who does not go to your undergrad, which is always a good idea.

 

On a more subjective note, I regret not doing things that were not tied directly into getting admitted to a grad program once I decided I wanted to go to grad school.  You only live once, and who knows, you may decide to change your mind next year or two years from now, and who knows where an internship with Google or Microsoft can take you?  Maybe you decide halfway through your grad program that you want to go into industry.  Maybe you decide to hell with it and you want to drop out.  Or maybe one of those people you meet at Google leaves Google and ends up starting a start-up that needs an applied physicist.  I don't know.

 

The first two summers of my college career I spent as a camp counselor because I needed the money.  I spent the summer before last (as a PhD student) as an intern at a market research firm because I wanted to try it out and see if I liked it and wanted to leave academia.  You have to do some things to try them, I think.