Gap Year or 1 Year Master's?

[bachikarn]

I did not decide I wanted to do a PhD in engineering right away from undergrad. I had originally planned on getting a job first, and then get a PhD down the road. I changed my mind, but the due dates to PhD programs had already passed. Although, I did apply to get a Master's at my undergrad school as a back up.

So my question is, what would look better - a gap year where I do volunteer research or doing a Master's for year while researching? The main drawback about a Master's is that I do not have funding. Also, I feel I might have to retake a lot of the classes anyway if I go to a different PhD program.

I was also wondering if a gap year looked bad at all if the time was spent doing research or other academic pursuits.

Thanks for the help!

[noojens]

I think a gap year looks fine, as long as you use it to do something productive. If you can land a position doing research that's directly related to the research you want to pursue in your PhD thesis, then I say go for it.

The master's would no doubt be costly, and (speaking from experience here) it's tough to give the PhD application process (retaking the GRE if necessary, motivating recommenders, hunting down transcripts and test scores, contacting departments, etc) the time it deserves while you're juggling master's research and classes.

As for whether or not the master's classes would transfer -- dunno. If you know the schools you'd like to apply for a PhD at, you could send them an email and ask about transfer credits.

Best of luck.